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* * *
When
Paul
Daley first started to garner international recognition, the
MMA landscape was barely recognizable to a newer fan watching the
sport today. More than anywhere else, Daley established his name in
Cage Rage, a promotion that
couldn’t exist in the form it did today and couldn’t even have
existed in that form if it came along five years later. Cage Rage
was a British promotion with little international exposure but that
was known to hardcore fans because it brought in major names during
a period you could still do that on the cheap if you were popular
in the local market. That allowed a young Daley to share the stage
with the likes of
Anderson
Silva,
Vitor
Belfort,
Matt
Lindland,
Murilo “Ninja”
Rua and
David “Tank”
Abbott.
At the time, no one thought Daley was a world beater but he was a
marketable commodity: a fun striker with a great nickname and the
gift of gab. That got him booked on the mid-level staples of the
day:
Strikeforce,
King of the Cage, MFC and the like. When the ill-fated
Pro Elite promotion purchased Cage Rage, he was a natural for
EliteXC and that got him his biggest career break
fighting in front of 4.5 million viewers on CBS. A year later he
was fighting in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship, by that time
the unquestioned biggest stage for MMA.
Following a pair of explosive knockout wins over
Martin
Kampmann and
Dustin
Hazelett, it looked like Daley was going to be a UFC staple for
years to come. Then of course came the infamous
Josh
Koscheck bout in Montreal. Koscheck outwrestled him for three
rounds in a title eliminator, a frustrated Daley took a swing at
Koscheck after the fight concluded and Dana White vowed Daley would
never fight in the UFC again. Indeed, “Semtex” never did.
To let Daley go for his indiscretion seemed reasonable. Fighters
really shouldn’t be swinging at each other outside the context of a
sanctioned bout. To make a point of the notion that Daley would
never be allowed in the UFC again felt overboard but was fitting
with White’s often over-the-top style. It’s certainly a stance that
hasn’t aged well given what we’ve seen since then from
Conor
McGregor,
Jorge
Masvidal and others. Of course, Daley wasn’t exactly knocking
on the UFC’s door every six months asking White to reconsider.
Under different circumstances, it’s not hard to imagine that as
Daley won what was billed as his final fight on Friday—you never
know with combat sports and retirements—it would be a time to look
back with that decision 12 years ago with regret about what could
have been. After all, he had worked his way up the ladder to the
top promotion in the sport only to be kicked out forever three
fights later.
Nobody is thinking that way, however, and it’s a testament to what
Daley accomplished over the course of his career. Since leaving UFC
with a 23-9-2 record, he scored another 21 wins, equaling his
pre-UFC total. Only four of the UFC’s current 11 champions have
scored more over the entirety of their careers. He has been
consistently effective and consistently entertaining, from his
countless explosive knockouts to his classic showdown with
Nick Diaz in
San Diego. He didn’t need the UFC and so he never looked back.
He also appeared to learn from the incident with Koscheck. While
Koscheck’s personality and trash talk clearly played a role in
Daley’s cheap shot, ultimately Daley was frustrated in his
inability to stop Koscheck’s takedowns. Many a striker over the
years has lashed out at opponents for implementing
wrestling-centric game plans, as if that isn’t a major part of the
sport. Daley instead accepted that as part of the game, doing his
best to finish opponents with his striking but giving them their
props when they were able to beat him with their ground game.
Friday’s fight exemplified what Daley was always about.
Wendell
Giacomo had success with his wrestling and appeared like he
might be on his way to sending Daley off with a loss. Daley as
always only needed the smallest of openings and when the fight
returned to the feet late in the second round, he negated
everything that had come before with a brutal knockout punch. That
type of finishing ability infuses drama into every second of a
fight. It made Paul Daley a fun fighter to watch and made for a
memorable career that charted its own unique course.