(“Of course I wore me sunglasses to the press conference. I didn’t want to look like an idiot in front of all these people, now did I?”)

As part of an on-going effort to be all things to all people, the omnipresent BJPenn.com published a report this week citing “undisclosed sources” saying British firebrand/sucker-puncher Paul Daley had inked a deal with Bellator Fighting Championships. In response to this report, please allow CagePotato.com to extend its sweaty, frail hand in friendship to BJPenn.com and say: Welcome to the wild world of journalism, pal, where the pay is terrible, the food is worse, nearly everybody hates your guts and the entire world sits poised over its keyboards, waiting for the slightest provocation to tell you you’re totally full of shit, even when you’re not.

Case in point: Bellator says it hasn’t signed Daley. At least not yet. Contract negotiations are apparently top secret over at the BFC – almost as secret as where to actually find the company’s programming on your TV dial – so an unnamed source (assumedly different from Penn’s “undisclosed” one) was only willing to issue the briefest of contradictory statements to MMAFighting.com on Saturday.

(Protect yourself at all times. Seriously, Daniel, *all* times.)

Australian upstart fight promotion Impact FC recently confirmed that UFC refugee Paul Daley will be competing at their July 18th show in Sydney — not on 7/3 as originally reported — against Chute Boxe product Daniel Acacio (21-9). According to impactfc.au.com, the Sydney fight card currently looks like this:

Ken Shamrock vs. Pedro Rizzo
Paul Daley vs. Daniel Acacio
Murilo Bustamante vs. Jesse Taylor
Jeff Monson vs. Ricco Rodriguez
Joaquim "Mamute" Ferreira vs. Sokoudjou
Paulo Filho vs. Denis Kang

Two thoughts come to mind upon seeing this lineup: 1) Damn, that’s a lot of star power for a brand-new league. And 2) My God, this is like the MMA equivalent of the Legion of Doom. Let’s run it down…

(You can’t mention MMA and black eyes in a story without a "what’s up" to Rich "perma-periorbital hematoma" Franklin)

With the recent rash of unfortunate post-fight antics and TMZ newsworthy stories that seem to have plagued mixed martial arts in recent months, Cage Potato has saved you a whole lot of Googling and have compiled our list of the 13 biggest black eyes the sport has experienced over the years.

*Note: If the first fight you ever watched was Bobby Southworth vs. Lodune Sincaid, chances are you may not recognize the bulk of the fighters named below.

The list (in no particular order) is after the jump.

(Props: kevinjd)

So let’s run this thing down, from the beginning.

During the first round of Josh Koscheck and Paul Daley‘s fight last Saturday at UFC 113, Paul Daley fires a knee to Josh Koscheck’s dome while Kos’s knees were clearly in the "down" position. Kos does his best to call attention to the foul before slumping over on the mat. He covers his face in apparent pain. When he removes his glove, there’s blood on the bridge of his nose that didn’t seem to be there before. The crowd boos Daley’s dirtiness…until they see the replay, which shows (from multiple angles) that at worst, Daley’s knee grazed Koscheck’s hair. Sure, the knee shouldn’t have been thrown in the first place, but Josh had just been exposed as a faker. Now the crowd was booing him. After the controversial fouls in his ugly match against Anthony Johnson, Koscheck’s credibility was officially shot.

Following the Daley fight, he stood by his claim that he’d been kneed illegally — or at least hit in the face by something. It could have been a fist, actually. At the time, this seemed like a pathetic explanation, because if it was a punch, why would Kos try so hard to draw the foul, and besides, hadn’t we just seen the replay of this mysterious illegal blow like 20 times? Forget it. Josh Koscheck was a liar and our minds were made up.

Okay. Are you ready to have your minds blown?

(Note to Semtex: If your opponent looks like this guy, don’t fight him. He’s a ringer.)

Paul Daley has been officially let go from his UFC contract for his sucker punch of Josh Koscheck following their UFC 113 clash Saturday night in Montreal, but the British fighter won’t be unemployed long. CagePotato.com has learned that he will be fighting on the July 3 Impact Fighting Championships show at Trusts Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand.

Daley’s management confirmed the news originally reported today by MMA Weekly that "Semtex" received his pink slip this morning and clarified that he will be fighting for the IFC at the upstart promotion’s July 3 event.

(Dana "Do as I say, not as I do" White.)

In an interview with Yahoo! Sports this week, UFC president Dana White said that he doesn’t get along with Josh Koscheck, but regardless of his feelings towards the oft loathed welterweight, what Paul Daley did to him following their UFC 113 bout is inexcusable. 

“I’m no Josh Koscheck fan. Personally, I think he’s [expletive]. We actually don’t get along very well. I like Paul Daley a lot, but what he did was inexcusable. He walked over to Koscheck and Koscheck could have thought he was coming over to shake hands or congratulate him and he took a cheap shot at him like that. If you throw a sucker punch like that after a fight in the UFC, I don’t care who you are, you’re done. He’ll never fight for us again.”

Props: The "PAUL DALEY ROMOSHOP CHALLENGE" thread on the UG, and inspired by this classic. Two more good ones are after the jump.

By the way, Paul Daley has already landed on his feet following his recent firing by the UFC. According to a new report on MMA Weekly, the British sucker-punch artist is fighting on a pay-per-view show in Australia in July — this one, maybe? — and is currently in talks with DREAM, Sengoku, and MFC. Well good for you, Paul. You can’t buy that kind of publicity.

(Photo courtesy Esther Lin/Fanhouse)

Recently unemployed fighter Paul "Semtex" Daley released the following statement Sunday evening through the UK-based Telegraph newspaper, apologizing for his post-fight attack of opponent Josh Koscheck at Saturday night’s UFC 113 event in Montreal, Quebec:

(Props: MMAFighting)

Even in victory, Josh Koscheck managed to officially become one of the greatest MMA heels of all time on Saturday night, first with his apparent acting job following Paul Daley‘s illegal knee attempt, and then with his kiss-off to the Montreal crowd, vowing that the Penguins would defeat the Canadiens in the NHL Eastern Conference semi-finals, and that he would whoop their beloved GSP when they meet later this year.

In this post-fight interview with Ariel Helwani, Koscheck explains that his emotions got the better of him, and he’s sorry for his behavior during and after the fight. Just kidding! Instead, Kos makes a number of bold statements, few of which will endear him to the fans:

(Video of the Daley/Koscheck cheap shot, courtesy of LynchTheGrynch; sorry about those first eight seconds, guys.)

In case you missed the press conference, the big news coming out of UFC 113‘s post-event aftermath is that Paul Daley and Kimbo Slice have been released from the UFC. Daley suffered his first loss in the Octagon after being smothered by Josh Koscheck for three rounds in their co-headlining bout last night, then followed it up by slugging Kos after the bell (see above). As Dana White explained to reporters, the poor decision earned Daley a permanent ban from the UFC:

As for Kimbo, his lopsided loss to rookie TUF 10 vet Matt Mitrione was enough to seal his fate. But unlike Daley, White has nothing but respect for the former YouTube brawler:

(We’re assuming he couldn’t find a big enough cross to do Kimo Leopoldo. Top pic courtesy of seandiesel.)

The rumors are true, folks. Not only will the winner of tomorrow night’s welterweight co-headliner between Josh Koscheck and Paul Daley earn a shot at Georges St. Pierre’s belt, but that fighter will also get to do a tour of duty opposite GSP on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter. Dana White confirmed the news today before the UFC 113 weigh-ins at the Bell Centre in Montreal. TUF 12 will begin filming in a few weeks, and is slated to premiere on September 15th. 

As for the results of today’s weigh-ins, the numbers are after the jump. No real surprises, although the weight differences in both heavyweight bouts were close to 30 pounds. Plus, Tom Lawlor showed up to the weigh-ins as Dan Severn, following previous weigh-in tributes to Just Bleed Guy and Harold Howard.

(Kos Ross is not impressed by your picture.)

Fan-made Photoshop contest to pick a new hairdo for Josh Koscheck: FREE

Kinko’s glossy color copy of winning entry (pictured below): $1

Look on Koscheck’s face when he is presented with the photo: PRICELESS

(Photo courtesy of twitter.com/danawhite)

Here’s another reason to pay attention to the fights this weekend: At today’s UFC 113 press conference, Dana White confirmed that the winner of the co-headlining bout between Josh Koscheck and Paul Daley will be the next challenger to Georges St. Pierre‘s welterweight belt.

I’d actually be interested to see how Koscheck does in a rematch with GSP. He has the wrestling skills to stuff a takedown here and there, and his hands are more powerful than the champ’s. As long as he doesn’t focus on taking St. Pierre down like he did during their first fight in 2007 — and failing, and failing, and failing — he could keep things competitive. But my God, if Daley wins? Be prepared for the 25-minute sequel to GSP vs. Hardy that nobody asked for. Here’s the irony: Paul Daley really does have one-punch knockout power; he’s everything that the UFC hyped up/exaggerated Dan Hardy to be. The problem is, Semtex is notoriously weak on the ground, and GSP would have no trouble putting him there. We already know how this story goes, and no amount of hyperbolic promotion is going to change the outcome.

It hasn’t been officially confirmed that the Koscheck/Daley winner will coach TUF 12 opposite GSP, but rumors are pointing in that direction, and both fighters would be open to the opportunity.

Random thought: Jake Shields‘s first match in the UFC (fingers crossed) should be Paulo Thiago, and that match should produce a title contender. Discuss.

(Koscheck came to Montreal to kick ass and chew bubblegum. Fortunately for Daley, Josh brought plenty of bubblegum.)

Either Josh Koscheck is doing his damndest to keep upcoming opponent Paul Daley guessing about his game plan for their UFC 113 meeting or he has realized that going toe-to-toe with a guy whose hands are nearly as effective at making people’s heads spin and putting them to sleep as a Brent Brookhouse editorial, is not the best idea in the world.

Less than a week away from the May 8 bout in Montreal and Kos is giving ostensibly different answers when asked how he is planning to face "Semtex."

(Video courtesy YouTube/UFC.com)

When it comes to trash talking, fighters typically fall under one of three categories: those who rely on their pre-fight banter to make up for their inferior skill set, those who don’t necessarily need to talk smack, but do because they have the skills to back up their mouths and those who should stick to fighting and leave the posturing to the pros.

Set to lock horns at UFC 113 May 8 in Montreal are two of the sport’s smack talking idiot savants, Josh Koscheck and Paul Daley. Both definitely can sell fights without saying a word, but the entertainment value of hearing the two of them go at it verbally before either throws a punch, is nearly as good as the fight itself will likely prove to be.

(Props: MMAVIDS10)

The UFC’s next pay-per-view card goes down May 8th in Montreal, featuring the light-heavyweight title rematch between Lyoto Machida and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua — both of whom haven’t competed since their first fight last October. This extended preview acknowledges the controversy about the decision, which Shogun lost despite the fact that he clearly landed more strikes. Following two fantastic knockout victories over Thiago Silva and Rashad Evans, Machida’s title reign was immediately put in question after the Shogun fight, and the long layoff hasn’t helped his stock. Once again, he’ll need to convince fans of his merits. And once again, Dana White sells a fight as a matchup between two guys who "don’t like to go to the ground." Well that’s a relief. I wouldn’t want any of that grappling stuff to distract from the kickboxing match I’m paying for.

In the co-main event, top welterweight contenders Josh Koscheck and Paul Daley do battle in what could turn out to be a #1 contender’s match. In fact, there’s a rumor floating around that the winner of this fight will coach opposite Georges St. Pierre on TUF 12. If Koscheck employs his superior wrestling against "Semtex," he’ll dictate the fight. If he lets his ego force him into a striking war with Paul Daley, he could get his fraggle-lookin’ head knocked off. Any predictions on UFC 113′s headlining fights? And what about the TUF 10 castmates match between Kimbo Slice and Matt "Meathead" Mitrione?

(photo props: CombatLifestyle.com)

Paul Daley is arguably the most dangerous striker in the welterweight class. Possessing a lethal combination of power, accuracy and speed, the Nottingham, ENG native makes up for his shortcomings on the ground with his superior stand-up skills, often making quick work of his opponents.

Of Daley’s 23 victims, 13 never made it out of the first round, and only three of those made it past the three-minute mark with the former Cage Rage welterweight champion.

Much like coaxing him into a ground fight, tying down the 27-year-old for an interview is nearly impossible, but we managed to secure one round of his time for a rapid-fire Q&A session with the brash British fighter, who is currently in the midst of his training camp for his May 8 showdown with Josh Koscheck at UFC 113.

Here’s what he had to say about a variety of topics including Kos, his lack of dedication to training jiu-jitsu, his Rough House teammates and the reasons he loves to fight:

(Images courtesy of The UG.)

Who knows what will happen when Josh Koscheck and Paul Daley mix it up at UFC 113 (May 8th, Montreal), but Semtex has scored a first-round KO in the battle of insulting pre-fight Photoshops. Peeved at Koscheck’s recent Twitter outbursts, Daley stopped by The UG earlier today to post this call to arms:

The UG’ers quickly got to work whipping up a batch of photoshop destruction, the highlights of which you can see above and after the jump. (See, we told you that forum was the shit.) Enjoy, and if you have your own Joshoshops to add, please post links in the comments section or e-mail ‘em to us…

It’s not often that anyone in the MMA media gets to do a video interview that resembles a WWE promo, but this is probably the closest Ariel Helwani is ever going to get to feeling like Mean Gene Okerlund while on the job. Especially once Paul Daley comes on the scene, all Helwani is missing is a tuxedo and a sweet mustache, as well as perhaps a charmingly befuddled expression. Say what you will about “King Mo” Lawal and his chances against Gegard Mousasi, but the man is an entertainer. Anybody who spends that much time and energy thinking about and studying entrances is okay by us.

The only thing we could really do without is his fixation on his own “haters.” Maybe it’s his weak attempt to paint himself as a pro wrestling-style heel, but talking about how many people hate you is a little like going on a first date and talking about how many psycho exes you have. It doesn’t take long before that becomes an annoying personality trait, and one that doesn’t really achieve the desired end. 

If you really want to be a villain, do it the old-fashioned way.  Try talking some smack about the local sports teams in every city you visit, maybe disrespect a national icon or two.  Or, if you’re short on time, just manhandle Helwani during the interview, calling him a pencil-necked geek and threatening to show his wife what a real man looks like.  Trust me, Ariel has watched enough pro wrestling in his life to know exactly how to play along.

(‘Why, Anthony? I trusted you!’)

Today many people agreed to fight many other people for money at a later date, and as tedious as it is to run through all the fights that you’ll eventually learn about one way or another anyway, we might as well drag ourselves through it one more time:

– Josh Koscheck announced via Twitter today that he will fight Paul "Semtex" Daley in a "co main event" bout at UFC 113 on May 1st.  Daley has been grumbling about wanting a crack at Koscheck lately, and Koscheck responded by tweeting, "[t]his kid is going 2 get what he’s asking 4. XOXO"  Wait a minute, are we sure Koscheck’s Twitter wasn’t hacked by a fourteen year-old girl?

("I love the Break.com Videos app, and I love you! Let’s get married!" — Actual quote from Gina Carano)

I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that if you’re a regular reader of this site, you’re probably a young-ish dude. As a young-ish dude, you spend a great deal of your Internet time gawking at photos of hot chicks and watching videos of incompetent German magicians accidentally slamming nails through their hands. Maybe you have one of those fancy iPhones. And if all that is true, or at least close to true, then you really owe it to yourself to download Break.com’s new iPhone app from the iTunes store.

The Break.com Videos app brings a metric assload of funny right to the palm of your hand. Everything from viral videos of pranks, stunts, sexy girls, epic fails, and original sketch comedy, to handpicked photo galleries — it’s all absolutely free, and worth every penny. Download it here and thank us later.

To make up for this interruption in your normal MMA-coverage service, there’s a brand-new Paul Daley highlight video after the jump that you might be interested in…

(Photo courtesy of TheSun)

From a recent post on Brock Lesnar‘s official Facebook page:

NEW UPDATE!! Brock has had more problems (we can’t say what they are) and he could be out all of this year if things don’t get better. Brock wants to thank all of his fans for their support and for the nice messages so thanks guys.

Though we’ve yet to see the official update that we were promised this week, let this be your advance warning that Lesnar won’t be returning this summer. In other unconfirmed news…

— SI’s Josh Gross hears that Frankie Edgar will get the next shot at BJ Penn’s lightweight belt in April, regardless of Gray Maynard‘s performance against Nate Diaz at UFC Fight Night 20 on Monday. Edgar (11-1, 6-1 UFC), most recently submitted Matt Veach at the TUF 10 finale, holds wins over Sean Sherk, Hermes Franca, and Tyson Griffin, and previously lost a decision to Maynard in April 2008.

— According to MMA Live host Jon Anik, a match between knockout artist Paul Daley and perennial top contender Josh Koscheck is being discussed for May or June. Between Daley’s recent destructions of Martin Kampmann and Dustin Hazelett, and Koscheck’s wins over Frank Trigg and Anthony Johnson, both guys have a lot of heat behind them right now. Feels like a #1 welterweight contender fight to us…

(Come on, Dan — how many times did we go over the inverted-Colemura escape in training? Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Not only did Rashad Evans‘s $375,000 paycheck from UFC 108 eat up a hefty 36% of the event’s total disclosed payroll — $1,043,000, including end-of-night bonuses — Sugar was also the only fighter to earn six figures on Saturday night. Considering there were no other major UFC stars on the card due to The Curse of ’09, it makes sense; hopefully Evans bought at least one round at the afterparty. Full UFC 108 salary figures are below, courtesy of MMA Junkie:

Rashad Evans: $375,000 (includes $175,000 win bonus)
def. Thiago Silva: $55,000

Paul Daley: $84,200* (includes $18,000 win bonus, $50,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)
def. Dustin Hazelett: $19,800*

Sam Stout: $74,000 (includes $12,000 win bonus, $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
def. Joe Lauzon: $62,000 (includes $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus)

Jim Miller: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus)
def. Duane "Bang" Ludwig: $12,000

Junior Dos Santos: $60,000 (includes $30,000 win bonus)
def. Gilbert Yvel: $30,000

(Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Though UFC 108 had a lot of great finishes and battles to choose from, the recipients of the traditional end-of-night bonuses should come as no suprise. Picking up the $50,000 bumps are:

– Knockout of the Night: Paul "Semtex" Daley, for the IED he detonated on Dustin Hazelett.

– Submission of the Night: Cole Miller, for his inverted triangle on Dan Lauzon; I know it’s early, but I’m sure we’ll be seeing that one on "Best of 2010" lists.

– Fight of the Night: Sam Stout and Joe Lauzon. After suffering through Lauzon’s takedowns and elbows in the opening minutes, Stout put on the striking performance of his life en route to a lopsided decision.

Other notes on the evening…

("’Ey check me out, guys, I’m Joe Hogan. ‘Duhhhh…I do drugs…duhhhh…crazy, high-level zhoo-zhitsu…duhhhh…eat this buffalo penis and I’ll give you money…duhhhh’." Photo courtesy of the UFC 108 Weigh In Pics set on CombatLifestyle.)

Strap yourselves in, fight fans — IT’S TIME FOR THE MOST HIGHLY ANTICIPATED GRUDGE MATCH OF 2010. (So like, since yesterday, basically.) After a powerful curse stole nine fighters from the lineup, the survivors are ready to show that their brothers didn’t blow out their knees and catch staph in vain. For those of you paying for this pay-per-view, console yourself with the fact that the shittiest cards can often be the most suprisingly awesome. They can also be just as shitty as advertised, but we’ll try to stay positive for now. Complete UFC 108 results — from the Spike TV prelim fights all the way through Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva — await you after the jump. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest…

(Chandella Powell makes her big debut. Photo courtesy of the UFC 108 Weigh In Pics set on CombatLifestyle.)

From UFC.com…

MAIN CARD (10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT)
Thiago Silva (205) vs. Rashad Evans (205)
Paul Daley (172*) vs. Dustin Hazelett (168)
Sam Stout (155) vs. Joe Lauzon (155)
Jim Miller (155) vs. Duane Ludwig (156)
Gilbert Yvel (239) vs. Junior Dos Santos (237)

SPIKE TV PRELIMINARY CARD (9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT)
Jacob Volkmann (171) vs. Martin Kampmann (171)
Dan Lauzon (155) vs. Cole Miller (155)

OPENING BOUTS
Ryan Jensen (186) vs. Mark Munoz (185)
Jake Ellenberger (170) vs. Mike Pyle (171)
Rafaello Oliveira (156) vs. John Gunderson (155)

* Due to safety concerns, the Nevada State Athletic Commission wouldn’t let Daley attempt to cut to 171 pounds. According to CageWriter, Daley appeared shaky and off-balance directly before hitting the stage. Hazelett agreed to a catchweight bout of 172 pounds and Daley will be fined 10% of his purse.

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

Gilbert Yvel’s UFC debut against Junior Dos Santos is only five days away, and Dana White is pumped. To introduce the infamous Dutch striker to any dumbass noobs who’ve never heard of him, DW brought his video-blog operation over to Modern Martial Arts to watch Yvel work out. The gym is run by John Lewis, Dana’s first (and only) jiu-jitsu instructor, who went 1-1 in the UFC about ten years ago. Lewis complains to Dana that all he ever sees on UFC Unleashed is him getting tooled by Jens Pulver. To make it up to him, Lewis’s nasty stoppage of Lowell Anderson at UFC 22 is at the end of this video blog. Anyway, Yvel looks to be in fine form, but Dos Santos can bang too, and if he can get Hurricane Yvel to the ground it might be a wrap, son.

After the jump: Paul Daley discusses his God-given ability to knock people out; he’ll be taking on submission prodigy Dustin Hazelett at #108.

(Do yourself a favor, skip to the 4:15 mark to see Ariel Helwani ask Diego Sanchez about the Yes! Cartwheel.  It’s all cool until Helwani asks him to do it, and then it is suddenly not cool at all.)

Diego Sanchez believes it is his destiny to become a UFC champion, though there are a lot of other guys who think the same thing and will never get there.  What’s the difference between them and Diego?  A positive attitude and a willingness to look directly into the camera even when being interviewed by someone who is standing right next to him.  In other news around the MMA world:

- Paul Daley’s rant about what a "big pussy" Carlos Condit is turned out to be oddly prescient, as the UFC has reportedly decided to give him Dustin Hazelett at UFC 108, as Daley suggested.  Hazelett got screwed out of his fight at UFC 106 when Karo Parisyan threw away his career pulled out of the bout, and now the submissions ace gets what is likely to be an easier style match-up against Daley.  Provided, that is, that he can get him to the mat.

(When the going gets tough, the tough go on a massive Pedialyte bender. Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.)

For a card that was already struggling to book big fights in the wake of a heavyweight-targeting staph-outbreak, this is the last thing that UFC 108 needed. The January 2nd show has been struck down yet again, as Carlos Condit has been forced to withdraw from his fight against Paul Daley due to a hand injury suffered in training. The Condit/Daley scrap was slated to be UFC 108′s co-headliner. As things stand now, the only fights locked down for the main card are Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva, Joe Lauzon vs. Sam Stout, and Tyson Griffin vs. Jim Miller — and the event is less than a month away. Not exactly worthy of "New Year’s" card status, if you ask us. Can we move this one to Arbor Day?

As you can imagine, Paul Daley is upset, and when Paul gets upset he gets personal. "Condit is a big pussy IMO, I have inside information on that dude," Daley wrote on the Underground Forum. But after venting a bit, Semtex was in solution-mode: "It’s all good as long as I fight…Koscheck is a tough motherfucker, but I accept the challenge. Hazelett has sick subs, and is dangerous, but I accept that fight too. Any top level fighter in 170lbs with a winning record. Joe [Silva] make it happen.”

Unfortunately, Josh Koscheck is already scheduled to take on Paulo Thiago in February — but then again, you don’t fight 12 times a year unless you can fill every gap in every card. Out of curiosity, how bad do things have to get before the UFC just says "eff it" and cancels an event?

(Paul Daley shows off a completely different kind of punch face.)

There was a time when fighting Matt Hughes meant signing up to get slammed through the mat before being mercilessly pounded on and dominated in a way that makes even tough guys want to go cry in the shower.  Now, instead of being a feared force in the UFC’s welterweight division, he’s the guy everyone wants to fight, preferably soon, before anyone else has a chance to put a beating on him and claim whatever is left of the Hughes luster.  It’s not enough of an indignity for a former champ to have every 170-pounder at AKA putting his name in the streets, now Paul Daley is doing it too:

“I want to fight Hughes, firstly because he’s a legend and second he’s former welterweight champion. He has a win over the current welterweight champion, and he has all the skills to exploit my weaknesses that the media and my ‘fans’ so often talk about. …I want Hughes, I don’t see why he wouldn’t want to fight me, unless he thinks he’s gonna lose.”

First of all, Daley’s two reasons for wanting a fight with Hughes are really one reason: Matt Hughes has a big name.  But he does have a point when he says that Hughes has the tools to help us find out if Daley’s ground game is truly as weak as advertised.  At least, the old Hughes had those tools.