Paul Daley: Strikeforce backed me into a corner, I’ll never kiss UFC ass
“I don’t think Nick is going to come forward against me,” Daley told MMA Fighting. “He has done it in…
“I don’t think Nick is going to come forward against me,” Daley told MMA Fighting. “He has done it in previous fights, but I doubt he’ll come straight on against me. He’s been in with some heavy hitters but I don’t think he’s been in with anyone who hits as hard as me and is at that stage where he’s smashing people up … I feel I’m in that kind of mode that if I hit anybody, they’re going to sleep. If Nick Diaz wants to try that out, I’d love to give him the opportunity to do it.”
“They’re not going to fight the way Nick usually fights, which is on emotion. He probably told Nick I’m going to try to draw him into a standup battle, and not to do that, because the likelihood is, you will get knocked out no matter how good your chin is. The fact that they’re being quiet, it tells me they’re a little bit nervous.”
“I think the Strikeforce people are very smart in how they offer these fights. I don’t think they want to give me time to prepare for Nick Diaz. I have the name but they want to try to limit my chances as much as possible, flying me out of the country late, sort of backing me into a corner to take the fight. First they wanted me to take in January, and I said no coming straight off the Scott Smith fight. I think they don’t want me to get my stride and prepare for Diaz, is what I feel. But I’m taking the fight, and I’m confident.”
“I do anticipate a difficult fight, but I truly believe as good as people say Nick’s chin is, if i hit him, he’s going to sleep. One other thing for him to think about: there’s elbows in Strikeforce now. He cuts easily, and my elbows are from hell. But he’s not going to come straight on against me. My jab is like most people’s right hand. I could stop him with a cut. I could knee the f— out of him, I could kick him. I could ground-and-pound him. Nick Diaz is in a world of trouble. I’m going to go in there and I’m going to punch, kick and elbow him until the referee pulls me off of him, and that’s exactly how it’s going to happen.”
UFC President Dana White cut Paul Daley and vowed never to allow him back into the UFC after his post-fight sucker punch on Josh Koscheck at UFC 113. Daley however has stated in recent weeks that he believes the decision to cut him was personal – that White simply dislikes him.
Unlike Josh Barnett and Dan Henderson, Daley has made little effort to smooth the road to a potential UFC return, and threatened to pull out of the Diaz fight.
“I’m not a kiss-ass, I’m not really a company guy, I like to do my own thing and do things when I want to do them. Some people like that, some people don’t.”
“My management tell me to do something but I’ll just do what I want to do.
“I’m not stubborn, it’s not that I’ve got no discipline, I just want to be me. I’ve only ever been me, I just say it how it is and deal with the consequences afterwards.”
Paul Daley faces champion Nick Diaz this Saturday April 9, for the Strikeforce welterweight title.
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