Paul Daley’s retirement fight is set.
One Last Dance
MMA content creator Michael Morgan was first to report the news that Paul Daley will fight Andrey Koreshkov on May 13 at Bellator London. A source close to the situation would confirm the welterweight booking to MiddleEasy.
Daley would confirm the fight on his Instagram, saying the following: “Final Fight. Going in as an underdog.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CaMJxUuj0cP/
After 14 fights with Bellator, Daley (43-18-2) will be ending his career with the promotion. ‘Semtex’ had his three-fight win streak snapped in his last outing when he lost a unanimous decision to Jason Jackson at Bellator 260. Prior to his recent loss, Daley had a two-round war with Sabah Homasi in a fight of the year contender, finished Saad Awad, and beat Erick Silva.
The Decision
The 39-year old has retired once before but returned to action less than a year later. However, this time it appears that Daley really is stepping away. In an interview with MMA Fighting, he said he was just tired.
“After many years in the game, the hours on the road, hours in the gym, the years have caught up with me and now every morning I wake up with a bad back, and I’m just tired. I’ve put in a lot of time in the sport and I’m in a position to retire, fortunately. So yeah, I’m going to retire,” Daley said.
“I don’t want to be one of those fighters who’s getting knocked out all the time by the younger guys. I want to be a guy who goes out when I want to go out.”
If Daley wanted a tough guy that will bring the fight to him, he got it.
Koreshkov (25-4) is coming off a brutal 38 second TKO win in which he broke Chance Rencountre’s ribs and punctured his lung with a spinning back kick. The former Bellator welterweight champion has looked fantastic since returning to Bellator after taking one fight outside of the promotion. A win over Daley will get the Russian that much closer to the Bellator welterweight title.
Bellator London will take place at the SSE Arena in London, England, on May 13, 2022.
The Bellator London card looks like this so far:
- Yaroslav Amosov vs. Michael Page for the welterweight title.
- Jason Jackson vs. Douglas Lima
- Paul Daley vs. Andrey Koreshkov
- Denise Kielholtz vs. Kana Watanabe
- Simon Biyong vs. Luke Trainer
- Fabian Edwards vs. Lyoto Machida
- Daniel Weichel vs. Robert Whiteford
- Alfie Davis vs. Tim Wilde
- Kate Jackson vs. Elina Kallionidou
