Paul Daley’s Apology
Daley:
I’ve had a long flight home to consider my actions and regret the mistake I made on Saturday. I would like to apologise to the UFC and the Athletic Commission for what I’ve done as well as all the fans and sponsors that support me.
I would also like to offer my sincerest apologies to Josh Koscheck who did not deserve the cheap shot I threw. He did what he needed to do in order to win the fight and get the job done, and I foolishly reacted to the situation. There is no excuse for my actions and I know what I did was very unprofessional. I was immensely frustrated by a collection of things that took place throughout the fight as well as leading up to it, but I’m certainly not trying to condone or excuse my actions.
Josh implemented his game plan perfectly taking me down and staying on top of me for the majority of the fight. I was also frustrated about him claiming (and acting like) I knee’d him in the head on the ground when it was clear for all to see in the video replay that I didn’t connect at all with the knee I threw. Then finally, the verbal abuse Josh hit me with in the final 30 seconds of the fight simply pushed me over the edge and my frustrations came out as I knew I’d lost the fight, was unhappy with my own performance and had then been ridiculed by my opponent to top things off.
This is certainly no excuse for my actions; I fully deserve to be punished for what I did and hope that everyone I have disappointed can forgive my rash decision. I feel very disappointed in myself for losing my cool and hope that I am able to address my temperament and bounce back from this low point in my career.
I feel ashamed and embarrassed by what I did and hope that together my team and I can get through this issue. It will be a long road back from where I am now to earning the trust and respect of the UFC and the MMA fans that have supported me for so long, I know I’ve let you all down but I’m determined to make it up to you all.
That was very dignified way of dealing with this and moving on IMO
I hope Dana pulls back a bit on it. Plus, he’s just pushed Daley and Kimbo for weeks and weeks and would be hand delivering them to Strikeforce.
To be honest, I don’t mind if Daley doesn’t go back to UFC. I’m sorry that he wont be able to get as good paydays, but there’s lots of interesting fights for him elsewhere. The UFC is loaded with wrestler types that will just want to do exactly what Koscheck did and avoid engaging with him at all.
The thing is though, I think with the exception of the truly great wrestlers like Kos, Fitch, and GSP, I think he can take most of those guys. What about Daley vs. Alves? That would be awesome.
Daley vs. Alves would be awesome.
The welterweight division frustrates me just because it is so wrestling-centric.
With the exception of Matt Serra, you have to go back to 2004 when BJ Penn beat Hughes to when the welterweight champion didn’t use wrestling as his base. It’s been that way for a while. And I wonder why?