Paul Daley has officially signed with the UFC and will reportedly make his Octagon debut earlier than expected, likely taking on fellow UFC newcomer Brian Foster at UFC 103 on September 19 in Dallas, Texas.

The British welterweight Daley, whose UFC signing was reported earlier this week and confirmed by UFC President Dana White during a Friday conference call, had been expected to debut in November at UFC 105 in Manchester, England, but will instead debut on the UFC 103 preliminary card, according to MMA Weekly.

Daley (21-8-2), had been scheduled to fight Jay Hieron at the recently-canceled August 1 Affliction: Trilogy event, is a veteran of Cage Rage, Strikeforce, EliteXC, and MFC and has won 9 of his past 11 fights, including recent back-to-back victories. The only losses for “Semtex” since 2006 were defeats to notables Jake Shields and Nick Thompson, while he also picked up notable wins over the likes of Duane Ludwig, Sam Morgan, and John Alessio.

A member of Matt Hughes’ HIT Squad, Foster (10-3) is currently riding a three-fight win streak that includes a 5-second knockout of Mike Jackson and a 59-second KO of Kyle Baker in 2009.

UFC 103 is headlined by Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort and also features Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic vs. Junior dos Santos and Mike Swick vs. Martin Kampmann.

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Pictured: Paul Daley

Tags: Brian Foster, Paul Daley