Paul Daley Likely to Fight Jon Fitch or Josh Koscheck Next, Wants Thiago Alves
Rising welterweight Paul Daley’s next bout is likely to come against top 170-pound contenders Jon Fitch or Josh Koscheck, but the British slugger also has his sights set on a matchup with recent welterweight challenger Thiago Alves.
Daley continued his climb up the division’s ladder on Saturday with a first-round knockout of Dustin Hazelett, his fourth-straight victory overall and second-straight in the UFC following a September knockout of Martin Kampmann.
“The big problem in this division right now is the two best guys out there are probably Koscheck and Fitch, and trying to get them to fight each other is a nightmare. I’d really like to see that fight,” said UFC President Dana White at Saturday’s post-UFC 108 press conference. “We’ll put Daley against one of them and see what happens.”
“Fitch would be great or Koscheck,” said Daley. “There’s (also) an Alves fight. I’ve been fighting and knocking guys out standing up, but I really haven’t displayed my full array of standup skills. I think a fight with Alves would be entertaining for the fans.”
With Fitch scheduled to rematch Alves in March, a matchup with Koscheck is most-likely on tap for Daley once Koscheck heals from an undisclosed injury that recently forced him to withdraw from a February rematch with Paulo Thiago.
Tags: Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, Paul Daley, Thiago Alves
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any of these matches would be sick, but i would really like to see semtex vs pitbull
i would like to see alves vs semtex but i would go with alves bc of his speed power and superior mua thai also wayyyyy better kicks
Daley and Alves?!
As the 360′s big brother used to say, “man your battlestations”…
;)
i want to see fitch get KO’d by semtex.. but you guys already know that
i think fitch would muscle him around and not get ko’d bc of his improving stand up and kicks on a defensive point of view and would be able to get it to the ground fairly easy
what about anthony johnson i know he lost to kos but him vs daley would be insane. fitch would most likely have the same gameplan kos did against leben on season one just lay on him and slight ground and pound. i think daley vs alve or rumble would be perfect
I do think the most likely march up is against Kos, and I would love to see that. However, I have an expectation that that fight would closely resemble Rumble vs. Kos.
I do know this much for certain, in that theres no way neither Jon Fitch nor Josh Koscheck would allow Paul Daley to just stand there and tee off on him the way Hazelett did last night.
If Semtex is asking for a fight with someone near the top of the 170 food chain, he’d best run his mouth less and work on his takedown defense more, or he’ll be exposed as a one-dimensional fighter.
He’ll also find out that there is a big difference between fighting a BJJ guy and stepping in with an actual wrestler…
Yes you are right Jcohl.
But then what if Kos decides he believes he has better stand up than Semtex and believes he can beat him standing, and loses by KO ala Paulo Thiago?? That would make my day!
But, Kos will just take him down and win on points, UD :(
Hey, if either Jon Fitch or Josh Koscheck fool themselves into thinking that they are better strikers than Paul Daley, which they most assuredly are not, then both men deserve no better than Dustin Hazelett got last night.
Unfortunately for Daley supporters, I’m thinking that their boy will probably catch a UD loss against either AKA guy, for exactly the reason you posted.
Its awfully hard to KTFO someone from your back, or when you’re trying to keep a wrestler off of your legs for 15 minutes…
I think Kos finally got smart in his last fight against Rumble and abandoned the notion that he can hang with an A-game striker. I think you’re right if he fights Fitch or Kos he’s going to be exposed like Rumble was. I also see Alves demo’ing Daley with kicks….he’s no slouch on the ground either.
Daley vs Alves would be sick….stand up and bombs away…dont blink if that fight happens..you could miss another Hendo style knockout…
I was expecting a post like this to appear right after I watched Daley KO McLovin. I immediately started thinking who Daley was going to fight next. They need to get a big, athletic, strong fighter in there with Semtex. Solution: Kos and Pitbull. Although a fight with Pitbull is a better matchup and a fight that EVERYONE would love to see.
If Daley was to fight Pitbull, I think Pitbull would win. He has fought tougher competition recently (Hughes, Kos, The Greatness) compared to Semtex (Kampmann, McLovin). Pitbull has amazing muay thai, and as we all know he has a size advantage on just about every Welterweight in the UFC (with the exception of Rumble).
A matchup with Koscheck is still very intriguing though. Kos proved he can survive fights against outstanding strikers, especially in his fight against Rumble. Although if he tries to stand up the whole fight and trade with Semtex, he will likely get KTFO. He should go back to his roots and use his wrestling and athletic ability to win the fight.
Cant wait to see how all this unfolds in the next week or so. Hopefully injuries dont plague any of these potential matchups.
what about rumble vs pitbull
That’s awesome that he’s calling out Alves – that would be an amazing fight.
How is getting Kos and Fitch a “nightmare” isn’t it no more than them just saying no?
The gods of MMA have heard my prayers!
I like both hazelett and daley, but I wanted daley to win because I knew, or atleast hoped, that after beating dutin he’d fight kos or fitch.
IMO Kos or Fitch would surely be a tougher fight for daley then kampann and dustin were, BUT Daley would eventually stuff the takedown, force the stand up and knock either fitch, or kos the hell out. I’d rather see him take kos out and let thiago alves take fitch out. Either way, 2010 will either see AKA ww’s face eachother, or get taken out of the ww mix.
AKA isn’t going to face one another and we know it. I want to see Alves v Fitch and KOS v Daley, if Fitch beats Alves he definitely deserves a rematch with GSP if Alves beats Fitch and Daley beats KOS I would like to see Alves v Daley if KOS and Fitch both win then Fitch should get his rematch and well KOS can fight or wait either way, hey because of the emergence of Daley the UFC’s WW division has almost gotten a little exciting..
O and I think Daley called out Alves cuz its more likely that Alves would stand with him than anyone else, Daley dodged a bullet with Hazlett chosing to stand with him, calling out Fitch would have made more sense but Fitch would take him down and we all know it, owell its good for the division either way..
I agree FR,
The WW division is heating up. With hardy coming out of nowhere and daley “exploding” on to the scene, we’re surely in for some good fights.
I don’t think fitch will ever fight kos, but daley vs kos sounds good to me.
I agree with you about fitch. Fitch has won 3 in a row and with a win over alves, he would he11a deserve a rematch.
Daley vs alves would be chaos dude! Can’t wait to see any of these rumored matches go down though
I like Daley but lets see what he does against someone who just doesn’t stand there and wait to get punched in the face. Taking on Kos or Alves is a huge leap up for him.