British MMA veteran Paul Daley has his sights set on a retirement fight against Russian Andrey Koreshkov.
The fight card will go down on May 13th and is headlined by Bellator Welterweight champion Yaroslav Amosov and challenger Michael ‘Venom’ Page. It looks to be an exciting event at London’s OVO Arena.
The fight was first reported to be in the works by MMA journalist Michael Martin and now looks to be official to take place in three months.
Daley has a notable 63 pro MMA fights (43-18-2), with bags of experience to show. The start of his professional MMA career dates back to June 2003, fighting in some of the world’s most notable MMA promotions such as Cage Warriors, UFC, and Strikeforce. However, he feels May 13th is the right time to call an end to his great career.
Paul memorably had a 1-round-war with Nick Diaz during his Strikeforce days, which fans still return to. Stunning KOs over Andy Uhrich and Brennan Ward is also mentioned by MMA fans when looking at Paul’s career. Some fans say Paul has one of the most lethal left hooks in MMA history, with his striking impressing many over the years.
Can Paul Daley Go Out on a High?
Similarly, his opponent carries a lot of MMA experience under his belt, with 29 MMA fights in total (25-4-0). Koreshkov’s Bellator debut was in 2012. Since then, he captured gold in the promotion and has a total of 15 wins. Impressively winning nine of those via finish.
After an amazing spinning back kicks TKO to the body, which finished his fight with Chance Rencountre in just 38 seconds at Bellator 274. Andrey looks to extend his Bellator win streak to three. After hanging around the sport of MMA for so long, the men will finally face off in a fight that will be watched by thousands in-stadium and at home.
Following his recent Bellator 274 victory, Andrey called out Daley and had his wish granted in the following days. Bellator made this official via Twitter.
Paul stated on Ariel Helwani’s ‘The MMA Hour’ that he has intended on retirement for a while; however, he has only just gotten around to putting a date on it. “I’m just tired”, he quoted. However, he left the door open to potentially explore other combat sports, stating this would be his last ‘MMA’ fight.
Other fights on the card include Douglas Lima vs Jason Jackson (170), Lyoto Machida vs Fabian Edwards (185), and Denise Kielholtz vs Kana Watanabe (125).
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