Paul Daley explains why he considered pulling out of Nick Diaz fight after Zuffa's purchase of Strikeforce

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

When the news came out last month that Zuffa had purchased Strikeforce, one fighter who was not in the good graces of the new owners of Strikeforce, Paul Daley, considered pulling out of his bout this Saturday with Nick Diaz for the Strikeforce Welterweight Championship. In a media conference call last week, Daley explained his thought process on why he considered bowing out of the title fight.

"I honestly thought I wasn't going to take the fight. I was actually a bit hot-headed at the time; I'm that kind of character," Daley said. "The way I saw it, Strikeforce was the biggest competition to the UFC. And the UFC, and Dana White kicking me out of the UFC, I kind of thrived in knowing I was the rival to the UFC. That's what was driving me. I was in competition with them directly by being in Strikeforce or by fighting wherever I'm fighting.

"I was doing good doing that. For me, that was sort of proving my worth to the UFC as a fighter. I had some decision wins, I had some knockouts and I had some stoppages, but the most important thing was, people were talking about the fights that I was in. I told Scott Coker that was the main thing."

For Daley, the having Zuffa in control of the vast majority of major MMA in North America and the world isn't a good thing, and he doesn't like the path he believes it could take.

"As a fan of the martial arts and a fan of MMA, I don't like to see the other way it's going," he said. "The sport's going to be a monopoly. In 10 years' time, people are going to be calling MMA the UFC. I think that's bad. That's why I wanted to pull out of the fight. I didn't want to fight (for) the competition, basically."

However, cooler heads prevailed and Daley signed on to take the fight. Now, Daley says Saturday's fight is the most important thing for him, and what happens with Strikeforce and the UFC in the future is something that will be dealt with down the line.

"Having spoke to my manager and spoke to the people around me, it's a big opportunity to become Strikeforce champion and it's a big fight, regardless of who owns the company. So I decided that I'd take the fight in the end," Daley said. "I think the most important thing for me right now is beating Nick Diaz and becoming the champion, and whatever happens after that, we'll work out.

"Whether I'm fighting guys that come from the UFC to Strikeforce, or whether Dana swallows his pride and has me come over to the UFC and fight, we'll see what happens."

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