BELLATOR star Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley is opening up a new gym just in time for his fans to rock up to his Nottingham dojo to celebrate his win over UFC icon Rory MacDonald.
The welterweight clash at Wembley arena will be MacDonald’s first since switching promotions and down-to-earth Daley is confident of scoring an upset for his St Ann’s community.
The kickboxing ace had his UFC career cut short in 2010 for an illegal shot but he has rebuilt his career, his reputation and his own dojo under the Bellator banner.
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The 33-year-old’s flying-knee KO on Brennan Ward in January was the perfect welcome for MacDonald ahead of their May 19 battle and he expects a full house once he wins.
Daley’s trash talking made him seem an unlikely candidate for a coaching career but he explained to SunSport how he is in a better head space and building as he prepares for the war.
He said: “At Spirit dojo I am there just to help people achieve their goals, whether it be weight loss, self-confidence or learning some basic self-defence moves. We are there to help.
“I think I do a good job and I must be doing something right because we are just about to move into a new 4,000sq foot facility and we will really be pushing on this year.
“I love coaching and playing my part in the community.
"The gym is in St Ann's which is a real working-class area that gets a lot of bad press for gun-crime and violence.
“We do nothing but positive things there and we are having a positive effect on the area.
“The gym is always packed after one of my fights. Anyone in Nottingham – or anyone who knows me on the UK MMA scene - will tell you I am just a normal guy.
“I have never elevated myself to a place where I see myself as above my community because I think when you do that you isolate yourself.
“I am no different to anyone, you will see me walking about and shopping in Aldi and Tesco.
“You’ll see me in my scruffy tracksuit bottoms, it’s very rare you’ll ever see me looking like I’ve seen a stylist.”
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A younger Daley might have launched a stinging verbal attack on MacDonald when their mouth-watering welterweight match-up was announced.
The Canadian looks fragile after suffering consecutive UFC losses to Robbie Lawler and Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson and a year out due to an oxygen robbing nose problem.
Instead Daley admitted he was a little awestruck by Bellator’s new signing but vowed to use his new positive mentality to leave MacDonald in a very negative state.
Daley said: “I think in my last fight against Brennan Ward – even if I had not got such a fantastic knock out – everything was right.
“Everything was spot-on mentally and if I can replicate that mentality I will have more success and better performances.
“I am just being honest with myself ahead of the fight and probably trying to do less trash talking.
“I am being open and honest with myself and the fans. I am a fan of Rory so why not say that and compliment him and not force myself to put on so much of a show.
“Let’s not forget that Rory has not fought for a long time.
"Although I am very complimentary of him, I am treating this fight very seriously and we have assessed the fight and are very confident in what we’re doing.
“I have had a very successful and dangerous knock-out in my last fight and Rory has lost his past two and hasn’t fought for a while.
“He may feel like he has something to prove, I am in a position where I have a massive opportunity and when I get that I always bring it.
“When I am in the right mentality it is great for me but it is very bad news for my opponent, very bad news.”
Daley’s MMA record is a list star names, he has ducked no one in a career that has taken him from Essex to Moscow, via Sheffield, Japan, Las Vegas and Australia.
Duane Ludwig was sparked, UFC king Tyron Woodley taken the distance and his 4mins 57secs loss to Nick Diaz was as exciting a first round as MMA fans dream of.
Now he gets MacDonald and he does not care that he has UFC legend and training mate Georges St-Pierre in his corner, after he announced a return for Michael Bisping.
Daley said: “Rory training again with Georges St-Pierre makes no difference to our fight as me and George are completely different fighters.
“I would fight GSP and be confident I would put that guy in a lot of trouble and maybe even knock him out.
“I am confident that even though I am enjoying a bit of a laidback nature, let’s not mistake it for a lack of confidence.
“I am confident that I am up there with the elite and the best in the world and it doesn’t matter that Rory is training with GSP again.
“If you put GSP in front of me I’ll fight and beat him too.”
Click here for tickets to Paul Daley's Bellator 179 showdown
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