Paul Daley såg inte ut att vilja stressa fram en returmatch med Michael ”Venom” Page efter deras weltervikts möte i Bellator 216. Men efter Pages senaste fight i Bellator London så har Daley fått upp ögonen för returmatchen med MVP.
Page vann det första mötet mot Daley via enhälligt beslut i februari. Daley var missnöjd med domarnas beslut och ansåg att han vann fighten. Nu vill Daley ha en returmatch och påpekar att det är viktigt att fighten tar plats i England.
Daley talar ut om situationen i Bellator Europé 6 Broadcast.
“He couldn’t do what he normally does to everybody else (when we fought this weekend), in my mind I thought I won that fight. The only way to make it more convincing to everybody else is to take him out before the judges. If that fight is going to happen it needs to be a big fight. It needs to happen here in 2020, at Wembley in 2020.”
“I approached that fight with the intention to win, I kind of led people down the wrong path thinking it was going to be this brutal bloodbath when I knew I could beat him comfortably on the ground.”
Daley sa sedan att Bellator fortfarande ger Page fördelar när de kommer till matchmaking och anser att han fortfarande inte blivit prövad av eliten.
“This is ridiculous, you can’t continually beat these kind of opponents. Yes, he knocks them out, but he’s expected to knock them out. What does this prove, the fact that he knocked out a guy nobody will remember? It proves nothing. It proves nothing at all. Why didn’t he do that to me? Why didn’t he do that to Douglas Lima? Because he’s not of that caliber.”
“I need to see more from Michael Page, in my opinion, whether it’s a rematch with me or a rematch with another top-tier fighter. Does a win over this guy warrant a title shot? In my opinion it doesn’t. Yes, he’s a star. Yes, people love him. But can he really fight? The two times he’s stepped up, on paper, he’s got a ‘victory’ over me. Most people, including me, thought he lost that fight. Second time he stepped up against the champion, who I went three rounds with, he gets knocked out cold. So he needs to fight solid opponents instead of feeding him these guys.”
Även om Daley är mest intresserad av en returmatch med den nykrönte welterviktsmästare Douglas Lima så är MMA-veteranen fortfarande öppen för en returmatch med MVP.
“I think Douglas Lima is the more exciting fight for me, we went three rounds, and now he’s the welterweight champion again, the grand prix champion, and one of the very best fighters in the world.”
“If they give me the contract, and it’s the right contract (for Page), we don’t need the hype, we don’t need nothing. Let’s just fight. I know I’m better than him. I know I won the first time, and I can do it again. Do I hate the guy? All animosity? No. I just want to prove I’m better and that he’s not of the caliber that everybody thinks he his.”
Vem tror ni skulle vinna ett returmöte mellan Daley och MVP?
