Just hours ago, Paul Daley signed a six-fight Strikeforce contract. He will still fight at Shark Fights 13 which will go down September 11th at the Civic Center Coliseum in Amarillo, Texas (sort of a strange date to have an MMA event). His first opponent will be Evangelista Cyborg which denotes that he will still be competing at welterweight.
If this is true then it's a pretty nice signing by Strikeforce. They have a lot of issues and the depth of their roster is probably the biggest one. Daley would give them a nice addition to the Welterweight stable and provide a potential challenger to champion Nick Diaz. That's a fight I would love to see. More from Middle Easy:
Paul Daley seems extraordinarily happy with the financial package that he received from Strikeforce. Not sure when Daley will debut in the organization but according to UnitedGlory.nl, he will also be competing in a welterweight tournament (along with Shinya Aoki) which will kick off October 16th and wrap-up April 2011. Of course, all of this really means that we may see some of the greatest smack-talk in the history of MMA if Paul Daley vs. Nick Diaz goes down.
Hopefully this gets confirmed soon. For as stupid as Daley was to sucker punch Josh Koscheck at UFC 113, everybody makes mistakes and there is no reason to not give a guy a second chance if he says and does the right things. Daley issued his apology after the fight and has been trying to stay active since then. He picked up a win over Daniel Acacio at Impact FC 2 just a few weeks ago and as stated above is slated to fight at Shark Fights 13 in September. Daley has plenty to offer any organization willing to take a chance on him and we knew it was a matter of time.
UPDATE: MMA Weekly is confirming the report by Middle Easy.
Paul Daley, who was let go by the UFC following a post fight punch on opponent Josh Koscheck, will get a second shot with a major promotion as he has signed a new 6-fight deal with Strikeforce that will see the welterweight debut in 2010.
The news was confirmed to MMAWeekly.com by sources close to the situation on Sunday, and first reported by MiddleEasy.com.
Daley's camp was unavailable for comment, but sources have indicated that the British bomber will still participate in the upcoming Shark Fights card in September that he was previously announced for, although an opponent has not been named yet.
This is outstanding news.
UPDATE #2 - Sergio Non, from USA Today, says that he talked to Strikeforce and it isn't official yet:
Just got off phone with Strikeforce's Afromowitz, who says Daley isn't signed yet, though the company expects it Monday or Tuesday.
So basically it's going to happen and it's all but done, it's just not official.