It starts... Daley threatening to pull out of Diaz fight...

Names like Josh Barnett, and Fedor Emelianenko initially come to mind, but one name that is threatening to have an immediate impact is Paul "Semtex" Daley. Daley, who is scheduled to fight Nick Diaz for the Strikeforce welterweight title on April 9th, is now saying he may not fight Diaz.

"Business as usual, what if i dont wanna fight for DANA WHITE/ZUFFA?......Dana white bans me for life from the UFC, Then buys STRIKEFORCE, and thinks im still gonna be EASY and fight on one of the most anticipated fights of the year (vs Diaz)? Which will no doubt make ZUFFA/Dana White money. Daley vs Diaz still on?.....Someone better holla at my manager real quick."

Daley was released from his UFC contract back in May of 2010, for blatantly punching Josh Koscheck, after the third round and fight had already ended. In a statement made by Dana White after the event, the UFC president said "He'll never come back, I don't care if he's the best 170-pounder in the world. He's never coming back here."
Paul Daley threatening to pull out of fight with Nick Diaz - UFC NEWS, MMA NEWS | BJPENN.COM

http://www.bjpenn.com/profiles/blogs/paul-daley-threatening-to-pull

 

Whilst i dont condone Daley's actions at all i am a fan as he's exciting to watch. Contrary to what many fans seem to think NO fighter has to wait for ANY scraps to fall off a Zuffa table just so they can eat.
There is nothing to stop them pursuing careers elsewhere or even packing up fighting. If i was in Daley positions i would absolute stick to my guns. He's a man first. He has his pride. If that means turning down Dana White who did say VERY categorically he had no place in the UFC then why fight on his bill? I would happily put two fingers up at the establishment.

 

Absolutely spot on. But the simple crux of the matter is Fighter A fighting fighter B under THEIR OWN TERMS.
What the UFC is doing is exactly the same as what Vince McMahon did in the WWE. Even if a Wrestler left he invariably owned all the rights to that wrestler and usually they were not able to compete for a number of years because of contractual and legal disagreements. Thats a ludicrous situation for ANY professional fighter and completely surmises the type of organisation that Zuffa are. The fact that Dana is completely opposed to Ali Act really shows the type of integrity he has towards his fighters other than those that make his organisation serious money ala Brock GSP Liddell etc. Like i said its only one up from ECW these days.

 

Well his contract is with SF and Showtime. Who knows what the finer stipulations of that require. Interesting times ahead indeed though as there will be MANY fighters who wont be happy about this at all.

 

Dude Dana said the same thing about PRIDE. We know what happened there. Zuffa will retain all intellectual property as they see fit and dispense with the rest. They can do this because its theirs. I don't know why anyone would be naive enough to believe otherwise.

 

First and foremost Daley fights for HIMSELF. He has his OWN career and livelihood to consider first. If that means sticking to his guns and making a living elsewhere NO ONE can fault him for that.

 

What happens to the fighters royalties with the EA MMA franchise? Matter of fact what happens to the franchise?!?!?! Some fighters like Couture and Hendo deliberately went with EA (obviously to make some money) but also because they didn't want to sign their rights away to Zuffa. What now?
The reality is the implications of this are huge.
And Fedor will be back on the M-1 circuit or retired. He doesn't need MMA any more and there's no way he'll ever fight in the UFC. Fans can safely put that one to bed. All this acquisition has done is hastened his retirement.

 

Id love to see that fight. But i don't see it happening now as Daley is very much a free spirit. He's fought on a multitude of promotions and has no qualms fighting anywhere any place any time. (Reminds me alot of Jeff Monson in that respect who also left the UFC on bad terms because of a similar said issue). Bad news for MMA fans but ultimately bad for the sport BECAUSE of Zuffa.