Paul Daley signs a six-fight deal w Strikeforce

[Luke]

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.

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

[SPX]

Cool. Daley's a cockface, but I like watching him fight.

And why the fuck is Shinya Aoki fighting in a WW tournament?

[Ludo]

Aoki has fought at Welterweight before I am pretty sure.

[zY|]

Aoki has fought at Welterweight before I am pretty sure.

Yeah. He has.

[SPX]

Aoki has fought at Welterweight before I am pretty sure.

Right, but unless he intends on making a permanent move to the division it seems odd that he's going to participate in a tournament.

[Mr. IWS]

Aoki has fought at Welterweight before I am pretty sure.

Yeah. He has.

LOL

[Ludo]

Aoki has fought at Welterweight before I am pretty sure.

Right, but unless he intends on making a permanent move to the division it seems odd that he's going to participate in a tournament.

Not really. He is probably looking to get more acclimated to the cage in such a way that if he loses it doesn't effect his status at Lightweight. Seems feasible to Me at least.

[SPX]

Not really. He is probably looking to get more acclimated to the cage in such a way that if he loses it doesn't effect his status at Lightweight. Seems feasible to Me at least.

That's an interesting perspective.

Considering that tournaments are often used to find title contenders, however, I do question his motives.

[Ludo]

Oh I question them as well but the likelihood that he actually wins this tournament is slim. I think his motive is to develop a way to adapt his style to the cage and hopefully rematch Melendez sometime next year. For all we know he could be considering a permanent move. He seemed like something was out of place before the fight at Dream he just had. Maybe he's bored with 155, maybe he's bored with Japanese MMA, we really don't know until he says one way or another. Of Course someone could just be throwing his name into the tournament without a basis much like Coker was doing with the supposed Middleweight tournament we kept hearing about with a list of "possibles" as long as the ones we thought were locked.

[SPX]

Update. . .

Former Cage Rage champion and recent UFC fighter Paul Daley has not signed with Strikeforce.

Despite reports of a completed six-figure deal, Strikeforce spokesperson Mike Afromowitz today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) no deal has been reached with the British fighter. Additionally, a representative for Daley said the fighter is weighing multiple options.

Daley currently is slated to fight at next month's Shark Fights 13 event as part of a one-fight deal with the promotion.

"At this point, I'm not really in a position to comment at this point and time," Wad Alameddine of Fight Management told MMAjunkie.com. "We've definitely been talking to Strikeforce, and we've been talking to a number of different groups. But right now, I'm in a position where I can't make any comment on that, unfortunately."

Daley, who's ranked among the world's top 10 at 170 pounds, also is one of the sport's top free agents. However, he only became available after UFC officials terminated his contract following UFC 113. After dropping a unanimous decision to Josh Koscheck at the May event, Daley threw a post-fight punch at his rival. UFC president Dana White condemned the action and announced the fighter's termination just an hour later in the night's post-fight press conference.

Despite the loss and the criticism he received, Daley nonetheless owns a solid 24-9-2 record, and he's won five of his past six fights (all via stoppage). Most recently, he submitted Daniel Acacio (21-9 at the time) at July's Impact FC 2 event in Australia.

An opponent has not been named for his upcoming Shark Fights 13 bout, which is part of the deepest fight card in the Texas-based promotion's history.

If signed, Daley, who counts 18 knockouts among his 24 career wins, would join a Strikeforce welterweight division currently ruled by champ Nick Diaz. Other notables in the weight class include Jay Hieron, Andre Galvao, Joe Riggs, Tyron Woodley and Marius Zaromskis.

[Luke]

^^^^ of course they'd try to say that since they were a mile behind everyone else with the news that he signed