Paul Daley – Page 5 – Syndication Server

Bellator 241 pre-event facts: Numbers reflect Patricio Freire as an all-time great

Check out all the facts and figures about Bellator 241, which takes place Friday with a Patricio Freire vs. Pedro Carvalho main event.

Bellator action resumes on Friday with Bellator 241, which takes place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., with a main card that streams on DAZN following prelims on MMA Junkie.

A featherweight championship fight headlines the card as [autotag]Patricio Freire[/autotag] (30-4 MMA, 18-4 BMMA) looks to further entrench his legacy as the greatest 145-pound fighter in Bellator history, when he takes on [autotag]Pedro Carvalho[/autotag] (11-3 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) in a matchup that also serves as a quarterfinal bout in the ongoing featherweight grand prix.

The card has more to offer than that, though. For all the numbers, check below for 30 pre-event facts about Bellator 241.

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Main event

Freire competes in his 23rd Bellator bout, tied with David Rickels for the most appearances in company history.

Freire competes in his 11th Bellator title fight, the second most in company history behind Michael Chandler (12).

Freire’s eight victories in Bellator championship fights are most in company history.

Freire is one of two simultaneous two-division champions in Bellator history. Ryan Bader also accomplished the feat.

Freire is one of three fighters in Bellator history to win titles in two weight classes. Bader and Joe Warren also accomplished the feat.

Freire’s 18 victories in Bellator competition are most in company history.

Freire’s 17 victories in Bellator featherweight competition are most in divisional history.

Freire’s 11 stoppage victories in Bellator competition are second most in company history behind Chandler (12).

Freire’s 10 stoppage victories in Bellator featherweight competition are second most in divisional history behind A.J. McKee (11).

Freire’s seven knockout victories in Bellator competition are tied for third most in company history behind Patricky Freire (nine) and Douglas Lima (nine).

Freire’s six knockout victories in Bellator featherweight competition are tied with McKee for most in divisional history.

Freire’s four submission victories in Bellator featherweight competition are tied for second most in divisional history behind McKee (five).

Carvalho has earned eight of his 11 career victories by stoppage. That includes three of his four Bellator wins.

Carvalho’s four-fight Bellator winning streak at featherweight is tied for the third longest active streak in the division behind McKee (16) and Darrion Caldwell (six).

Co-main event

[autotag]Emmanuel Sanchez[/autotag] (19-4 MMA, 11-3 BMMA) competes in his 15th Bellator featherweight bout, tied for the fourth most appearances in divisional history behind Freire (21), Daniel Straus (16) and McKee (16).

Sanchez’s 11 victories by Bellator featherweight competition are third most in divisional history behind Freire (17) and McKee (16).

Sanchez’s four submission victories in Bellator featherweight competition are tied for second most in divisional history behind McKee (five).

Sanchez’s seven decision wins in Bellator featherweight competition are most in divisional history.

[autotag]Daniel Weichel[/autotag] (40-11 MMA, 9-3 BMMA) was successful in his return to the Bellator featherweight division in September.

Remaining main card

[autotag]Paul Daley[/autotag] (42-17-2 MMA, 8-4 BMMA) has earned all 33 career stoppage victories as a result of strikes. That includes six of his eight Bellator wins.

[autotag]Mitrione Mitrione[/autotag]’s (13-7 MMA, 4-2 BMMA) three-fight winless skid is the longest of his career. He hasn’t earned a victory since February 2018.

Mitrione vs. Sergei Kharitonov marked the third shortest no-contest in Bellator/UFC/WEC/Strikeforce/PRIDE combined history at just 15 seconds. Only Marius Zaromskis vs. Waachim Spiritwolf (six seconds) at Strikeforce Challengers 12 and Kevin Casey vs. Antonio Carlos Junior (11 seconds) at UFC Fight Night 80 were faster.

All of Mitrione’s career bouts have taken place under the Bellator or UFC banners.

[autotag]Ronny Markes[/autotag] (19-7 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) makes his Bellator debut after being a four-fight veteran of PFL and five-fight UFC veteran.

Markes is 3-3 in his past six fights dating back to June 2017.

[autotag]Anatoly Tokov[/autotag]’s (29-3 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) five-fight Bellator winning streak in middleweight competition is the longest active streak in the division.

With his October win over Hracho Darpinyan, Tokov improved to 22-1 in his past 23 fights dating back to April 2012.

Tokov has earned 23 of his 29 career victories by stoppage. That includes four of his five Bellator wins.

[autotag]Nick Newell[/autotag] (16-3 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) has earned 14 of his 16 career victories by stoppage. He’s finished 12 of those wins by submission.

Bellator 241: Make your predictions for Patricio Freire vs. Pedro Carvalho title fight

We want your predictions for Friday’s Bellator 241 event in Connecticut, featuring a Patricio Freire vs. Pedro Carvalho title fight.

We want your predictions for Friday’s Bellator 241 event in Uncasville, Conn.

Our staff picks feature includes the consensus picks from MMA Junkie readers. Simply cast your vote for each bout below, and we’ll use the official tallies that are registered by Wednesday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT).

Those MMA Junkie reader consensus picks will be part of the Bellator 241 event staff predictions we release Thursday ahead of the event. Bellator 241 takes place Friday at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. The main card streams on DAZN following prelims on MMA Junkie.

Make your picks for all six main card fights inside:

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Paul Daley vs. Sabah Homasi booked for Bellator 241 in March

A pair of welterweights looking to build on two-fight winning streaks will meet at Bellator 241.

MMA Junkie on Monday learned from Bellator officials that British slugger [autotag]Paul Daley[/autotag] (42-17-2 MMA, 8-4 BMMA) and fellow knockout artist [autotag]Sabah Homasi[/autotag] (13-8 MMA, 3-2 BMMA) will meet on the main card of the March 13 event, which streams live on DAZN from Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.

Daley looks to build on the strength of back-to-back wins over Saad Awad and Erick Silva. “Semtex” makes no attempt to hide his intentions in the cage, owning an incredible 33 knockout victories among his 42 career wins, while never earning a result via submission.

Meanwhile, Homasi returned to the Bellator cage for the first time in nearly five years with an August knockout over Micah Terrill. The result marked Homasi’s second consecutive victory following a disappointing run of three losses under the UFC banner that saw “The Sleek Sheik” released from the organization.

With the addition to the card, Bellator 241 now includes:

Champ Patricio Freire vs. Pedro Carvalho – for featherweight title; grand prix quarterfinal
Emmanuel Sanchez vs. Daniel Weichel – featherweight grand prix quarterfinal
Paul Daley vs. Sabah Homasi

Paul Daley says he’s been fired from Bellator analyst role, cites ‘off script’ opinions

Paul Daley says we won’t be seeing him behind the desk on Bellator broadcasts any longer.

[autotag]Paul Daley[/autotag] says we won’t be seeing him behind the desk on Bellator broadcasts any longer.

Daley (42-17-2 MMA, 8-4 BMMA), a longtime veteran of MMA who has spent his past 11 fights with Bellator, got an opportunity to work as an analyst during the promotion’s European series this past year.

He most recently provided his insight at Bellator Europe 6 in November, which saw his rival Michael Page score a first-round knockout victory against an overmatched foe in the event headliner. Afterward, Daley was critical of the matchmaking afforded to “MVP,” calling it “ridiculous.”

Daley has long been one of the more unfiltered athletes in the sport, never hesitating to go with his instinct first. It’s cost him in the past (such as when he was famously released from the UFC for a post-fight sucker punch), and it appears its bitten him again.

“Semtex” took to social media on Saturday and revealed he’s been told his services as an analyst are no longer required (via Instagram):

View this post on Instagram

☹️ “YOUR FIRED” 😂….., Been told I gotta step away from the Mic, Guess one of my opinions was a little off script…..and I thought I was just finding my groove. 🤔

A post shared by Paul Daley (@semtex170) on Jan 11, 2020 at 10:31am PST

“YOUR FIRED” 😂….., Been told I gotta step away from the Mic, Guess one of my opinions was a little off script…..and I thought I was just finding my groove. 🤔

This isn’t the first instance in which Daley has had some sort of conflict with the Bellator brass. In early 2018 he was pushing for a release from the promotion because he was not happy with his treatment from Bellator president Scott Coker.

Eventually the pair found common ground and the Brit signed a new contract to remain with Bellator.

Daley has continued to be active in the cage since, and is coming off a second-round TKO of Saad Awad at Bellator 232 in October.

Bellator declined to comment when contacted by MMA Junkie for a response to Daley’s post.

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20 fights on our MMA wishlist for 2020

Here are 20 fights MMA Junkie hopes to see happen in 2020.

With a new year comes new things, including good ol’-fashioned fist fights. What kinds of matchups are we hoping to see in 2020? What kinds of bookings do we want the MMA gods to bless us with?

Here’s a list of some ideas and why they may (or may not) make sense:

20. [autotag]A.J. Agazarm[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Dillon Danis[/autotag]

This list is being kicked off by “El Jefe” himself. I know this will automatically trigger the Twitter trolls, but hear me out. Danis and Agazarm easily are two of the best grapplers Bellator has in its lighter weight classes. The two have competed against each other plenty of times in the grappling world and they don’t have a lot of love for each other. Their name value doesn’t match their experience level in MMA, so they both often have fights against unknown opponents, which makes their fights hard to promote.

So why not pit them against each other? It makes sense for both fighters skill-level wise, it could be a fun buildup, and we could certainly see some fun, world-class jiu-jitsu.

19. [autotag]Kron Gracie[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Bryce Mitchell[/autotag]

Let’s keep the jiu-jitsu train rolling. Gracie is jiu-jitsu royalty and Mitchell scored a cool-looking submission in his most recent fight – a twister. The UFC certainly is not shy about throwing Gracie against someone with far more experience (cough, cough – Cub Swanson). I know Mitchell is a bit more experienced than Gracie, but not by a crazy margin. Both guys need fights and have interesting and opposing personalities. Why not?

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‘This is ridiculous’: Paul Daley rips Michael Page’s matchmaking after Bellator Europe 6 win

Paul Daley is back on the idea of a rematch with Michael Page.

[autotag]Paul Daley[/autotag] is back on the idea of a rematch with [autotag]Michael Page[/autotag] after Bellator Europe 6.

After their first fight ended in a lackluster decision for Page (16-1 MMA, 12-1 BMMA) that didn’t live up to the pre-fight animosity, Daley (42-17-2 MMA, 8-4 BMMA) was keen to run it back, as he felt he deserved the nod that night at Bellator 216 in February. Not long after, though, “Semtex” changed his tune.

Daley was so disappointed with the way the fight unfolded and how fans were let down, that he didn’t want to do it again. Months have passed, and both men have since picked up wins, though, and the time could be right to put it together.

And with Page fresh off his first-round knockout victory over Giovanni Melillo in Saturday’s headliner at The SSE Arena, Wembley in London, Daley pitched the possibility of a rematch, but this time he wants it in his native England.

“He couldn’t do what he normally does to everybody else (when we fought),” Daley said on the Bellator Europe 6 broadcast. “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.”

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Although he was frustrated over the outcome of the first fight, Daley admits much of the blame falls on him. He did not engage in the stand-up war that was promised, but with the matchup taking place within the confines of the $1 million welterweight grand prix, he said strategy was priority.

“I approached that fight with the intention to win,” Daley said. “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.”

It remains to be seen if Bellator would be interested in booking a Daley-Page rematch. Given the level of competition Page has seen through his career, Daley said he has his doubts.

“This is ridiculous,” Daley said after the fight. “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.”

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The Page rematch is on his radar after Bellator Europe 6, but Daley said he has his sights set on something even bigger. If given the option, he’d much rather rematch current champion Douglas Lima, who beat him by unanimous decision at Bellator 158 in July 2016.

“I think Douglas Lima is the more exciting fight for me,” Daley said. “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.”

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