Daley a Victim of Circumstance, Own Foolishness

We have all had a few days to process the events of UFC 113, and yet again, some downright craziness has drowned out the actual results of the fights that occurred on Saturday night.  While Dana White, the UFC and many fans were hoping that after a very strange April, the talk after UFC 113 would be about knockouts and submissions, that all became very unlikely a few seconds after the fight between Josh Koscheck and Paul Daley ended.  Well, after it was supposed to end, anyway.

By now everyone has seen the sucker punch that Daley landed on Koscheck as Koscheck was walking away, having clearly won the fight.  At the time, my first thought was to make jokes.  There were plenty to be had, regarding the fact that it was the first time Daley had landed anything substantial, that he landed his left hook on an unsuspecting opponent and still didn’t hurt him, or the unfortunate comment by Daley during the pre-fight hype that when he landed the left hook “the fight would be over”.  Technically, he was right.

Of course, there was also a good dose of, “what the fuck is this guy thinking?”  Then, talk immediately shifted to what would likely happen as a result of the decidedly stupid move.  What precedent has been set in MMA in North America regarding such an incident?  We saw Phil Baroni get suspended for four months following his (admittedly unsuccessful) attempts to punch referee Larry Landless after Landless basically screwed him over in ridiculous fashion during his fight with Evan Tanner at UFC 45.  He wasn’t cut by the UFC, however, at least not until he lost the rematch to Tanner, then a fourth fight in a row against Pete Sell.

Daley’s case was much different, however.  Dana White immediately announced that Daley was not only cut from the UFC, but that he would never fight in the organization again.  Daley’s suspension has not been decided upon yet by the athletic commission, but he seems at peace with his fate.  He plans to fight in July in Australia, and will continue to find fights abroad while he “serves” his suspension in North America.  Of course, whether this kind of defiance will keep him from being reinstated in North America after his suspension is over will be something we will see in the future.  Along with that, he will also have the challenge of building a successful career for himself without the benefit of fighting in the UFC, apparently.

Is it just?  Well, in a respect, it is.  For one thing, the UFC has every right as an organization to employ (and cut) whom it chooses.  While Daley has been banned quite explicitly by White, there are many other fighters who have, for all intents and purposes, been cut off from the organization as well.  Someone like Josh Barnett, for instance, may as well have been “banned for life”, as it is clear at this point that he will never fight in the UFC again.  The difference here is that Daley actually had it spelled out for him.

Furthermore, you will not see me defend or rationalize the actions of Daley in this space.  I love playing devil’s advocate as much as the next guy, but I’m not touching this one.  Daley pulled a dirtbag move and punched an unsuspecting person in a cowardly act, whether or not he was frustrated by Koscheck during their fight.  Sure, it may not have been classy for Koscheck to “rub it in” during the last few seconds of the fight, but it’s not the first time a fighter has been humiliated by his opponent in the cage.  I’m sure Tito Ortiz didn’t enjoy being “spanked” by Randy Couture at UFC 44, but there was no sucker punch to be found following that bout.

However, I must join the crowd in questioning exactly what the criteria for such a disciplinary action from White and the UFC is.  Clearly, the act itself is not enough, as others have done similar things in the past, and continue to fight in UFC events.  Gilbert Yvel famously knocked out a ref in a fight years ago, and has also attacked opponents after the bell.  We all know about Baroni’s incident with Landless, and Nate Diaz was just seen on CBS not long ago soccer kicking Jason Miller as Miller attempted to defend himself from Nate’s brother Nick and a host of other professional fighters and cornermen.  In fact, White jumped all over that particular incident, condemning Strikeforce (and rightfully so) for letting the cage turn into a circus post-fight.  What about the personal responsibility of the fighters involved, though?  Should Diaz not be responsible for his actions, as Daley obviously should have?

Daley is a victim of his own foolishness, but he is also a victim of circumstance.  When I said that I must question why the UFC cut ties with Daley permanently earlier, it may not have been accurate.  I think I actually know what the reasoning is, and I will gladly share it with all of you.  Here goes:

1) All eyes are on the UFC.  It’s strange that Baroni’s incident was allowed to blow over when at the time, the sport was fighting for relevancy and any setback in the form of a fighter acting like a caged lunatic could have been devastating.  Meanwhile, now that the sport has carved itself a nice little area in mainstream consciousness, White seems to be more concerned than ever about how the sport is perceived.  It’s why he jumped on Strikeforce’s case right away after the fight, and it’s how he justifies his lack of tolerance for competition (his supposed philosophy is that when other organizations drop the ball, casual fans and followers judge the entire sport for the chaos that ensues).  Years ago, Daley would probably not be in as much trouble as he is today, but now there are concerns about everyone being on their best behavior.  We want ESPN to show exciting finishes, not post-fight nonsense, right?

2) Bad timing.  White just called out Strikeforce for their post-fight brawl, and now he has a guy sucker punch an opponent after a fight?  If he does anything but cut Daley, he is going to look like a hypocrite.  Strangely enough, he hasn’t worried too much about being consistent in the past, but that does not mean he shouldn’t want to change that now.  Furthermore, this past month or so has not been ideal for the world’s top MMA organization, as champions have put on lackluster fights, judges have rendered strange decisions, and the general consensus is that this year’s cards have not lived up to their potential.  That’s a bad time to have an incident like this one happen, and White was obviously in no mood to deal with it.

3) He’s just Paul Daley.  Look, Daley is a good fighter, and may one day be a great one, if he works on his ground game and takedown defense.  However, White wasn’t put in the position to have to reprimand a current champion or an extremely marketable fighter who is already popular with fans.  White said on his Twitter account that anyone, including Chuck Liddell or Brock Lesnar, would have received the same punishment for a similar act, but if you believe that, you probably also think that a Nigerian businessman is going to deposit $7,000,000 in your bank account any day now.  With Daley, the decision was easy.  He had only fought twice in the UFC, hadn’t connected with most of the organization’s fan base, and appeared to have already hit the glass ceiling in his weight class.  Sorry, but Daley would not be able to beat the likes of Koscheck, Jon Fitch or Georges St. Pierre anytime soon.  If you can’t defend takedowns or threaten from your back, you aren’t going anywhere in the UFC welterweight division these days.

Like I said earlier, it does not bother me to know that Daley was apparently cut for good.  What he did was beyond ridiculous, and could have been very dangerous as well.  Furthermore, White and the rest of the UFC brass have every right to cut whomever they want.  What does bother me is that White wants us all to believe that there is some kind of criteria for this type of action that would apply to any fighter in the UFC, across the board.  He wants us to believe that the same rules apply to all of those who step in the cage, when that couldn’t be farther from the truth.  In the UFC, as with virtually every other area of life, there are different rules for different people.  That’s fine, but it would be nice if White would at least admit it.

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Tags: Dana White, Gilbert Yvel, Josh Koscheck, lock your doors it's the Diaz brothers!, Paul Daley, Phil Baroni, UFC 113