Paul Daley to Meet with Bellator MMA President Scott Coker in London to Discuss Future

It seems Bellator MMA welterweight contender Paul Daley has had a change of heart regarding his future in the promotion.

The 35-year-old Englishman has publicly criticized the promotion after his September 2017 knockout win over Lorenz Larkin. Daley said he felt undervalued after the Larkin fight and that Bellator has done little to promote him. He has said on many occasions during interviews that he would leave the organization when his current contract expires.

Daley (40-16-2) recently took on another veteran in Jon Fitch on May 12 at Bellator 199. Fitch utilized his wrestling to nullify Daley’s dangerous left hand and grounded out a unanimous decision.

Daley was a guest on Monday’s episode of “The MMA Hour” to reveal why he’s had a change of heart with the promotion:

“You know what it was? Fight week, I managed to spend a little bit of time with Scott Coker,” Daley revealed Monday on The MMA Hour. “It was a little bit awkward, and it seemed like it was very awkward for him to do what he did, but it got my respect in that he went around the room and I could see he was like, ‘Should I approach Paul? Is he going to do something crazy or not?’ But in the end, he came over and we exchanged some words.

“We’re going to be meeting at Bellator London next week. We’re going to have a sit-down and we’re going to hash things out, see exactly what can be done to keep ‘Semtex’ happy.”

When asked what his thoughts were regarding this meeting with Coker, Daley seemed positive.

“Very promising,” Daley said. “Just the fact -- like I said to you when I spoke to you last time, I’d never spoken to Scott on a personal level apart from pre- and post-fight press conferences. So for him to make time, come over and say, ‘Look Paul, I’ve heard what you’ve been saying, I do want to sit down and have a chat with you’ -- he wanted to do it there and then. I’m like, ‘I’m cutting weight right now. Can we do it maybe some time in the future?’ So we set the date for Friday at Bellator 200.”

Daley expects to confirm his future with Bellator after Friday’s Bellator 200 event, which takes place in London.

“Who knows?” Daley said. “I’ve got two fights on my contract. We’ll see what Bellator does. I had a lot of promises at the start. Hopefully the meeting with Scott next Friday goes very well and we can sort things out, we can make entertaining fights that can keep me active as promised, allow me to do kickboxing for Bellator Kickboxing as promised, and we can get a lot of things done.”