Paul Daley has been canned as a Bellator analyst and it appears he’s putting the blame on his criticism of Michael Page’s booking.
Daley served as an analyst for a number of Bellator events outside the United States. Most recently, “Semtex” was at the desk for Bellator London in Nov. 2019. The event was headlined by Page vs. Giovanni Melillo. Page knocked out Melillo in the opening frame.
Paul Daley Out As Bellator Analyst
Daley took to his Instagram page to reveal he’s been canned from the Bellator desk.
“‘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.”
Daley had been critical of Bellator’s matchmaking of Page during the London event. Here’s what he said (h/t MMAJunkie).
“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.”
