Image Credit: Bellator
Paul Daley opens up on backing off retirement: “I keep forgetting my age, I’m too good to quit”
With 62 professional fights in his career at the age of 38, Paul Daley had recently been considering retirement from the sport of mixed martial arts, but now he’s looking to defend his new crown as the 175-pound champion in Bellator, although there’s no belt for him. A long-time veteran of the sport, Daley is now riding a three-fight winning streak with his last two fights coming at a contracted catchweight of 175 pounds, “Semtex” will face Jason Jackson at Bellator 260 at the same weight.
Now that it appears that Daley is not yet ready to walk away from the sport, he spoke to the media on Wednesday about his decision to stay active and says he doesn’t even recognize his age until it shows up on paper.
“To be fair, the way I’m training, the way I’m performing, I forget my age, it’s not until it comes up on the tale of the tape where I’m like s**t, I’m f**king old.”
When it comes to the motivation that keeps him going, Paul Daley says continuing to rack up wins is the biggest reason, while also taking care of his family, is why he continues to fight despite his older age in the sport.
“I forget my age. The only motivation for me is to keep winning, I’m too good to quit. Just on the side of that, is just collecting the paychecks and taking care of my family, which is obviously an important part of being a professional athlete.”
After being pulled from a bad weight cut before Bellator 247 against Derek Anderson, Daley took to social media to make a post announcing his next fight would be his retirement fight. That fight would come against Sabah Homasi at Bellator 257 this past April, and after Daley secured a second-round TKO, he made it known that he wasn’t ready to call an end to his career just yet.
It appears that as long as Paul Daley continues to pick up victories and Bellator allows him to compete at 175-pound catchweight fights, the veteran will continue to compete inside the cage.
Full video of Paul Daley’s media day ahead of Bellator 260:
