Dana White is not the type to fire his proteges after slippages, the proof with Jon Jones and Conor McGregor, who remain the UFC’s biggest stars despite all their pans. This is what makes Paul Daley’s career even stranger: he was banned for life from the organization in 2010, after an outrageous gesture.
The UFC is a fairly tolerant organization with its fighters, since they can make the worst mistakes outside of the octagon and continue their sports career as if nothing had happened, or almost. Jon Jones is perhaps the best example of this “freedom”, he who has already tested positive for cocaine, who has already been guilty of domestic violence, who has already been responsible for a serious road accident with a pregnant woman…
While many employers would have taken drastic measures following all these faults, Dana White never reprimanded the American, whom he still considers today as the best fighter in the history of his organization. But beware, the big boss of the UFC does not accept all slippages, and one evening, mad with rage, he decided to fire a fighter on the spot after a scandalous gesture.
Paul Daley, one of the few fighters fired from the UFC
The case dates back to 2010 and UFC 213, where Paul Daley and Josh Koscheck faced off to determine the next contender for the welterweight belt. The latter, very vicious in his approach to the fight, decided to deceive the referees and complain about an illegal knee from Daley. An effective method, since his opponent received a penalty point, and ended up losing the decision. Faced with this obvious injustice, fan favorite Paul Daley completely broke down after the final bell.
Shortly after this incident, Dana White then took the drastic decision to fire Paul Daley for life:
He’s fired forever. I don’t give a fuck if he’s the best welterweight on the planet. He will never return to the UFC. Never again with us! I’m probably the most tolerant guy in MMA, the UFC is the most tolerant organization, we all make mistakes… But there’s no excuse for that gesture. They are professional, and you should never hit an opponent after the bell, even if you are frustrated. It’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen.
At that time, MMA still suffered from a barbaric image and was too often stigmatized by the general public. Dana White’s frustration is therefore understandable in the face of this gesture which gave ammunition to UFC detractors, and the sanction would have been different for Daley if he had cracked in the current context. He got up quickly anyway, since he was under contract with Bellator until 2022…
In the early 2010′s, Dana White was you wenttable with the skids in the octagon. For this pong after the gong, Paul Daley was fired immediately and for life! He was already more conciliatory after the huge fight between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov.
