Paul Daley gets his wish, will headline Cage Warriors 57

Paul Daley will headline Cage Warriors 57 against Lukasz Chlewicki

by Ben Heather @benheather


(Photo: Huw Fairclough)

 Paul Daley (32-12-2) has his wish, after recently posting on his Facebook account that he was becoming frustrated that Bellator wouldn't let him fight. Today it was announced that he has a fight lined up.
Daley's return is set to happen on July 20th in at Cage Warriors 57, where he will fight in the main event against Polish fighter Lukasz Chlewicki. Cage Warriors 57 which takes place at Liverpool's Echo Arena will also feature Ronnie Mann's first fight for Cage Warriors since signing his exclusive contract. Daley last fought for Cage Warriors in July 2008 where he beat Bojan Kosednar via first round KO and will now return almost exactly five years to the day later.

Daley fought three times for the UFC including a first round TKO victory over Martin Kampmann in his UFC debut. After his stint in the UFC Daley ended up in Strikeforce where he challenged Nick Diaz for the Strikeforce welterweight title in April 2011. That fight is one of the best one round MMA fights you will ever see in MMA and our very own @KingdomMMAChris listed it as his favourite fight of all time.

Daley who was born in London but is now based in Nottingham has 23 T/KO victories on his record and has overcome the likes of John Alessio, Duane Ludwig and Martin Kampmann during his 10-year professional career.

“I’m excited to be fighting back in the UK again and back at Cage Warriors, which is Europe’s premier show,” Daley told Cage Warriors. 

“I pretty much started my career here and it’s great to see how the promotion has grown. I’m happy to be part of it and I can’t wait to entertain all my supporters.”

Daley will face a tough test from Chlewicki (10-2), whose only loss in his last 11 bouts came at the hands of UFC star Demian Maia back in December 2005. Since then he has remained unbeaten in nearly eight years however, that may look better than it is as he took a five year break from the sport. The 34 year old judo black belt returned in 2010 and has remained unbeaten since.

Chlewicki told Cage Warriors: “Taking on one of the best guys in the world, this is the kind of fight I’ve been waiting for. This will be a massive challenge for me, especially in front of his fans, but that won’t affect me at all and I’ll be prepared."

“I want to thank Cage Warriors for giving me this opportunity. On July 20 I’ll prove that they made a good choice.”

Cage Warriors CEO Graham Boylan added:

“I’m looking forward to a fantastic main event in Liverpool on July 20 and I’d like to thank Bellator for their co-operation in allowing Paul Daley to compete for Cage Warriors.”

Cage Warriors have announced that many more Cage Warriors 57 fights are still to be announced so we will keep you all up to date as and when they get announced.