Interview: Paul Daley on Romario Manoel Da Silva "I Expect to Hurt Him, I'm Gonna Win"

Interview: Paul Daley on Romario Manoel Da Silva "I Expect to Hurt Him, I'm Gonna Win"
by Chris Houten - @mrhouts

Paul Daley is back in Bamma on Saturday for the first of a 3 fight contract, taking on Blackzilian brawler Romario Manoel Da Silva in his first fight for the promotion since his unanimous decision victory over Jordan Radev.

A feared striker, we talked to Daley about his recent announcement to pursue a duel career in both MMA and Kickboxing, his future aspiration, fighting for the Bamma Welterweight Title, and of course his fight with Da Silva. 

Houten: On the 14th of December you will headline Bamma 14 where you will take on Romario Manoel Da Silva, how excited are you to be getting back in the cage for Bamma?

Daley: Fighting is my job, I love my job. [It's] gonna be a great night at BAMMA 14.

Your opponent Da Silva is nicknamed 'junior killer' is this just bravado or does he live up to his name?

He's an aggressive fighter who works to finish, so yeah he can call himself a killer, ain't gonna help him in this fight though.

Da Silva looks to be a bit of a brawler, have you study many of his fights and what so you think of his striking?

Yes I've watched his fights, he's aggressive, likes to trade, but he also has submission wins on his record.

Da Silva has never been knocked out in his career (he has lost once by corner stoppage however), do you expect him to be difficult to be put away?
I expect to hurt him, I'm gonna win. I've fought a lot of guys who have never been knocked out...till they fight me.

You recently announced you will spend the first part of 2014 competing in kickboxing, how excited are you to be heading back into kickboxing?
Very excited, I'm gonna train hard for the fights, that get progressively harder. I feel the later part of my career will be kickboxing only, unless I get a BIG MMA MONEY offer. 

I want to purse fighting for Glory, K-1 or LEGEND in Russia. Right now I've signed with 3 kickboxing promotions, including a 3 fight deal with FFC.

Is the kickboxing deal a sign that you are looking to move away from mma?

Not move away from MMA, but master my craft a little more, especially as it seem to be grow and getting a lot of attention right now; I will still fight out my BAMMA contract. 

You have always been one of the more active fighters around, between Bamma, the option to fight for other promotions out side of Bamma and now kickboxing, how many times to you plan to fight in 2014?

I will fight 4 times before June/July, and maybe 3 more times after that. 4 kickboxing and 3 MMA, I hope.

You have expressed a real desire to rematch Alexander Yakovlev who you recently lost to, is that the mma fight you want next?

It's would be nice to get a re-match and fight him in the UK, but I doubt this will happen. I want the re-match in a cage. I also wanna fight the KSW champion [Aslambek Saidov], and take that belt for my cabinate.

Does that loss give you more motivation to get back to winning ways on Saturday night?

I am always motivated to win. To finish, the loss is out of my head, I just focus on BAMMA 14 now.

You said on the mma hour last week that you are not that interested in fighting for the Bamma welterweight title out of respect for the work Jim Wallhead has put in; if Bamma came to you and offer you the the title fight next, would you decline it?

Yes, I will not fight for the title until Jimmy has his re-match. If he loses it, which I doubt he will, then I will fight for the belt.

Your gym seems to be growing with spirit dojo having achieve some good results this year, what have you got lined up for the gym in 2014?

2014, we are gonna keep active on the kickboxing and Thaiboxing scene, taking every opportunity to learn and grow. We have one fighter who maybe ready for the international stage at a lower level. Hopefully in the next 18months we will move to a new facility. A bigger one.

Finally Paul is there anyone you would like to thank for helping get you prepared for your up coming fight with Da silva?

All my training partners of old, and all my training partners recently, was an honour to spare a few rounds with James Zikic in the lead up to this fight. All my coaches, Sunni, dave, Toby, Paul and head coach and mentor, Rupert Smillie. Mikes gym, spirit dojo, ultimate gladiators, banned fightwear, hooligans united and all my sponsor, family and friends. 

Bamma 14 takes place on the 14th of December from The LG Arena, Birmingham. Tickets are available from £25 through The Ticket Factory.