Former UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor and a plethora of comrades attacked a bus full of UFC fighters a few days before UFC 223, allegedly trying to get at UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
There has been no punishment handed down by the UFC to the Irishman and that time and Bellator MMA veteran Paul Daley believes that’s a smart move by the promotion.
“I’ve seen all the comparisons, and yeah, the whole situation, it was very similar, and Dana could come across as being a little hypocritical,” Daley said on The MMA Hour. “But for me, it’s a different ballgame. The UFC was in a different place then and it’s in a different place now, and a lot of where they are now is down to Conor McGregor. So if you’ve got someone bringing in money, and is raising the sport and your promotion to greater heights, then you can’t ban him for life because business is going to go bad for you. So I understand. Yeah, really, he should be treated the same as I was. He should be banned for life. What he did as a guy with his profile in the sport and for the company of the UFC, he should be banned for life, if, for what I did, I got banned for life. But business and business and they need him, and I like Conor McGregor and I respect him, and I respect Dana’s choice. It’s a smart move.”
Daley received a lifetime ban from the UFC after striking Josh Koscheck after the final bell at UFC 113.
The Bellator MMA veteran would accept a return to the UFC, as long as the offer is right.
“So if Dana came to me with a proposition, I would probably take it because I feel there’s some big fights that could really elevate my financial situations to a whole other level,” says Daley.
Bellator 199 takes place on Saturday, May 12 from the SAP Center in San Jose, California with Ryan Bader and King Mo headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which airs live on the Paramount Network.
