VIDEO | Rory MacDonald and Paul Daley have first staredown ahead of Bellator 179 battle

By Tom Taylor - February 21, 2017

Rory MacDonald Paul Daley Bellator 179 staredown

Late last year, it was announced that former UFC welterweight title challenger Rory MacDonald had signed with Bellator MMA.

For a time, it looked as though the dangerous Canadian star would be welcomed into the Bellator fold by the organization’s welterweight champ, Douglas Lima. In a somewhat surprising twist, however, it was recently announced the MacDonald’s promotional debut will instead occur against brick-fisted British striker Paul Daley. The two talented athletes will headline Bellator 179, which will go down on May 19 in beautiful London, England.

Ahead of this anticipated welterweight scrap, Bellator has flown MacDonald out to the United Kingdom, where he has been fielding questions from the media, and of course, participated in a pre-fight staredown with his dangerous British foe.

See the footage of Rory MacDonald and Paul Daley’s pre-fight staredown in the video at the top of this post!

MacDonald will enter his bout with Daley on a two fight losing streak, having first been TKO’d by then welterweight champion Robbie Lawler in one of the best fights of all time, and then been outworked by Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson in Ottawa in June of 2016. Prior to these two losses, the Canadian was on a three-fight win-streak, having defeated top contender Demian Maia, current welterweight champ Tyron Woodley, and former Strikeforce champion Tarec Saffiedine. His overall record now sits at 18-4.

Daley, meanwhile, is 39-14-2 overall. In his last fight, he scored a crushing, flying knee knockout over talented wrestler “Irish” Brennan Ward. In his most recent bout before this, he lost to current Bellator welterweight king Douglas Lima. This marked his only loss in the Bellator MMA cage.

At the moment, the only other fight confirmed for Bellator 179 is a welterweight battle between rising star Michael “Venom” Page and Derek Anderson. We also know, however, that Bobby Lashley will be competing at the event.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/21/2017.


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Paul Daley Rory MacDonald Videos