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By Chamatkar Sandhu



Paul Daley will make his return to the Bellator cage in the promotion's debut event in London at the O2 Arena on Saturday, July 16. Former Bellator welterweight champion Douglas Lima will replace original opponent Josh Koscheck, who pulled out due to undisclosed reasons.



For Daley, the stakes are even higher now.



Fighting for the belt



"Koscheck pulled out again, and I said yeah. I'll main event the card," Daley said. "I asked for a little bit more. I said look this was a big fight, I'm having to step up so you're going to have to give me something and they said, 'OK, we've got Lima.' I said, 'I'll fight Lima but promise me that the fight is going to be marketed as a number one contender fight and whoever wins, fights for the belt,' and that was the agreement.



"I wasn't calling for crazy money. I just wanted to be marketed as that and it hasn't been. I should be challenging for the title, but I wanted it to be official and they haven't done that, so we'll see what happens after I beat him and whether they keep to their word."



By the night of the fight, it will be exactly a year since Lima has stepped in the ring. In his last outing, at Bellator 140 in July of 2015, he dropped the welterweight championship to current title-holder Andrey Koreshkov via unanimous decision. Daley is determined to make sure his victory of Lima comes with an exclamation point.



"I truly believe I can knock Lima out," Daley said. "His chin has been exposed before. He's a very tough guy. I'm faster than he thinks I am, I'm stronger than he thinks I am, I'm much more intelligent than he thinks I am and I move extremely well. When all that factors in and how the fight is going to play out he'll fall into the traps I set and it'll be lights out for him.



"After I knock this guy out I fully expect I will be given the title shot and I look forward to fighting Koreshkov and become champion which is destined for me."



An eagerly anticipated rematch



The Koscheck rematch is certainly one fans have been eager to see since the Daley's controversial post-fight actions at UFC 113 led to his departure from the promotion. Even though the British welterweight's attention is focused on obtaining the championship, the Koscheck fight remains of interest.



"The fans all like the fight. The wider public just remembers me from the whole UFC sucker-punch scenario," Daley said. "They've been asking me if I'm still going to fight him. It would be good to change history, but someone said to me yesterday maybe that's something he doesn't want. He has a win over me, he knows I'm in form now and I'm going to be the champion.



"Maybe he wants me to become the champion and come back to this fight. He is signed to Bellator. I would definitely be interested in a fight depending on the circumstances. It was written into my new contract that I would fight Koscheck again. It's a good fight to take so we'll see what happens."



Another UFC welterweight on Scott Coker's radar is former title challenger Rory MacDonald. The prospect of potentially fighting him, should he sign with the promotion, is one Daley would welcome.



"He's got the name being in the biggest show and had a lot of fights over there; contested in some of the big title fights," Daley said. "He was the young prodigy. I wouldn't say he's a super-exciting fighter--very tactical, technical and skillful--but yeah, these are the names that people recognize, and I'd like to test myself against these names."



A pioneer of the U.K. MMA scene



Daley has been a pioneer of the U.K. MMA scene, although he wishes the local media would've been more supportive of his journey. He compared himself to how the boxing media treated former champion, Bernard Hopkins.



"There's lots of stuff that I've done and I continue to do that goes unrecognized unless you're a hardcore fan," Daley said. "People don't know my achievements, are underestimating me, do have that doubt so when I come into these fights like Douglas Lima, I'm just looking forward to going out there, banging this guy out with ease and opening a few more eyes.



"I feel like the boxing media didn't really get behind Bernard Hopkins until he got old, and the thing that they jumped on was that fact that he's old and still winning and that's how I feel. I'm just going about my business, I'm doing all this stuff and it's when everybody else is fading away that I might get a little bit of time to shine. I still get paid very well, my family is happy and I'm happy, but it's a shame."

