Keller's Take
KELLER: Thoughts on Paul Daley's formal extended apology (and explanation) for his sucker-punch at UFC 113
May 10, 2010 - 1:51:43 PM KELLER: Thoughts on Paul Daley's formal extended apology (and explanation) for his sucker-punch at UFC 113

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By Wade Keller, MMATorch Supervising Editor

A few thoughts on Paul Daley's apology for hitting Josh Koscheck after the horn on Saturday night (Apology Story Link)...

-It's good he apologized for a number of reasons. One, it was the right thing to do no matter what he was trying to accomplish regarding resuscitating his career. Two, not apologizing publicly would have left it up to people's imaginations how he felt about it once he cooled off, and that would include him thinking he did the right thing.

-He is right that Josh Koscheck egged him on with harsh comments before the fight and during the fight. However, Daley dishes out the trash-talking at a high level himself, so even bringing that up in his apology comes across as his trying to explain and justify his actions. Yes, you can say "there is certainly no excuse for my actions," but if you surround that with details that seem to be trying to build sympathy for your situation, it softens the impact of the apology.

-The worst part of his explanation was saying he was frustrated with Koscheck seemingly faking that he was hit with an illegal knee. There is a fact people are missing here when they decide to throw all the blame on Koscheck. Whether or not the knee hit Koscheck, it was still at the very least an attempt at an illegal blow. If Koscheck faked it or exaggerated it, it's bad sportsmanship (we can argue whether it was good or bad strategy). In the first round, Daley threw an illegal knee, which either shows a lack of knowledge of the rules or a lack of discipline in following them. A lot of fighters slip up, especially if they're used to a different set up rules and new to UFC. Daley, though, seemed to throw the knee early in the fight because even then he was frustrated. This was before the Koscheck reaction to the knee, before extended frustration and knowledge he lost the fight, before the end-of-fight rubbing it in. So Daley had a discipline issue before all of his excuses took place.

-Daley complains about Koscheck pushing his buttons, but are we to believe that he wouldn't have pushed the same buttons if he was winning the fight? If Daley out wrestled Koscheck (yeah, right) or stuffed his takedown attempts, or bloodied and battered his face, I don't believe for a second Daley wouldn't have found a way to rub it in. Koscheck, if anything, was gracious in victory because on ESPN's "MMA Live" he went soft on Daley when he could have been demanding he be banned for life or, heck, even charged with assault (as Joe Rogan called for).

I'm glad Daley feels "ashamed and embarrassed" by what he did. I'll take him at his word that "there is no excuse for my actions." I just wish he had left it at that and not included as much explanation for why he acted the way he did because it does come across as if he's trying to gain some sympathy in the midst of a supposedly sincere apology.

I do want to be clear that as critical as I was at the time and still am now regarding Daley's actions (and I haven't softened on my stance that he shouldn't ever be allowed back in UFC), I don't think this incident should define his life or what people think of him as a person. He handled a situation immaturely, but it was admittedly an intensely emotional circumstance opposite of a very annoying person whom a lot of people would like to hit. Daley's hands are lethal weapons, literally, and showing that lack of control in a fight game that is, by nature, highly emotionally charged probably means he doesn't belong in the sport. But this doesn't make him a bad person who deserves to be spit on or scoffed at outside of the context of MMA.

In the end, this was a case of someone who liked to dish out the trash talking, but couldn't handle being on the receiving end, particularly in the course of a humbling loss.