Daley vs Koscheck

The card that has been put together for the UFC 113 show in Montreal is making me proud to be Canadian. It’s absolutely stacked and the fight between Paul Daley and Josh Koscheck is sure to be fireworks. Both Koscheck and Daley love to stand and bang and both of these guys possess some serious knockout power.

Paul Daley is coming into this fight fresh off a devastating knockout victory against grappling sensation Dustin Hazelett. Josh Koscheck however, is coming into this fight fresh off a triumph of his own as he easily beat down and submitted Anthony Johnson – who many people believe has a comparable skill set to Daley.

As for how Paul Daley and Josh Koscheck match up stylistically, I believe that Paul Daley has the edge in the stand up. He has incredible power in his hands and his overall Muay Thai skills seem very sharp. That being said, Josh Koscheck has improved his striking by leaps and bounds as of late – which is to be expected considering all the training he’s done alongside the guys at the American Kickboxing Academy.

However, even with his improved stand up skills, Koscheck would be foolish to stand and bang with a striker as seasoned as Paul Daley – especially given the fact that he has a clear advantage with his wrestling.

If Josh Koscheck is smart, he’ll come right out and shoot for the takedown. Ideally, he’d want to get Paul Daley on the ground as quick as he can because clearly, the ground game is Daley’s weakness. Just looking over his record, the majority of his losses have come by way of submission and every single one of his victories (where he’s actually finished the fight) have come via his superior striking ability.

Common sense tells us what you don’t want to “stand and bang” with a guy who has an 80% knockout-to-fight ratio and given the Octagon experience that Josh Koscheck has, I predict that he’ll play it smart and get the fight to the ground as soon as he can. If he can do so, he’ll have the clear advantage and will likely be able to grind out a victory via control and ground-and-pound.

Dustin Hazelett vs. Paul Daley

This clash between Dustin Hazelett and Paul Daley is a classic pure striker vs. pure grappler showdown. Set to take place at UFC 108 in Las Vegas Nevada, this fight is sure to end with either a devastating knockout or an incredible submission. After all, Dustin Hazelett’s last 4 wins in the octagon have come by way of submission and the last 2 have won him the “submission of the night” bonus.

On the other end of the spectrum, Paul Daley’s last 11 victories have come via strikes. Paul Daley doesn’t go to decision very often and although he’s relatively unknown to the American audience, he’s been bouncing around from organization to organization and knocking dudes out left and right.

Paul Daley splits his time between Team Roughhouse (where he trains alongside welterweight standout, Dan Hardy) and Vos Gym, where he trains with some of the best heavyweight Muay Thai practitioners in the world. His training partner Gilbert Yvel also happens to be fighting on the same card so they’ll be looking to head back to Amsterdam with a pair of victories under their belt.

However, in order to get that victory, Paul Daley is going to have to fight off Dustin Hazelett’s takedown attempts. Dustin Hazelett was recently awarded his black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu from Jorge Gurgel so it’s no secret what his game plan in this fight will be; takedown, control and then submit. Hopefully Gurgel – who’s known to slug it out despite his superior skills on the ground – will instruct him to fight smart.

As for how this fight will likely play out, it’s pretty clear cut. If Hazelett gets Daley to the ground, which might be easier said then done considering that Daley has a wrestling background, then he’ll end up getting a submission victory and becoming 1 step closer to a title shot. If however, he gets clipped in the process of trying to get the fight to the ground, he’ll be waking up, confused about his whereabouts, and hearing the sounds of Daley giving his post-fight victory speech.