A significant welterweight bout between Paul Daley and Lorenz Larkin is the latest addition to September’s Bellator 183 lineup.
Bellator officials today confirmed the bout to MMAjunkie following an initial report from The Telegraph.
Bellator 183 takes place at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. The card airs on Spike following prelims streamed on MMAjunkie, though the bout order hasn’t been finalized.
Daley (39-15-2 MMA, 5-2 BMMA) is coming off a second-round submission loss to Rory MacDonald in the main event of Bellator 179 in May. It was a one-sided loss in what was a No. 1 contender fighter in the welterweight division, but now the British knockout artist looks to rebound against a fighter he apparently doesn’t think very highly of.
“Larkin is overrated,” Daley told The Telegraph. “I think that I gave Douglas Lima more of a fight when we fought. I brought it to him 100 percent. I don’t feel like Larkin did that. Not to mention, I don’t think Lima feared Larkin, and as a result, he underperformed. I think even Rory [MacDonald] feared me standing up. Granted, he has the superior ground skills, but he feared a stand-up exchange with me. Let’s see what Larkin does in San Jose.”
Larkin (18-6 MMA, 0-1 BMMA), who moved over to Bellator from the UFC earlier this year as a free agent, was granted a 170-pound title shot against champ Douglas Lima in his promotional debut at Bellator NYC in June. He suffered a unanimous-decision loss and said getting a quick opportunity to rebound was essential.
“From the get-go with Scott [Coker], I made it clear that I want to stay active and get right back in there following my fights,” Larkin said. “After Bellator NYC I got a call, and I was chomping at the bit to take another high-level, competitive fight and right now, Paul [Daley] is that guy.”
Full story here:
Paul Daley vs. Lorenz Larkin added to Bellator 183 on Sept. 23 in San Jose
