Paul Daley: “Semtex” Ready for Jenkins
Semtex
Pedro Wrobel Apr 29, 2005
LONDON, April 29 — Paul "Semtex" Daley is not a secret that the UK
scene can hang onto for much longer. The Nottingham-based youngster
has been making some serious waves over here, with wins over
recognizable names such as Jess "Joker" Liaudin, Paul "Hands of
Stone" Jenkins and Xavier Foupa-Pokam.
Daley's style is an aggressive mix of striking, striking and more striking, with the occasional bit of extra striking thrown in for good measure. Despite this obvious strength, Daley has made a conscious effort to work on his weaknesses, traveling widely and training with the American Top Team and Eddie Bravo, amongst others. October will see him in Sweden and May might bring his first fighting appearance in the U.S.
Anxious for the scoop, as always, Sherdog.com got nosey.
Sherdog.com Let's start talking about Paul Jenkins. You're facing him tomorrow, so give me some thoughts on the man.
Sherdog.com: You have to smash his face, huh?
Daley: Yeah, and I don't feel bad about it either. This is a sport and we've both got a job to do.
Sherdog.com: You've fought Jenkins before at CW 8. How was that fight for you?
Daley: It felt comfortable. I was actually preparing for Gerald Strebendt, my original opponent, but then he had to pull out at the last minute and Jenkins stepped up. This all changed on the day of the fight.
Sherdog.com: That must have been difficult.
Daley: It wasn't, you know — I was fine about it. I did some great preparation with my boy Dan Hardy and team Rough House; they had me well prepared. Dan and Rupert Smillie, my Thai boxing coach, they were in my corner and we were ready for anything.
Sherdog.com: I presume then that you train in a fairly similar fashion for each of your opponents?
Daley: Yeah. I'm a striker, you know, there ain't no secrets about that. It's the same for all of my opponents. Rough House is like an English version of Chute Boxe, you know? We like to knock people out aggressively and quickly. That's our game and no opponent's going to change that.
Sherdog.com: So Jenkins or Strebendt, it didn't bother you at all?
Daley: Nah, it was all the same thing. Strebendt was going to try to take me down and submit me. Jenkins was a boxing champion and a kickboxing champion and whatever, but I wanted him to stand up with me because I just hit much harder than he does. It's true that he beat me in a match under hybrid kickboxing rules but that was by decision and anyway there's a big difference between 14-ounce kickboxing gloves and 4-ounce MMA gloves.
Sherdog.com: How do you think the history between yourself and Jenkins will affect the fight tomorrow? You mentioned that you want him to stand up with you — do you think that his victory over you in hybrid kickboxing will mean he'll try to do that again? If so, how will that affect the fight? Better or worse for you?
Daley: Good question! I think that, actually, his win will make things easier for me because I think he will be confident and he'll try to stand up with me as you said. Otherwise he'll try to clinch with me and take me down from the clinch. He doesn't have a good shoot and he's not stupid so we're not going there. That means that it'll be that banging right hand of his, then a clinch, then an attempt at a takedown. But even then it'll only happen after the first round, since he likes using the first round to figure out his opponent. So we'll see a good exchange in that one.
Sherdog.com: That's been mentioned before. Do you think Jenkins is a slow starter?
Daley: Yeah I do — and he freely admits it. But you've got to understand that it's not because he's slow, it's because he's an intelligent fighter and he likes to use the first round to figure you out. That's the thing about this fight: we both know each other so well, you know? That just comes with being on the circuit, we're friendly with each other, so we've seen each others' matches.
It's a strange situation, man, but it helped me because I was so relaxed during our fight at CageWarriors. It was weird but I didn't feel nervous or anything, I just felt like I would just sparring with my team, like it was a day's training.
Daley's style is an aggressive mix of striking, striking and more striking, with the occasional bit of extra striking thrown in for good measure. Despite this obvious strength, Daley has made a conscious effort to work on his weaknesses, traveling widely and training with the American Top Team and Eddie Bravo, amongst others. October will see him in Sweden and May might bring his first fighting appearance in the U.S.
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Sherdog.com Let's start talking about Paul Jenkins. You're facing him tomorrow, so give me some thoughts on the man.
Paul Daley: I've fought Jenkins before and
he's a great fighter. I have the utmost respect for the guy, but
the unfortunate fact is that he has the belt. I want it, so I'll
have to smash his face. It's not personal or anything, just
business.
Sherdog.com: You have to smash his face, huh?
Daley: Yeah, and I don't feel bad about it either. This is a sport and we've both got a job to do.
Sherdog.com: You've fought Jenkins before at CW 8. How was that fight for you?
Daley: It felt comfortable. I was actually preparing for Gerald Strebendt, my original opponent, but then he had to pull out at the last minute and Jenkins stepped up. This all changed on the day of the fight.
Sherdog.com: That must have been difficult.
Daley: It wasn't, you know — I was fine about it. I did some great preparation with my boy Dan Hardy and team Rough House; they had me well prepared. Dan and Rupert Smillie, my Thai boxing coach, they were in my corner and we were ready for anything.
Sherdog.com: I presume then that you train in a fairly similar fashion for each of your opponents?
Daley: Yeah. I'm a striker, you know, there ain't no secrets about that. It's the same for all of my opponents. Rough House is like an English version of Chute Boxe, you know? We like to knock people out aggressively and quickly. That's our game and no opponent's going to change that.
Sherdog.com: So Jenkins or Strebendt, it didn't bother you at all?
Daley: Nah, it was all the same thing. Strebendt was going to try to take me down and submit me. Jenkins was a boxing champion and a kickboxing champion and whatever, but I wanted him to stand up with me because I just hit much harder than he does. It's true that he beat me in a match under hybrid kickboxing rules but that was by decision and anyway there's a big difference between 14-ounce kickboxing gloves and 4-ounce MMA gloves.
Sherdog.com: How do you think the history between yourself and Jenkins will affect the fight tomorrow? You mentioned that you want him to stand up with you — do you think that his victory over you in hybrid kickboxing will mean he'll try to do that again? If so, how will that affect the fight? Better or worse for you?
Daley: Good question! I think that, actually, his win will make things easier for me because I think he will be confident and he'll try to stand up with me as you said. Otherwise he'll try to clinch with me and take me down from the clinch. He doesn't have a good shoot and he's not stupid so we're not going there. That means that it'll be that banging right hand of his, then a clinch, then an attempt at a takedown. But even then it'll only happen after the first round, since he likes using the first round to figure out his opponent. So we'll see a good exchange in that one.
Sherdog.com: That's been mentioned before. Do you think Jenkins is a slow starter?
Daley: Yeah I do — and he freely admits it. But you've got to understand that it's not because he's slow, it's because he's an intelligent fighter and he likes to use the first round to figure you out. That's the thing about this fight: we both know each other so well, you know? That just comes with being on the circuit, we're friendly with each other, so we've seen each others' matches.
It's a strange situation, man, but it helped me because I was so relaxed during our fight at CageWarriors. It was weird but I didn't feel nervous or anything, I just felt like I would just sparring with my team, like it was a day's training.
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