- DALEY STEPS IN FOR INJURED SWICK AT UFC 103
Friday, September 04, 2009 - by Ken Pishna - MMAWeekly.com
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Mike Swick is out of a main card bout against Martin Kampmann for UFC 103 scheduled to take place on Sept. 19 in Dallas. Stepping in to take his place is British fighter Paul Daley.
U.K. tabloid The Sun first reported the news on Friday. MMAWeekly.com independently verified the report.
“I got the call and I accepted. I came to the UFC to fight the best, and that's what I am going to do,” Daley told The Sun’s Mark Gilbert.
Gilbert also cited UFC U.K. president Marshall Zelaznik as confirming Daley’s acceptance of the bout.
Daley representative Anthony Evans told MMAWeekly.com the bout has been verbally agreed to and they are awaiting a bout agreement.
If the bout goes through, Daley (21-8-2) will be making his Octagon debut at UFC 103. He was originally slated to face Brian Foster on the preliminary portion of the card, but gets the bump up with the unfortunate injury to Swick. He enters the bout on back-to-back wins in smaller promotions, following a bumpy ride with Canada’s Maximum Fighting Championships.
Kampmann (15-2) also enters the bout on the back of two consecutive victories. Competing for the better part of his career at middleweight, he made the drop to welterweight following a loss to Nate Marquardt at UFC 88. He defeated Alexandre Barros in his UFC 170-pound debut, and then spoiled the incoming bout of former WEC champion Carlos Condit in April.
Vitor Belfort and Rich Franklin square off in a light heavyweight bout in the main event of UFC 103 at the American Airlines Center.
(UPDATE / 10:50 a.m. PT, Sept. 4 – Added confirmation of Swick’s injury and clarification on contractual status of the proposed bout.
UPDATE / 11:35 a.m. PT, Sept. 4 – Added confirmation of verbal agreement from Daley representative.)
