UFC President Dana White made his reaction to the Paul Daley incident at UFC 113 very clear: Paul Daley will never fight in the Octagon again.
According to White, “he’s done,” and even if Daley develops into the world’s pound-for-pound best fighter, he will never be allowed back into the UFC.
Following what was certain to be a decision loss to Josh Koscheck, Daley and Koscheck did not shake hands or embrace after the third round bell. As Koscheck walked away to celebrate, Daley walked towards the presumed winner. When Koscheck turned around, Daley threw a punch that Koscheck said was “probably his best punch of the fight.”
The referee immediately restrained Daley for the post-fight sucker punch, but the punch had already landed, and it did more than create controversy–it ended Daley’s career as a UFC fighter.
“There’s no excuse for that,” said White. “You don’t ever hit a guy blatantly after the bell like that.”
“It was probably one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen,” added White, who said that prior to the incident, he was actually impressed with Daley’s effort against a top-ranked fighter like Koscheck. What he did after the fight, however, means he will never fight in the UFC again.
— During the press conference, Koscheck also claimed that Daley had eye-gouged him during the fight. White referenced the eye gouging allegations but could not confirm or deny that Daley had done so. He did, however, make it clear that the punch was enough to rule out a future Paul Daley fight in the UFC.