Prior to their fight at Bellator 183, former UFC welterweight contender Lorenz Larkin and Paul Daley had some serious bad blood between them. Larkin usually is a pretty calm guy that just comes to fight but Daley definitely got under his skin, so much that he refused to touch gloves prior to their fight on Saturday. He spoke to MMAjunkie before his Saturday showdown with Daley and the beef was definitely real.
“I just don’t like the mother(expletive), man,” Larkin said. “I don’t. I’ve never not liked somebody like this guy. I’ve never had a problem in my whole career with a fighter. This is a fighter that I genuinely don’t like. That’s the whole reason for all of this.”
However, getting into the cage with your adversary and battling it out does leave some mutual respect and for Paul Daley it was exactly as he’d predicted.
“People, they just underestimate the power so much. I don’t understand why. I’ve got 40 wins and 35 knockouts. Why would you want to stand and trade with me? It’s ridiculous. But I got the win. I’m happy, and I’m looking on to the future now, getting into title contention, big names, big fights and more money.
“Every time I get a knockout I feel fantastic. Winning definitely beats losing. The last time I lost against Rory MacDonald, so, it’s fantastic. Lorenz, he was just in my changing room, he’s genuinely a nice guy. He said I got under his skin a bit, and he just wasn’t used to the whole trash-talking thing. He’s a top name. He’s beaten former UFC champions. He’s beaten some top guys. For me, it’s a massive, massive win.”
Daley said he talked to Larkin after the fight and that everything is cool between them now, and that it was all just par for the course.
“He came back to the changing rooms, and we spoke a little bit. He’s a cool guy. I don’t know why everyone gets so wound up. They know what (expletive) I’m going to do; I do it every time. I talk a bit of (expletive). I wind them up at the press conference or whatever. He just bit.”
