‘I was good at football – but I always wanted to be a ninja’
Raised on Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan films, Paul Daley says he knew where his future lay
Paul Daley has trodden a peculiar path to the biggest night of his mixed martial arts career at Wembley Arena. A former British Army soldier, who served in the same Household Cavalry regiment as Prince Harry, his natural athleticism and speed originally had coaches begging him to pursue football, which he did as a junior in the same teams as Jermaine Jenas and Jermaine Pennant.
But Daley wanted to fight. It got him into trouble in school, and even in the Army, but as he has matured a career has blossomed for the proud Englishman, who has had over 90 mixed martial arts and kickboxing bouts, and has become one of the most dangerous, explosive, knockout artists.
If Daley’s life had panned out differently, he might have been sprinting up the left wing inside Wembley Stadium tonight, rather than headlining next door in the Arena for potentially one of the most thrilling MMA match-ups this country has hosted.
Daley, now 33, fights the technically brilliant Canadian Rory Macdonald in the main event at Bellator MMA 179, as the fight league, owned by media giants Viacom, hits terrestrial television on Channel 5. It is a serious platform for Daley, a chance to get the exposure he deserves, given his fan-pleasing style and adherence to the warrior code.
Born in Park Royal Hospital, less than 10 minutes drive from Wembley Arena, Daley joined the Army aged 20, with the aim of getting into the Special Air Service, after conceding that his childhood dream of being a ninja was out of reach. He was spurred on by his dad, who “was forever watching martial arts and kung fu films”.
“Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan were the staple, but whatever it was, I was drawn to the ninja,” says Daley. “I was entranced by these special, extreme fighters with all kinds of abilities. I was drawn towards those characters. That was what got me into martial arts.”
But football interrupted a love of karate. “My childhood was pretty normal. A typical British Caribbean family,” says Daley, whose parents moved him from London to Nottingham, a time when football had grabbed his attention. “I’d already been doing karate for a while, but it was football I started to do then. I was always fast and played on the left wing. I went pretty far with that. Andy Cole went to the same primary school as me. He went on to play for England. My PE teacher used to say, ‘Come on Paul, you can be the next Andy Cole.’
“I represented the southern counties, Nottingham and then I went to the Nottingham Forest School of Excellence, where I played with guys who are big names now, like Jermaine Jenas. I was on the same team for about a year and a half. Jermaine Pennant as well. We played together for about three months. There was an avenue there for me to go professional. But it just wasn’t something I loved to do. I was good at it, very competitive, but football was not something I really cared for. I just wanted to be fighting or practising karate. Then we moved back to London for a couple of years and the football thing was gone. By then, I just wanted to be a ninja.”
It led to conversations with his mother over several years about joining the SAS. As he got into his late teens, the prospect grew of a career in the Army. “I had this ninja fascination. I’d ask my mum how I could become a ninja. One day she told me there was a British Army force that is similar, wearing masks and stuff. She pointed me to the Iranian embassy siege.
“I was about 15 and I thought, ‘I need to join the Army if I want to be a ninja or a special forces guy’. It was a military fascination.”
From college, Daley did a course geared towards the fire service, law enforcement and the military. Straight out of college, aged 20, he joined the Army. “I served for 2½ years. I was in Windsor in the Grenadiers and then I was at Victoria barracks a little bit.
“I changed regiment. I was in the Household Cavalry. I was in D squadron and then Prince Harry joined C squadron. He is someone fellow soldiers respect. I see him in photographs with a few of the guys I used to share a room with. It’s a bit surreal, really.”
Daley was eventually discharged for brawling and spent a period in military prison, but his experience changed him for the better. “I learnt a lot. I developed a lot of mental strength and discipline in the Army, even though I was kicked out for a lack of discipline. I learnt how to deal with my own thoughts better, my own impulses. It taught me selfcontrol.”
Bellator 179 is on Channel 5 from 10pm to midnight tonight.
‘I developed a lot of mental strength and discipline in the Army. It taught me self-control’