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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
When Paul Daley was pulled from the upcoming season eight welterweight tournament for Bellator MMA, it was reported that he was arrested on assault charges. At the time, the initial report stated the assault happen in the midst of a "bar brawl," but Daley vehemently denied that portion of the report.
However, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney stated again this week that Daley had been arrested on assault charges, which is what is holding his visa up and keeping him out of the tournament. Daley's attempting to get himself onto a fight card in Ireland in February, but in an interview with Steph Daniels at BloodyElbow.com this week, Rebney said he hadn't yet been approved through the proper channels to take part in a fight outside of his Bellator contract.
"Unfortunately, Paul was arrested and charged with criminal assault in the UK," Rebney reaffirmed. "That arrest and charge and pending trial legally prohibits him from entering the United States. That action on Paul's part has made it impossible for us to include him in the tournament. He's scheduled to stand trial in April, and our hope, for Paul's sake, is that the trial goes well and that he doesn't have to spend time incarcerated."
"With that in mind, we're currently trying to work through a structure that might allow him to fight outside our contract," he continued. "We're not doing shows in the UK and he'd like to fight. We've done it with Eddie (Alvarez) and I think Hector (Lombard) fought outside our agreement five times. We're trying to make that work, but there's a process that we have to go through. There's a regimented process with paperwork and approvals and the like. We're worldwide exclusive promoters, and we're trying to work through it, and I'm hoping we can get something done, but that remains to be seen."
"By no means is it official yet. Like I said, there's a process here, and over a dozen of our fighters have followed it and fought outside their agreements successfully. That process has yet to be followed here, and there's nothing official. We'll wait and see. If we can get it done to our satisfaction, we'll allow it to happen, and if we can't, then we won't. For the time being, nothing has been approved. If the process that we've laid out is followed, I think a fight for him could occur, but until that happens, he's in a hold mode, and we'll see what happens."
While Daley hadn't been approved at the time the interview was conducted, he posted an update on his Facebook page on Thursday to clarify that Bellator has approved him to take part in the Feb. 23 Cage Contenders event in Ireland.
"Some statements in this story regarding me are incorrect," Daley commented. "One I would like to address is, We are happy to say Bellator have approved my fight in Ireland, Feb 23rd and this fight is officially on!!! Cage contender. Thank you Bjorne (sic) and all at Bellator."
Penick's Analysis: Daley's continuation with Bellator will come down to what happens regarding the assault charges, and if that situation gets worked out to where he's eligible for a visa in the U.S., he'll be back in the mix. If he's ultimately barred from entering the U.S., his contract me be over and done with. For now, he's being allowed to continue on with his career outside of Bellator until it gets sorted out, but it's going to be an ongoing saga until April at the earliest.
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Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/Bellator/article_15500.shtml
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