Fightlab-sponsored Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley secured a hard-fought yet deserved victory on his K-1 debut last Saturday in the city of Pattaya, Thailand.
Daley’s opponent, Mohammad Ghaedibardeh, had a huge reach advantage and proved to be quite a handful for Daley in the first round. Ghaedibardeh’s highly technical style, which featured a deluge of kicks and knees, may have caught Daley slightly off-guard and perhaps explains why he ultimately lost the first round.
However, when both fighters returned to their respective corners at the end of the first round it was Daley who appeared fresher with his Iranian opponent looking visibly drained. All of Ghaedibardeh’s hard work in the first round was soon undone when Daley dropped him within the first minute of the second round bell sounding. A vicious three-punch combination saw Ghaedibardeh crash to the canvas and reminded everyone inside the Indoor Athletics Stadium why Daley is known for his raw knockout power. Another knockdown in the second and Daley’s confidence was brimming, while his opponent was becoming increasingly exhausted. In fact, had the round been 20 seconds longer Daley may well have finished Ghaedibardeh at that point. The third and final round saw Daley come out strong yet again and display his heavy hands, much to Ghaedibardeh’s dismay, whose fate was all but sealed when he had a point deducted. This left him needing a knockout but in reality Daley seemed like the only person in the ring who had that in mind. The decision was inevitable and it was Daley who was left smiling and holding the winner’s trophy following the verdict. We say smiling but there may have been some grimace mixed in too. After all, he had just experienced three rounds of vicious kicks. Something that he highlighted in his post-fight Facebook status update: “An extremely difficult guy to fight with good timing and distance… every time he threw those kicks they f*****g hurt…” The evening’s main event was marred by controversy, despite being an awesome bout, when it was deemed a draw and warranted a fourth round. The only problem, however, was that Buakaw Banchamek was nowhere to be seen, which handed victory to Enriko Kehl by default. The reason for Buakaw’s disappearance is still unknown at this stage but obviously something made him react that way. Fightlab are extremely proud that Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley kick-started his K-1 career with a win and we’re confident that he can continue that form going forward in the world of K-1.
