Paul Daley issues a 'Mea Culpa'

WKR thought it was a little bit odd that there wasn't some sort of an apology from Daley's camp after his Koscheck sucker punch. Regardless of what you think of Koscheck one would think that there was someone savvy enough in Daley's camp to realize they had to go in major damage control mode. Well, here's the apology a day or so late:

"I've had a long flight home to consider my actions and regret the mistake I made on Saturday. I would like to apologise to the UFC and the Athletic Commission for what I've done as well as all the fans and sponsors that support me."

"I would also like to offer my sincerest apologies to Josh Koscheck who did not deserve the cheap shot I threw. He did what he needed to do in order to win the fight and get the job done, and I foolishly reacted to the situation."

"There is no excuse for my actions and I know what I did was very unprofessional. I was immensely frustrated by a collection of things that took place throughout the fight as well as leading up to it, but I'm certainly not trying to condone or excuse my actions."

"Josh implemented his game plan perfectly taking me down and staying on top of me for the majority of the fight. I was also frustrated about him claiming (and acting like) I knee'd him in the head on the ground when it was clear for all to see in the video replay that I didn't connect at all with the knee I threw."

"Then finally, the verbal abuse Josh hit me with in the final 30 seconds of the fight simply pushed me over the edge and my frustrations came out as I knew I'd lost the fight, was unhappy with my own performance and had then been ridiculed by my opponent to top things off."

"This is certainly no excuse for my actions; I fully deserve to be punished for what I did and hope that everyone I have disappointed can forgive my rash decision. I feel very disappointed in myself for losing my cool and hope that I am able to address my temperament and bounce back from this low point in my career."

"I feel ashamed and embarrassed by what I did and hope that together my team and I can get through this issue. It will be a long road back from where I am now to earning the trust and respect of the UFC and the MMA fans that have supported me for so long, I know I've let you all down but I'm determined to make it up to you all."

Here's the thing, Daley needed to say this immediately after the fight. He needed to go over to Koscheck and apologize, he needed to say it to the crowd, to the pay-per view audience, to Dana White and everyone he ran into at the Bell Centre if he had any chance of salvaging the situation.

However, once it became apparent that Dana White was going to channel Roger Goodell (more on this later) and drop the ban hammer on Daley there was another way "Semtex" could have played it -- try to milk it for all it's worth. 

Look, we aren't trying to defend his actions or rationalize them, we just want to point out that Daley could try to spin this into a media coup for his career beyond the UFC. A lot of fans don't like Josh Koscheck and it's not hard to envision a scenario where they would still gravitate towards Daley, in a "I won't take shit from anyone" sort of way if you spin it in a "Koscheck is a dick, and I was the righteous hand of bitch-slapping." Basically, Daley had the chance to become the bad boy of MMA and try to sell future fights against Nick Diaz, Mayhem Miller, Mariuz Zaromskis and whomever else is out there.

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