https:\/\/twitter.com\/mma_jim\/status\/823090493642915840<\/p>\n
On one of the increasingly rare weekends without a UFC card, Bellator MMA came to the rescue with a stacked night of fighting in Bellator 170. Emanating from sunny Los Angeles, California, the card featured the swan song of UFC Hall-of-Famer Tito Ortiz<\/a>, and the anticipated return of legendary trash talker Chael Sonnen<\/a>. It also featured an extremely violent win<\/a> courtesy of British knockout artist Paul Daley.<\/p>\n Daley’s Bellator 170 opponent was “Irish” Brennan Ward \u2013 another fighter with a proven propensity for crushing knockout wins. As such, their welterweight collision was arguably the most anticipated bout on the card.<\/p>\n The contest began with Ward securing a pair of takedowns, which gave the impression that we might be in for a gruelling Ward win rather than the striking battle we were all hoping for. Midway through the first round, however, Daley was able to escape a tie-up against the cage, create some space with a beautiful spinning back elbow, and finally, put Ward down with a rocket-fuelled flying knee to the temple. See it at the top of this post!<\/p>\n With this highlight reel knockout win, which was very similar to the one Daley’s fellow British knockout artist Michael “Venom” Page used to shatter Evangelista “Cyborg” Santo’s skull in 2016<\/a>, Daley extended his overall record to 39-14-2. Having rebounded from a loss to new Bellator welterweight champion Douglas Lima, Daley once again stands out as the top contenders in Bellator’s welterweight division. Post-fight, he used his status as one of the division’s top dogs as leverage for a callout of former UFC star and recent Bellator signee Rory MacDonald \u2013 though we know MacDonald is likely to get an immediate shot at Lima in his Bellator debut<\/a>.<\/p>\n Having been knocked out by this thunderous Daley Knee, Ward falls to 14-5 overall.<\/p>\n Would you be interested in a Paul Daley vs. Rory MacDonald fight? Sound off, PENN Nation!<\/p>\n This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/i>BJPenn.com<\/i><\/span><\/a>\u00a0on 1\/22\/2017.<\/i><\/p>\n