THE CROWD WILL be against her tonight at UFC 186 in Montreal, but that’s nothing new for Aisling Daly.
She’s experienced it all before. In the UK, the US, Europe and even the Middle East. Daly has competed — and won — in five different countries since making her professional debut eight years ago.
The best example is her win over UFC bantamweight Jessica Eye in 2011. Despite her impressive record and credentials, Daly was brought in as a sacrificial lamb to feed to Eye in her hometown of Cleveland.
The fight ended late in the second round when Daly locked in a rear-naked choke. She became the first person to stop Jessica Eye that night. Four years later, nobody has done so since.
“My first ever fight was in Denmark against a girl who was pretty much the local hero at the time, so I think that baptism of fire has parked all that kind of home advantage stuff for me,” Daly told The42.
“I haven’t often had the luxury of being the hometown girl during my career. I’ve had tonnes of fights at this stage where I’ve been the outsider. The fight against Jessica Eye, that was one of the toughest experiences because there were a couple of thousand people there booing me.
“She was the hometown favourite but I managed to survive it and get the win. Whether it’s in my backyard or a different country, the mindset is still the same. The crowd doesn’t matter when the cage door closes.”
Daly looked impressive in her UFC debut last December in Las Vegas when she defeated Alex Chambers with ease. The Dubliner goes for her second win tonight against Canada’s Randa Markos, but the fight was only scheduled less than a month ago.
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An SBG team-mate of Conor McGregor’s, Daly was originally booked to face Claudia Gadelha in Poland on 11 April. Gadelha pulled out, citing an injury, but the UFC were quick off the mark to add Markos versus Daly to the bill for UFC 186 instead.
New opponent, same objective, but different rewards. Gadelha was only beaten by current UFC strawweight Joanna Jedrzejczyk on an extremely close decision, so a win against the Brazilian would have catapulted Daly up the rankings and directly into title contention.
Daly in control against Majanka Lathouwers in her third professional bout back in 2007. Morgan Treacy / INPHO
Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO
Overcoming Randa Markos — ranked sixth in the 115lbs division — won’t enhance Daly’s reputation quite as much. However, with a vacancy in the top contender spot following Joanne Calderwood’s recent shock defeat to Maryna Moroz, Ireland’s only female UFC star will do her chances of a title shot no harm whatsoever with a convincing win tonight.
“The division is lacking title contenders,” said Daly. “Everybody had Jojo [Calderwood] down for it, myself included, because she was expected to win and fight for the title in Scotland in July.
“That was a big upset and it has blown the division wide open. Randa is quite highly ranked too so a win over her — not just any kind of win, but a dominant performance — will really put me up there in title contention. Nobody else in the division has really put on a dominant performance, apart obviously from the champion.”
As for Jedrzejczyk, Daly is confident that she’ll have the tools to pose the kind of challenge that the undefeated Polish champion has yet to face — should the opportunity present itself.
On promotional duty for the UFC in Dublin last month. Cathal Noonan / INPHO
Cathal Noonan / INPHO / INPHO
“One of the things that has happened so far with Joanna’s opponents is that a lot of them have been quite one-dimensional; not being able to mix up the takedowns and the striking so well,” explained Daly.
“There are a lot of people who believe Claudia actually won that fight against her. And from training with Carla [Esparza, former champion], I know that she’s very one-dimensional too. Her striking is very poor.
“So yeah, I think somebody like myself who is very competent in their striking and their grappling would be the ideal opponent for Joanna. I’d be very confident if that fight came about. I’d be confident against anyone really, even the girls in the higher weight classes.”
Tonight’s opponent Randa Markos is still relatively new to the game. The 29-year-old Canadian made her debut in November 2012, by which time Aisling Daly had already competed in 17 professional bouts — despite being two years her junior.
“I feel like I have the edge on Randa everywhere, to be honest. My skills are a little bit more developed than hers. In certain ways she reminds me of myself a couple of years ago,” said 27-year-old Daly.
“She’s tough, physically and mentally, and she has good grappling. Her striking is lacking a little bit. I think I’ve developed my skills to a point where I’m capable of beating her in any way. My jiu-jitsu is excellent, my striking has developed a lot — it’s unorthodox but effective — and I’m feeling super confident.”
Whether it’ll be next on the agenda or further down the line, Daly sees a UFC title shot somewhere in her future. To be even discussing such a prospect is surreal for a fighter who’s been pursuing that dream since before it even existed. A strawweight division for women was only introduced by the UFC last year.
“Even when I try and think about it sometimes it just does not register with me at all. I’m wondering what the hell is going on a lot of time. I’m in the UFC and potentially a couple of fights away from challenging for the title. It’s pretty crazy, to be completely honest. I have a hard time taking it all in.”
Aisling Daly versus Randa Markos is the opening fight of tonight’s UFC 186 preliminary card, which is only available to watch live on UFCFightPass.com from 11.30pm. A monthly Fight Pass subscription will cost you €7.99, but you can also opt to start a free seven-day trial.
UFC star Aisling Daly is targeting another win behind enemy lines tonight
THE CROWD WILL be against her tonight at UFC 186 in Montreal, but that’s nothing new for Aisling Daly.
She’s experienced it all before. In the UK, the US, Europe and even the Middle East. Daly has competed — and won — in five different countries since making her professional debut eight years ago.
The best example is her win over UFC bantamweight Jessica Eye in 2011. Despite her impressive record and credentials, Daly was brought in as a sacrificial lamb to feed to Eye in her hometown of Cleveland.
The fight ended late in the second round when Daly locked in a rear-naked choke. She became the first person to stop Jessica Eye that night. Four years later, nobody has done so since.
“My first ever fight was in Denmark against a girl who was pretty much the local hero at the time, so I think that baptism of fire has parked all that kind of home advantage stuff for me,” Daly told The42.
“She was the hometown favourite but I managed to survive it and get the win. Whether it’s in my backyard or a different country, the mindset is still the same. The crowd doesn’t matter when the cage door closes.”
Daly looked impressive in her UFC debut last December in Las Vegas when she defeated Alex Chambers with ease. The Dubliner goes for her second win tonight against Canada’s Randa Markos, but the fight was only scheduled less than a month ago.
An SBG team-mate of Conor McGregor’s, Daly was originally booked to face Claudia Gadelha in Poland on 11 April. Gadelha pulled out, citing an injury, but the UFC were quick off the mark to add Markos versus Daly to the bill for UFC 186 instead.
New opponent, same objective, but different rewards. Gadelha was only beaten by current UFC strawweight Joanna Jedrzejczyk on an extremely close decision, so a win against the Brazilian would have catapulted Daly up the rankings and directly into title contention.
Overcoming Randa Markos — ranked sixth in the 115lbs division — won’t enhance Daly’s reputation quite as much. However, with a vacancy in the top contender spot following Joanne Calderwood’s recent shock defeat to Maryna Moroz, Ireland’s only female UFC star will do her chances of a title shot no harm whatsoever with a convincing win tonight.
“The division is lacking title contenders,” said Daly. “Everybody had Jojo [Calderwood] down for it, myself included, because she was expected to win and fight for the title in Scotland in July.
“That was a big upset and it has blown the division wide open. Randa is quite highly ranked too so a win over her — not just any kind of win, but a dominant performance — will really put me up there in title contention. Nobody else in the division has really put on a dominant performance, apart obviously from the champion.”
As for Jedrzejczyk, Daly is confident that she’ll have the tools to pose the kind of challenge that the undefeated Polish champion has yet to face — should the opportunity present itself.
“One of the things that has happened so far with Joanna’s opponents is that a lot of them have been quite one-dimensional; not being able to mix up the takedowns and the striking so well,” explained Daly.
“There are a lot of people who believe Claudia actually won that fight against her. And from training with Carla [Esparza, former champion], I know that she’s very one-dimensional too. Her striking is very poor.
“So yeah, I think somebody like myself who is very competent in their striking and their grappling would be the ideal opponent for Joanna. I’d be very confident if that fight came about. I’d be confident against anyone really, even the girls in the higher weight classes.”
Tonight’s opponent Randa Markos is still relatively new to the game. The 29-year-old Canadian made her debut in November 2012, by which time Aisling Daly had already competed in 17 professional bouts — despite being two years her junior.
“She’s tough, physically and mentally, and she has good grappling. Her striking is lacking a little bit. I think I’ve developed my skills to a point where I’m capable of beating her in any way. My jiu-jitsu is excellent, my striking has developed a lot — it’s unorthodox but effective — and I’m feeling super confident.”
Whether it’ll be next on the agenda or further down the line, Daly sees a UFC title shot somewhere in her future. To be even discussing such a prospect is surreal for a fighter who’s been pursuing that dream since before it even existed. A strawweight division for women was only introduced by the UFC last year.
“Even when I try and think about it sometimes it just does not register with me at all. I’m wondering what the hell is going on a lot of time. I’m in the UFC and potentially a couple of fights away from challenging for the title. It’s pretty crazy, to be completely honest. I have a hard time taking it all in.”
Aisling Daly versus Randa Markos is the opening fight of tonight’s UFC 186 preliminary card, which is only available to watch live on UFCFightPass.com from 11.30pm. A monthly Fight Pass subscription will cost you €7.99, but you can also opt to start a free seven-day trial.
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