Paul Daley's Excuse Doesn't Cut It

After knocking out Dustin Hazelett on Saturday, Paul Daley explained away his failure to make weight on Friday by saying he missed a day and a half of his weight cut because of a travel snafu.

That excuse doesn't cut it. If Daley had no history of missing weight, I could maybe -- maybe -- see using a travel problem as a reason for coming in over. But Daley does have a history of missing weight. After stepping on the scale at 172 for Friday's weigh-in, Daley has now missed weight in three of his last six fights: He came in at 171.5 for MFC 20 in February of 2009 and at 174 for MFC 19 in December of 2008.

Daley is starting to get some buzz as a future welterweight title contender, but I can't see that happening until Daley can show that he can weigh in at 170 pounds consistently. So far he hasn't done that.

And while Daley was docked 10 percent of his purse, he more than made up for that by winning the Knockout of the Night bonus. The UFC should stop giving bonuses to fighters who miss weight, and at UFC 108 Junior dos Santos, who knocked out Gilbert Yvel, would have been a more deserving choice for Knockout of the Night.

Daley has had a couple of exciting victories in his first two UFC fights, and he's a likable fighter the UFC loves showing off on Saturday nights. But on Fridays, it's time for him to start making weight and stop making excuses.