Ayo Daly explains three year absence ahead of June 9th return

Irishman Ayo Daly (1-1) returns to the cage against Kasimir Tolupov in a 80kg bout at Centurion Fighting Championships at the Villa Rosa Beach Garden, St. Julian’s in Malta on 9th June 2018.

Daly hasn’t fought since suffering the first loss of his career by KO against 21 fight veteran Martin van Staden at EFC 38 back in April 2015 in Durban, South Africa after he had made a successful pro debut the month previous against Matas Stebuliauskas.

Daly had a successful 8-0-1 undefeated amateur career with all of his victories coming inside the distance. His amateur career included wins over Kiefer Crosbie, Glenn Irvine, Keith McCabe and Paul Lawrence.

We spoke to Ayo this evening and he revealed the series of tragic events, injuries and life changes that has lead to his three year absence from competition:

“After the Van Staden fight I was out of a job, after quitting one to take the fight, I went back into training and had the plan to work part time, train full time and help my sick mother but plans change rapidly.

“My brother, Femi, passed away about 3 weeks after Van Staden fight to suspected suicide. We hadn’t spoke in over a year so it hit me and my family hard. I was due to be married too so had to get back working, which I did in June 2015.”

“I was meant to fight James Brennan quickly after Africa but a knee injury was holding me back. My wife Imma got pregnant that summer and we got married in Vegas on October 15th. As you can see there were a lot of life changing events in a short period of time, I was training but not with a massive purpose or direction as I was also told by doctors I would never fight again due to injuries.”

“My son Nas was born in April 16th and life has changed a good bit. I left Ireland and moved to Malta due to rising rent and housing costs. I grew sick of the weather and to be honest psychologically I wasn’t happy. I miss training with the Team Ryano family and come home as often as I can to train with them and see my Mum, her cancer has gotten worse and I’m not sure how long she has left.”

“Fighting has never left my mind, I have a stepson, Phoenix, and my son, Nas, and when they are older I want to show them my videos, show them what not to do, hopefully they might learn something or want to fight some day too”