Bellator fighter Paul Daley scheduled for fight in Ireland on February 23

Photo via Esther Lin of MMA Fighting

After some trials and tribulations, it appears that Daley has finally been approved for a fight outside the Bellator umbrella.

Bellator Welterweight Paul Daley was expected to fight on the promotion's Season 8 premier on Spike TV against War Machine next week. Those plans were tossed after a recent arrest prevented Daley from obtaining a visa to travel to the US. After initial struggles with Bellator in getting permission to fight outside their organization, it looks like Daley now has a fight scheduled.

Fighters Only got word from John Ferguson, the president of Irish promotion Cage Contenders, that they have scheduled Daley for a fight next month:

We are very happy that Bellator have allowed Paul to take part in the card because he’s got a lot of fans in the UK and Ireland and its been a while since they’ve seen him fight on home soil. With ‘Semtex’ the fans know there’s a big chance of a big knockout and they love watching him

According to Ferguson, Daley will face Patrick Vallee at Cage Contenders 16 on February 23. Ferguson indicated that while they were having trouble finding an opponent for Paul, Vallee actually went out of his way to ask for the fight. In his last fight, Daley made his Bellator debut with a first round KO of Rudy Bears. Vallee sports a record of 9-4-1, 2 NC. He's got 8 finishes under his belt including 3 knockouts and 5 submissions.