Raymond ‘Real Deal’ Daniels Signs Exclusive Karate Combat Deal
New York, New York – (August 3, 2022) – Karate Combat, the groundbreaking professional full-contact karate promotion, today announced the signing of Raymond ‘Real Deal’ Daniels to an exclusive multi-fight agreement.
He will debut this month as an addition to the upcoming Karate Combat 35 card taking place Saturday, August 27 at The Backlot at Universal Studios, Orlando, Florida
Widely regarded as one of the greatest strikers in the history of combat sports, and the best-ever American karateka to enter the professional fighting circuit, Daniels has won numerous national and world championships in the course of his storied career.
Beginning as an amateur on the sport-karate circuit he won ten world titles and numerous tournament championships before crossing over into professional kickboxing, where he twice challenged for GLORY championships and recently won the Bellator Kickboxing World Championship, which he is now vacating as he joins Karate Combat.
A master of timing and placement, Daniels’ arsenal of unorthodox strikes have led to some of the most incredible highlight moments in combat sports, with more than 30 million views across his YouTube highlight videos alone.
Devastating kicks are Daniels’ trademark: 12 of his 22 KO wins have come by way of kicks, 8 of those via his signature spinning heel kick.
Among the fellow fighters and industry figures to have lauded his skills are Georges St-Pierre, who says Daniels is “the best striker I’ve ever seen”, and noted trainer Duke Roufus, who described one of Daniels’ spin-kick finishes as “the knockout of the century”.
“We’re excited to welcome Daniels to the league. He’s a name I had on my hit list from day one and glad we got the deal done. His resume speaks for itself. He’s an all-time great and I am excited to see what he does in The Pit. Recently we’ve signed Gabriel Varga, Rafael Aghayev, several world champions from other organizations and now Raymond Daniels. Karate Combat is becoming a world leader in stand-up fighting.” said Adam Kovacs, Karate Combat President.
Daniels said, “Karate is my first love and is what has made me stand out in all the other sports I’ve fought in. In MMA and kickboxing I’ve not not even been able to use my full repertoire of karate techniques so I’m very excited to be able to show the fans things they’ve never seen before. I love everything about Karate Combat, from the rules to The Pit to the production. I am very excited to be here and in a way it’s a homecoming for me.”
St-Pierre will be ringside for Daniels’ Karate Combat debut as he occupies the commentary booth for Karate Combat 35.
Karate Combat 35 (#KC35) is headlined by a champion vs champion superfight, with welterweight champion Josh ‘The Preacher’ Quayhagen taking on lightweight champion Luiz ‘The Pitbull’ Rocha in a five-round main event.
Roberto Villa is the CEO, Founder, Executive Writer, Senior Editor of FightBook MMA. Has a passion for Combat Sports and also a podcast host for Sitting Ringside. He’s also a former MMA fighter and Kickboxer.
