Bellator welterweight contender Paul Daley possesses some of the most devastating striking in the sport today. After over a decade of knockouts and stoppages, he remains a major name and an incredibly dangerous force to everyone in the growing welterweight division.

Daley steps back into the Bellator cage Friday night, live and free on SPIKE TV, at Bellator 163 in Uncasville, Connecticut. He faces surging lightweight Derek Anderson, who jumps up a weight class for the opportunity throw down with the always dangerous Daley.

"I am going to be prepared to fight in all ranges," Daley said. "He is a young guy. He is coming up to 170. I'm just going to be me and fight how I fight and see how he deals with it. He's young. He's hungry. It's a massive opportunity for him. I expect to fight the best Derek Anderson Friday night."

The Nottingham, England, native is back in action for the first time since his setback loss to Douglas Lima at Bellator 158 this past summer. That fight ultimately became a title eliminator as Lima is now set to scrap with welterweight champion Andrei Koreshkov for the belt at Bellator 164 in Tel Aviv next week.

The stage was set for Daley to have a breakout performance in London. It was Bellator's maiden voyage to his home country. He was fighting in the main event slot and the title shot was on the line. But it just wasn't meant to be that night. From the outset of the fight, mental and physical mistakes led to Daley falling behind early and never finding his rhythm or the ability to recover. Those missteps ultimately led to him losing a three-round unanimous decision and a great opportunity in the process.

"I just rushed things a bit," Daley said. "I should have given myself an extra 30 seconds to absorb everything. I was too keen to interrupt his game plan. I did something stupid that affected me the rest of the fight. I am confident that I am more than capable of beating Douglas Lima. I just need to be in the moment and enjoy it rather than forcing it. I didn't take time to feel the crowd, to see the crowd. I was overly eager to get in his face."

With the continued efforts of Bellator brass to sign the hottest free agents on the market, including welterweight Rory MacDonald, there are many options on the table for Daley. Fans are clamoring for many of these dream matchups to come to fruition, and Daley himself can't help but dream about fighting Bellator's  welterweight free-agent signing.

"Rory MacDonald is a great fighter," Daley said. "I think he will go straight for the title shot. After that, we will see what happens. I would fight Rory MacDonald. He is one of the top-five welterweights in the world. Even though he lost his last fight in the UFC, you could see it was a lackluster performance, like he was already one foot out the door. He is one of the elite, and it would be great to test myself against him."

With the launch of Bellator kickboxing earlier this year, coupled with Daley's rich history in the sport, it would only make sense for the world-class striker to eventually test his skills in the Bellator ring. Daley has grand plans of becoming a multi-sport Bellator champion.

"I am desperate to do something with Bellator kickboxing," Daley said. "I want to get involved. I can beat anyone in my weight class in kickboxing. I want to be a top MMA fighter who also holds a Bellator kickboxing belt. There are fights there to be made. Since Alistair Overeem there hasn't been a top MMA fighter to also hold a kickboxing belt. I think that was a main selling point for Alistair to the UFC. It added to his aura as well. I am more than capable of doing the same thing given the opportunity. I would like to look back at my career and say I had done that."