DALLAS - English welterweight Paul (Semtex) Daley talks a good game as he prepares for his UFC debut Saturday at UFC 103.

The 26-year-old sees himself as a roving mixed martial arts warrior, "with the stick, the cane and the satchel, just going round, just busting people up, getting paid and getting a bunch of fans."

In joining the UFC, Daley (21-8-2) reckons he can show off his skills at the highest level.

"Ronin (a wandering Samurai) has reached his temple, he's found his Shogun master and he's about to kick ass," he said.

But waiting to welcome Daley to the Octagon is Martin (The Hitman) Kampmann.

The Las Vegas-based Dane was slated to fight Mike (Quick) Swick on Saturday at the American Airlines Center (available on pay-per-view), but the Texas native suffered a concussion in training and had to withdraw. Daley who was already set to fight Brian Foster on the undercard, was moved up to the main card.

The loss of Swick wasn't good news for Kampmann. The winner of that bout had been touted as a future challenge to welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre. A good showing by Kampmann may still earn him that title shot, but Daley doesn't have the same name recognition as Swick.

"It happens and there is not much I can do about it," Kampmann said of the Swick injury. "Of course, I was still very disappointed. I've been training for Swick, I was ready to fight Swick and that's who I wanted to fight, so it's still disappointing. But it is the business, it's not a team sport, it's individuals and one guy gets hurt -- that changes up a whole lot of things."

Daley is known as an accomplished striker whose ground game is suspect. Five of his losses have been via submission, most recently last October by Jake Shields in an EliteXC title bout.

"He got worked over on the ground by Shields but Shields is a top-level black belt. He can make a lot of people look stupid on the ground," Kampmann said. "I expect him to have a good ground game. I don't know how good. I think I have a better ground game but I don't expect him to be a slouch on the ground either."

Daley says he has worked hard to address any weakness, pointing out that he defended himself on the ground in recent Maximum Fighting Championship fights in Edmonton against Nick Thompson (a decision loss) and Canadian John Alessio (TKO win)

"I don't care where the fight takes place," Daley said. "Obviously I'd be more comfortable standing on my feet and more likely to get an entertaining victory by my standing on my feet but obviously I'm continuously working on my weaknesses . . . I've shown marked improvement I feel in myself, my own abilities in my training and in fights."

Daley will need to be at the top of his game against Kampmann, a hard-nosed fighter who is 2-0 since dropping down to welterweight (170 pounds) from middleweight.

"Martin Kampman works unbelievably hard," said lightweight Gray Maynard, who trains with the 27-year-old Dane at Xtreme Couture in Vegas. "He's in the gym every day, all year. And he's smart, but he just trains unbelievably hard and he grows and grows and grows and he adds more, adds more, adds more. He's going to be tough to beat. I don't care who it is."

Kampmann (15-2 including 6-1 in the UFC) is just plain tough. He's not afraid to take out his own stitches and at UFC 93 he recovered from a kick to the groin to beat Alexandre Barros.

"Tell me about it." Kampmann said when advised it looked painful.

"Sometimes the (protective) cup doesn't always take all the force. It helps for sure but it don't do wonders."

Last time out, he showed his grit in a split decision win over Carlos (The Natural Born Killer) Condit.

At six foot, Kampmann is three inches taller that Daley, who is small for a welterweight. He is also comfortable wherever the fight goes.

In a division crying out for someone to challenge St. Pierre, Kampmann has flown under the radar a bit. But underestimate him at your peril.

"I feel good, I feel great. I feel I'm getting sharper, getting better as a fighter every day, learning new stuff and just getting better. Whenever I get the title shot, I'll be ready," Kampmann said. "Yeah, GSP's a dominant champion but you know there's a dominant champion in the middleweights too, Anderson Silva, There's tough guys in both weight divisions. If you fight in the UFC, everybody's tough."

For that reason, he's not underestimating Daley.

A talented soccer player in his youth -- the Brit played with the likes of Jermaine Jenas and Jermaine Pennant at England's School of Excellence -- Daley says he is now ready for the big time.

"I've been fighting at the top of Division One. Now I'm up in the Premiership with the likes of Man United and Chelsea."