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12/07/08 - Paul Kelly: I'm going to do it for the UK
Paul Kelly is the latest Wolfslair product to make it to the UFC. He followed his team mate Mike Bisping into the big leagues when he debuted at UFC 80 in January, in an explosive battle with Paul Taylor that had the arena crowd on their feet and the viewers at home sitting up to take notice.
His second fight was supposed to be against Jonathan Goulet at UFC 85 in June but a hand injury kept him on the sidelines. But no one can accuse him of ducking a challenge - his next fight will be against formidable knockout artist Marcus Davis when UFC 89 takes place in Birmingham, England on October 18th.
Kelly freely acknowledges that this is a tough fight and that, while he may not be biting off more than he can chew, he is certainly risking a sore jaw.
"Yeah its a tough fight, but we asked for it, so if I get my arse whipped its my own fault," he laughs. "It is a tough fight. It was either going to be Davis or Anthony Johnson, who is on a roll at the moment."
Fans could be forgiven for thinking that Kelly is being thrown in the shark tank in only his second Octagon appearance. He agrees that this may be true but again blames himself. "I think its because of the way I fought in my debut," he explains.
But while he acknowledges that Davis will be a stiff test, Kelly certainly doesn't sound like a man who is preparing to put his head on the chopping block.
"I'll give anyone a fight, I'm going to go full-on like I always do, we'll see what happens. I've got nothing to lose, have I? Davis would be a huge scalp for me, he's in the top ten of the welterweight division."
"The fight is a good place for me because I am the underdog. There's no pressure there, the pressure is on him. The only fight where I have really felt the pressure was when I fought Sami Berik, because I was expected to win."
Davis has stopped all the British fighters that he has faced and Kelly is keenly aware of this. To him, the fight is not just an opportunity to climb the welterweight ladder, but an opportunity to salvage national pride.
"I want to set the record straight," he says, "I want to do it for the UK - to show the Americans that we can fight over here. They should give us the credit we deserve."
"Actually I'm looking forward to it, I'm gonna be the strongest I've ever been. Right now I weigh 85 kilos and I'm going to put on another five kilos in the coming weeks. I wasn't this heavy when I was fighting at middleweight!" he reveals.
Michael Bisping is also fighting at UFC 89 and his opponent Chris Leben has somehting in common with Marcus Davis - both are southpaws. To that end, Wolfslair has drafted in plenty of southpaw sparring partners to aid preparations.
Kelly is confident that by the time October rolls around, he will be "used to avoiding those big left hands".
The sparring side of things is taken care of then, but strength and conditioning also play a large part in his preparations. The regimen is nothing short of gruelling - but Kelly loves it.
"I'm up at seven o'clock every morning for a run and then its off to the Wolfslair for a three hour session. I do all my technical work and light sparring in the morning sessions," he says.
"Lee Quinn, my strength and conditioning coach, doesnt want my heart rate going over 160 bpm in the morning, because he wants me to able to handle my weights sessions in the evenings.
"The routine he's got me on... I'm training six hours a day at Wolfslair and I'm eating eleven times a day. I actually have an alarm set, I wake up at 4am for a meal replacement shake and then go back to sleep!"
Unsurprisingly, Kelly expects to be "fit as anything" on fight night.
"I'm fit anyway, if you look at my fight with Paul Taylor, he's known for being fit and I pushed the pace for the whole three rounds.
I ask him if he is going to have trouble avoiding the cake shop between now and October. (In his first fight, UFC commentator Joe Rogan mentioned that Kelly used to work in a cake shop and is a bit too fond of his doughy treats.)
Kelly bursts out laughing.
"I never worked in a cake shop! I get asked this in every interview! Anthony McGann (Wolfslair boss) made that up and put it in my bio that he gave the UFC, then Joe Rogan mentioned it before my fight," he says.
As it turns out, this wasn't the only bit of mischief McGann has inflicted on his long-suffering welterweight.
According to his official bio, Kelly is nicknamed ‘Tellys'. When I ask him what this means, he starts laughing again, before taking advantage of the opportunity to set the record straight.
"I hate the nickname ‘Tellys' - make sure you put that in there!" he says.
"I want rid of it! Antony stuck that on me as well. After my fight with Lee Whitehead, he said I was swaggering round like I was holding a television set under each arm. I hated the nickname, so obviously it stuck didn't it? You know what its like, if everyone knows you hate it they all use it even more. I swear if I hear the ring announcer call me Tellys I will walk out of the place!"
Gary Kelly, Paul's brother and fellow Wolfslair fighter, hasn't escaped the curse of the unflattering nickname either.
"Anthony calls my brother ‘Quasimodo' and ‘hunchback'," grins Kelly. "Gary sometimes fights on the Cage Gladiators show in Liverpool. Last time he fought he told the promoter he was going home if the MC introduced him as Gary the Hunchback."
Nickname gripes aside, Kelly is very happy with the atmosphere in his gym at present.
"Wolfslair is really good at the moment, we've got like 21 guys training with the pro-fight team. What you get at our gym, you aggression, you get motivation, guys like Tony Quigley (boxing coach) just don't leave you alone.
One of Quigley's drills involves one fighter backed into the corner while his partners take it in turns to hammer him for ten seconds at a time. It doesn't sound like much, Kelly says, until you've tried it.
"Guys will be going over from body shots or whatever and Tony is roaring at them: "Get back up, get back in there. What do you think you're doing down there?"
But taking a beating is nothing new to Kelly, who has trained with the fight team since his first day of mixed martial arts training.
"I actually started in the pro fight team. I joined their morning training sessions and just got battered for month's before Anthony noticed me and started getting me up to scratch technically - the rest of the guys were all far more advanced than I was," he confirms.
Those days of being battered remorselessly have served Kelly well. Despite not holding any belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, he says he has excellent submission defence and regularly taps more experienced practicioners.
And surprisingly, Kelly is expecting Davis to look for a takdown and submission - "That's what loads of people are telling us to watch out for" - which he feels would be playing to his strengths.
"Ask anyone," he says, "its impossible to keep me on my back. It doesnt matter how strong you are, you're not going to keep me there."
"I'm strong, I'm good at bridging, guys try and keep me down and next thing I bridge and I am going ground and pound from the top."
Kelly is confident of his chances, but not so arrogant that he will denigrate Davis' skills or predict the round or manner that the fight will end. He says he doesn't like trash talk at all.
"I'm just here to fight a good fight. I've got the same mindset as Forrest Griffin, you know? I like to know that I've been in a fight, I like to hit and get hit. Even in sparring, I like coming away with a black eye or a bloody nose."
Interview by John O'Regan
John.fightersonly@gmail.com
Kelly's 'ones to watch'
With 21 regulars on the Wolfslair fight team, we asked Paul Kelly to pick two up and coming names from the gym that MMA fans should watch out for.
"Lukasz Lez is definitely one to watch. If he is not fighting in the big leagues by this time next year I will bare my arse in Woolworth's window.*
"Lez is a top wrestler but he can stand as well, he has been working on his hands loads. He's Polish - you know what those guys are like for working hard. You'll see him in UFC or something one day soon.
"David Johnson as well, he's another one to watch. He's only 18 so he's got loads of time yet, but he is having some good fights. Once he starts looking a bit slicker in the cage, I reckon more shows will pick him up.
Johnson raised his profile in the UK scene recently when, as Kelly puts it, "he took a fight on a day's notice, cut weight from scratch the night before the fight and then went the distance with a guy who is known as a stand-up fighter."
* Woolworths is a British chain of department stores.
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