Here's a tip to all future opponents of UFC lightweight Paul Kelly – be nice.
Here's a tip to all future opponents of
UFC lightweight Paul Kelly – be nice. Compliment his grade-one haircut, the
colour of his eyes or the unique twang of his Liverpool accent. Marvel at his
ability to speak in jumbled morse code, yet still sound as passionate and
direct as any competitor in mixed martial arts today. Tell him how strong his
ground-and-pound is, how sharp his elbows are and how relentless his pace is.
Whatever you do, don't question his punch power, and please don't wind him up.
“I do a lot of visualisation in my hotel
room before my fights and I'm imagining evil and horrible things,” explains
Kelly, 11-2 in his mixed martial arts career. “I need to be in a certain frame
of mind to fight and, when my opponent has a 'go' during the build-up, that
only makes things so much easier for me.
“I never have anything personal against
my opponent, but I'm just a very emotional fighter that looks to inflict
damage. I can't afford to go out there and outbox someone with beautiful
counter-punching skills or submit someone with a flying arm-bar. I've got to go
out there and elbow them into submission and cut them open so bad that the
referee has no choice but to stop the fight. When you know that's what's ahead
of you, it's important to put yourself in a wicked place to get there.”
This 'wicked place' Kelly speaks of is a
cold, bleak and ominous room, familiar only to fighters and those forced to
blur the lines between good and evil. It's a locked mystery to mere mortals like
you and I. Kelly visits this place each and every time he fights. Sometimes he
requires a push to get there, but the proud Liverpudlian always, without fail,
ends up isolated in his favourite pre-fight haunt.
When pushed, the results can often be devastating.
Set to face American lightweight Jacob Volkmann on August 1st in San
Diego, Kelly's got that sinking feeling again. He's been riled by Volkmann's
pre-fight comments, and now knows of only one way to react and one place to go.
“I'm an emotional fighter and I need to
feel like this before a fight,” stresses Kelly. “Have a look at every picture
ever taken of me and you'll see the same expression on my face. I love to
fight, I love to be aggressive and I'm always emotional, before, during and
after fights.
“I won't have to calm myself down before
facing Volkmann. His words have got me in the perfect frame of mind for this
fight and I can't wait to go out there and prove him wrong. I fight better and
harder when somebody is in my face and I've got nothing but dislike for them. I
usually have problems when I go into a fight too respectful of the other guy.
That's when you don't see the real Paul Kelly.”
The real Paul Kelly has been awoken by
comments made by Volkmann concerning his apparent lack of punch power.
Originally set to face the American on July 3rd at UFC 116, Kelly
ran into visa problems, Volkmann became frustrated and vocal, and the pair
settled for a four-week delay. As a result, a simmering rivalry only
intensified and now, with a little over a week to go, Kelly is fit to burst.
“His talking will be his downfall, as
he's tried winding up the wrong guy,” states Kelly. “He's questioned my ability
and my punching power, and now I'm determined to knock him spark out on August
1st. I want to make a point with my punches and see him stretched
out on the floor. It's fine to talk about your own attributes and what you can
and can't do, but don't go criticising someone else's like Volkmann has done.
How does he know how hard I hit? Has he ever felt my power? All I'll say is on
August 1st, Volkmann will know exactly how hard I bang.
“Volkmann's going to end up with egg on
his face if he's lucky, and blood on his face if he's unlucky. Either way, he's
getting knocked out. I'd love to put him to sleep in the first round and make
him look silly.”
It doesn't take much to persuade Kelly to
fire back and, when clearly stung by the comments of an opponent, the lively
Liverpool lightweight isn't racking his brain for things to say. He's watched
Volkmann day in, day out for the twelve weeks he's prepared to face the
Minnesota native and, now armed with the ammunition to retaliate, Kelly won't
hold back, verbally or later physically.
“He (Volkmann) kind of goes in there and tries
to do just enough to win,” assesses Paul. “He only looks to grind matches out
and steal a decision. I've watched his tapes every single day, on tape and on
YouTube, and I know his style back-to-front now. I'm not underestimating what
he can do, but I know what I have to do to win this fight.
“Volkmann is the sort of fighter that is
content to scrape through and get the 'W'. He's not interested in putting on
entertaining fights or taking a risk and finishing somebody. I'd sooner lose
and be exciting than just grind a boring win out. Even when I have gone the
distance and squeaked wins out, the fights have always been exciting wars and I
haven't looked to lay-and-pray at any time. I refuse to lay-and-pray against
any man. I just won't do it. I would quit the sport and find another job if the
fans ever considered me a boring fighter. I'm always looking to entertain the
fans, and that feeling of putting on a great slugfest is the reason I do this
in the first place.”
With the potential for lay-and-pray off
the agenda, at least from Kelly's point of view, fans can look forward to a
fast-paced, varied and dramatic slugfest, packed full of bad blood and points
to prove. Insisting he needs to be emotional in order to perform, Kelly won't
be looking to calm down or settle from this point on. With the prospect of
competing in America for the first time also on his mind, Kelly appears the
type to thrive in foreign territory, with his back pinned to the wall, friends
few and far between. He likes it this way.
“I seem to have a big following in the
UK, so I hope a few American fans will take to my style, too,” says Kelly, a
fan favourite in his homeland. “You can't beat fighting in front of your home
fans in England, but I'm sure the experience in America will also be great.
“I'm interested to see how the American
fans take to me, to be honest. I'm expecting to get booed at the weigh-in and
maybe on fight night, simply because I'm fighting an American. I'd love it if
that wasn't the case, and the fans showed some love towards me, but I'll accept
anything that happens. I'll take it on the chin if they boo me, but I hope they
don't.
“I look on the MMA forums from time to
time and seem to find nothing but threads, usually four-pages long, hating on
me like I've committed some crime against America. I can't work out why they'd
hate me. Nationality aside, I'm just a fighter who goes in there and tries to
do my job to the best of my ability. Maybe people see me at the weigh-ins
acting a little angry and aggressive and that rubs them up the wrong way. If it
does, I apologise and hope they understand the adrenaline that's running
through your body at moments like those. I'm not going to change anytime soon.”
One gets the impression Kelly couldn't
change even if he wanted to. Well-versed in the art of brawling, the aggressive
Brit revealed surprising subtleties to his game last time out at UFC 112, as he
outwrestled and eventually submitted former Division-1 standout Matt Veach in
the second round.
“I'd drilled that submission hundreds of
times in the gym leading up to the fight, so when it eventually happened in the
fight, I was the least surprised person there,” recalls Kelly of that night in
Abu Dhabi. “I knew it was going to happen like that. It made a nice change to
not go home or to the hospital with a banging headache after the fight.
“The Veach fight proved a lot to myself
and gave me the confidence to realise I'm better than this and I can really
make something of myself here in the UFC. You always say stuff like that before
fights, but it takes a win like that one over Veach to really start believing.
It was a real awakening for me.”
Eyes open, and a career-best victory
behind him, Kelly now approaches his August 1st bout with Volkmann
as clear-headed and invigorated as he's been since joining the UFC in January
2008. Still only 25, Kelly has matured as a person and fighter and, in
switching to Liverpool's Team Kaobon, seems to have moved his game on to a new
level. With improvements aplenty, Kelly believes he'll be too much for Volkmann
next week in California.
“I've got better stand-up than him and my
wrestling can hang with his,” says Kelly. “I've yet to be outwrestled in a
fight, and I've been in with some high-calibre collegiate wrestlers. I keep
going up against guys that are supposed to outwrestle me, and yet I end up
getting the better of them on the ground and end up on top. Just because I
didn't wrestle at school or college, doesn't mean these wrestlers are going to
run all over me. I'm a strong and fit dude, and this is mixed martial arts, not
collegiate wrestling.
“Volkmann's going to try and rush me to
the ground, pin me down and then just go hip-on-hip and attempt to hold me
there for fifteen minutes. I know exactly what he's planning, as that's the
kind of fighter he is. I only hope to God that the fight doesn't end up like
that. I really don't want my first match in America to be a boring display of
lay-and-pray.”
When heated verbal volleys are involved,
and bad blood has been spilt, often the lure of victory isn't enough for proud
and volatile warriors like Kelly. The win is merely just the beginning.
“I can see this fight ending with me
knocking Volkmann clean out” warns Kelly. “I don't see a TKO or a stoppage win,
I see a clean, one-punch, out-cold knockout victory.
“I want him to wake up the next morning,
brush his teeth in the mirror, and ask himself, 'Why did I ever trash-talk Paul
Kelly?'. I want to give him a constant reminder of our fight every time he
looks in the mirror.”
So, as I said at the top, please don't
make fun of Paul Kelly. He's always likely to have the last laugh.