SYDNEY – After a four-fight winning streak came to an abrupt end, how is 40-year-old Daniel Kelly dealing with the setback?
With his trademark optimism and fortitude, as usual.
Kelly (13-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC), who meets fellow middleweight Elias Theodorou (13-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 121, was inching up the 185-pound ladder with a solid winning streak, but in his most recent bout, he suffered a 76-second knockout loss to Derek Brunson.
How’d it feel to deal with such an untimely setback?
“Massive disappointment – massive, massive disappointment,” the fan favorite told MMAjunkie. “We were on a really good run. We won like four in a row, something like that. And everything was good.
“(The loss) was my fault. I made mistakes. So, you can’t make mistakes at that level. You saw what (Brunson) did to (Lyoto) Machida that next fight. And Brunson is an awesome, awesome competitor. So, it was very disappointing. All you can do is get back to the drawing board.”
He looks to do just that when he meets Theodorou in an FS1-televised main-card bout at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. For the four-time Australian Olympic judoka, he’s likely going to be a massive crowd favorite.
But Kelly also knows he has a tough challenge in Theodorou, a fellow vet of “The Ultimate Fighter.” After all, Theodorou has defeated the two of the three opponents who have beaten Kelly since the Australian turned to pro MMA in 2006 – Sam Alvey and Sheldon Westcott (in a “TUF” exhibition bout).
And sure, some folks close to him may have preferred that Kelly call it a career after the Brunson loss. But despite a couple decades of combat-sports experience and Father Time peering over his shoulder, Kelly isn’t quite ready to call it quits.
“At the end of the day, I think I’m a good representation for the sport and how I conduct myself and all of that,” he said. “So, there’s still a little but of gas in there, in the tank. So I’ll get going for a little bit longer.”
For more on UFC Fight Night 121, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
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