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Unfortunately, he’s had to wait more than 12 months for this opportunity to return to the Octagon. A May fight with Mitch Gagnon would have been his return date, but injuries kept him out until now. But despite the layoff, he’s finding the silver lining.
“It was a good time off, to be honest,” he said. “It was refreshing to reignite the flame and get my mindset right and get ready to get back in there.”
At 33 years old and with 29 pro fights under his belt, sometimes those mental breaks are as important as the physical ones, especially for someone like Kelleher, who never strays too far from his fighting weight if he can help it. That’s a lot of discipline to have for nearly a decade as a pro, and what makes it worth it is the actual fight. On Saturday, Kelleher gets the payoff, and he hopes it’s the beginning of a year that includes several such rewards.
“I don’t like to look too far ahead, but I have to have a plan, and I want to start this year by fighting a fight as if it’s my debut,” said Kelleher, who won Performance of the Night honors for his first UFC win over Iuri Alcantara in 2017. “I’m going to be excited about this fight, allow my true potential to show, get a victory, then call somebody out for the April 18th show in Brooklyn. I really would love Sean O’Malley, to be honest. I think that’s a big name with a lot of hype behind him and it’s somebody I can steal a lot of hype and fanbase from. From there, look for a top 15 guy and put myself back into at least the top 15 and potentially the top 10 by the end of 2020.”
