“Every fight is your most important and if you’re going to get a top contender you obviously want to beat that guy to make a run at the title and that’s the chance I had against Cody,” Kelleher said. “I tried to take him out. The entire fight I was trying to finish it, I never considered outpointing him or whatever. I’m proud of that performance and I never felt outclassed in there. Now I can take details away from that fight and apply them to when I’m in similar situations against contenders down the line.”
Before he gets another shot at a ranked opponent, Kelleher will have to take Natividad out in the UFC APEX on Saturday. Kelleher understands that this fight is what Natividad has been waiting for his whole career and he doesn’t plan on letting “Quicksand” make a name off of him.
“This sport is so unpredictable, and you can’t take any opponent for granted. So when a guy like Natividad gets a chance against me, a guy going into his tenth UFC fight, he has nothing to lose,” Kelleher said. “Winning is all that matters and I’m going to do that on Saturday and I’m going to be on cloud nine with my performance.”
“I’m going to keep showing everyone why I belong right there with the division’s elite.”
Don’t miss Kelleher’s upcoming UFC Vegas 9 bout with Natividad this Saturday on ESPN+. The main card action begins at 8pm ET/5pm PT.