that fight just to see that I’ve improved
and I just cringe when I look at it.
There’s nothing I can do, but it’s always
a good fight to go to and watch and
knock my ego down. To go and have a
look at that and the [Sam] Alvey fight,
that keeps me in my place and then I
carry on from there.”
Throughout the course of this
training camp, Kelly had the
opportunity to conduct a seminar to
help raise awareness for cystinosis,
which is a rare genetic disorder. With
the help of fellow TUF: Nations alum,
Richy Walsh, Jake Matthews, Brendan
O’Reilly and their coach from the
series, Kyle Noke, Kelly was able to put
together a fundraiser that was close
to his heart — his own son has the
disease. Sharing his own personal life
isn’t something that Kelly does, but
this was different.
“I’ve been thinking about it and
planning it for a while, so we saw this as
a good opportunity for a few of the boys
to come down and get some training
in as well as raise some money and
awareness for the disease,” Kelly said.
“It’s a very rare disease, only two or three
thousand people in the world have it.
For me it feels good [to raise awareness]
— it’s an obligation, it’s a responsibilityand it’s important. I don’t like talking
about or putting my personal stuff out
there, but it’s a worthy cause. Anything
to help raise awareness for the disease
and to help push for a cure if possible is
an obligation in my opinion — you do
anything for your kids.”
Although Kelly’s run in the UFC
has seen him win an impressive three
out of four fights, it wasn’t an easy
road for him to get his chance inside
the Octagon. Most of the time when a
fighter competes on the UFC’s reality
series The Ultimate Fighter, they
are given at least one chance after
the show to prove they have what ittakes to stick around with the world’s
biggest mixed martial arts company.
Kelly wasn’t so lucky, and following
the series he was told his services were
no longer required. That meant Kelly
needed to bounce back in a big way
to earn a second chance, and that’s
exactly what he did.
“When I came out of TUF and to be
told I wasn’t on the finale, I just asked
what I had to do to get back in,” Kelly
said. “They said I had to win some
fights to get back in and I got a fight as
soon as I could and I was lucky enough
to get back in. It was a limbo time; I
didn’t know if I was gonna get back in.DAN KELLY
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