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The UFC bantamweight is looking for a considerable step up in competition.
UFC bantamweight veteran Brian Kelleher has been active this year by competing as a featherweight, but he has an eye on moving up the 135 lbs rankings for his next bout.
With his 39-second guillotine choke against short notice opponent Ray Rodriguez at UFC Vegas 9, Kelleher improved to 3-1 in 2020. Of course, none of Ode Osbourne, Hunter Azure, or Ray Rodriguez really puts you in a position to enter the top-15, so the Long Islander recognizes he needs a bigger fight.
“I’m trying to make my way up the rankings,” Kelleher said at the UFC Vegas 9 post-fight press conference (via MMA Junkie). If Pedro Munhoz wants to do a guillotine battle, I think that would be fun.”
Munhoz is coming off a very close split decision loss to Frankie Edgar, putting him on a two-fight losing streak. As Kelleher notes himself, this could be a “guillotine battle” given that particular choke is the submission of choice for both men. Even with the losing skid, Munhoz would still be the biggest opponent (rankings wise) of Kelleher’s career.
As far as his last bout against Rodriguez, facing him was obviously not the plan. Initially he was booked (at featherweight) against Ricky Simon, then Kevin Natividad, then Rodriguez got the call-up on fight day itself after being chosen as a backup to Natividad earlier in the week.
“They only remember you for your last fight,” Kelleher said. “I’m back to my winning ways again. It feels good after that last fight with Cody (Stamann). I did well, but came up short. Now I’ve got three out of four this year. It’s about getting finishes and leaving it out there. I think fans appreciate that. I have a lot of knockouts and submissions. I’m willing to fight anybody. I had Ricky Simon, then Kevin (Natividad), and on a day’s notice I get a new guy I knew nothing about. It’s about being that guy who’s willing to step up and fight.”
Should Kelleher sneak in at least one more fight within the next couple of months, he’ll have fought five times in a calendar year for the first time since 2012. It’s one hell of a jump from not fighting at all in 2019.