Show and Tell with Nate Kelly

Youth offers Nate Kelly flexibility, which leaves the SBG Ireland prospect in no hurry to turn pro while he continues to cut his teeth as an amateur.

Kelly will take the next step in his development under the Bellator MMA flag when he squares off with Paul Nolan as part of the Bellator Champions Series Dublin undercard this Saturday at 3Arena in Dublin. The 19-year-old Irishman—he turns 20 in August—sounds like a man who sees value in accumulating as much knowledge and experience as possible before he makes the inevitable jump to the professional ranks.

“We can only take it fight by fight,” Kelly told Sherdog.com. “I don’t want to think too far ahead into the future. I’m just going to get this fight done [and] put on another great performance. Then I’ll sit down with the coaches after this one, or after the next one, and we’ll go there. We’ll plan out the rest of the year or plan out when I’m looking to go pro. After each fight, I’ve had another fight already lined up. In my head, it was like, ‘Get through all these fights and see where we end up, see how the performances are.’ The last two have went really well. I’m going to expect the same from myself in this one. After that, I’ll sit down with my coaches, and we’ll see where we’re at and see what the plan is going ahead.”

For now, preparation and growth are paramount for Kelly, who started his formal martial arts training as a kickboxer at the age of 4.

“I’m training hard like always,” he said. “I don’t really ever take time off. I’m honestly 24/7 in the gym improving and evolving, and I’ve been putting myself through hell again these last 10 weeks. I don’t look at it as a 10-week or 12-week training camp. I just look at it like I’ve been doing this my entire life, like 15 years of dedicating my life to this sport. It’s just every week or every day. It’s just like another day to me: Wake up, train and go home, train again. I’m just constantly trying to get better and constantly trying to improve. In every camp, I’m just taking leaps and strides in progress.”

Kelly enters the cage having posted back-to-back submission wins. He last fought at Bellator Champions Series 1, where he turned away Jordan Elliott with an armbar less than two minutes into their March 22 encounter. Kelly’s rout of Elliott followed an anaconda choke stoppage against Callum Seaton at a Professional Fighters League event three months earlier.

“The last two fights have been finished by submission, so I think I’m more of a grappler now than a striker,” he said. “I’m excited now that I get to showcase all my skills and all my abilities on such a big platform with the PFL and Bellator. Obviously, I’ve been striking a long time, but I’ve been grappling since I was 7, so I’m now getting to showcase my full skill set. That’s what I plan on doing again.”

The bout with Nolan offers Kelly another opportunity to take inventory.

“I feel like I’m just going to showcase another version of myself, a better version of myself,” he said. “I’m excited to get back in there. Can’t wait. I’m just excited I get to showcase my abilities again. I’ll just get to go out there and show everybody and not have to tell them. I’m great at telling people, but I’m better at showing them. I’m going to put on a masterful performance. I’m going to finish this guy early, and I’m going to prove why I’m one of the best flyweights in the entire world.”