Nathan Kelly Talks about Fighting Through Injury in his PFL Debut

Nathan Kelly isn’t a man who shies away from challenges, even if it means fighting through an injury.

Kelly (6-2, 1-0 PFL) will step into the Professional Fighters League cage once more as he takes on Zachary Hicks in the upcoming Week 6 of the 2023 PFL Challenger Series. The 145-pound prospect already introduced himself to the PFL audience last August when he fought Ben Ellis. On that occasion, things took an ugly turn for Kelly, as he injured his thumb early in the fight. Stuck in a difficult situation, the Irishman dug deep and summoned the fortitude to drop his opponent before sinking in a rear-naked choke, and Ellis had no choice but to tap at the 2:45 mark of Round 1. Kelly is now expecting a similar performance in his next assignment—minus the injury.

“I actually injured my thumb in the same round,” Kelly said. “I [threw] a punch, [it] bounced off the side of his head, and instantly I felt the pain. I just said, ‘There's no way I'm gonna be able to fight two more rounds with my thumb in this condition.’ I just bit down on my gum shield, and I just started swinging like a headcase and just, I was like, ‘F—k this. I need to try and knock this guy’s block off.’ Luckily if I may, I clipped him, he fell into me, I took his back and choked him out. The fight could have gone a lot different if I didn't finish it when I finished it, but I just thought in that exact moment, ‘I need to finish this guy right now.’ Something switched inside of your brain. I just went into kill mode and I took him out about a minute and a half later after that decision.”

(00:00) Intro
(00:21) Preparing at SBG Ireland
(01:06) His sparring partners
(02:53) Taking up Brazilian jiu-jitsu
(04:20) Finishing his foes by rear-naked choke
(05:21) His first PFL fight
(06:49) Injuring his thumb
(08:05) Fighting in the U.S. for the first time
(09:28) Following in Brendan Loughnane’s footsteps
(10:33) Outro