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Pinoy MMA bet Eric Kelly still wants another ONE FC title shot

Nissi Icasiano

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Pinoy MMA bet Eric Kelly still wants another ONE FC title shot
'I am not getting any younger. I want to be a world champion. It’s every fighter’s goal in this sport,' says Eric Kelly

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – After going through painstaking injuries to a highly-publicized rift with ONE Championship, Filipino fighter Eric Kelly cannot deny the fact that he still aspires to have a world championship belt around his waist one day.

Kelly is widely considered as one of the most successful products of the local mixed martial arts (MMA) scene in the Philippines, but the missing accolade in his impressive resumé is the recognition of being a world champion in the sport.

The 33-year-old native of Baguio City, Benguet, rose to stardom under the Philippine-based Universal Reality Combat Championship (URCC) banner, easily winning his first 5 assignments since his transition from Wushu Sanshou competitions.

His stellar run in URCC immediately caught the attention of Asia’s largest MMA organization, where Kelly continued his winning streak by defeating the likes of Mitch Chilson, Bae Yong Kwon, and former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver.

Kelly had the opportunity to vie for the promotion’s inaugural featherweight championship against compatriot Honorio Banario in February 2013, but he yielded to the Team Lakay representative via fourth-round stoppage.

The disappointing defeat was the first setback of his professional career and prompted Kelly to take ample time away from fighting to heal his right eye, which was injured prior to his meeting with Banario.

Kelly again managed to cement his status as the rightful contender for the ONE featherweight belt by pulling off a come-from-behind submission against Rob Lisita in July 2014.

Despite the impressive triumph over Lisita, Kelly’s nose was badly injured due to his refusal to relent against the hard-hitting Australian in the earlier proceedings of the match. This left him with no other choice but to put his championship aspiration on hold as he was not medically cleared to square off with then-titleholder Koji Oishi in August of the same year.

By the time he was next in line for the gold-plated strap, ONE had already enshrined a new titleholder in Jadamba Narantungalag. But the collapse in the negotiations for the championship clash originally penciled to be the main event of the “Warrior’s Way” card in front of a hometown crowd in December 2014 did not lie on having a new champion. (READ: ONE FC: Aoki submits Shalorus to retain lightweight crown)

The fallout between Kelly and ONE was triggered by fight purse discrepancies that sidelined the highly-decorated Pinoy combatant for 15 months.

Due to Kelly’s absence, the featherweight division underwent a major shake-up as prizefighters such as Marat Gafurov, Martin Nguyen and Ev Ting moved up in the weight class’ rankings.

Kelly chose to bury the hatchet with ONE and returned to action this past October by pulling off a controversial decision triumph over Japanese stalwart Hiroshige Tanaka.

With Kelly back in the picture, ONE gave him another chance to fulfill his dream to become a world champion. He is set to lock horns with Ting in the main event of the “Clash of Heroes” card at the 10,000-seater Stadium Negara in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Friday, January 29.

The 26-year-old Malaysian-Kiwi is fresh from his 56-second submission triumph over Banario last October and has won 4 of his last 5 bouts against Filipino contenders.

Ting also owns a brutal first-round knockout win over Edward Kelly in October 2014, as he shut the lights on Eric Kelly’s younger brother with a head kick.

The stakes are high in the Kelly-Ting duel as the winner might get a date with Gafurov, the reigning ONE featherweight kingpin.

“I know what is at stake in this fight. I am here to seize that chance,” Kelly told Rappler.

Kelly stressed that he will not waste the opening to inch him closer to having ONE’s gold-plated strap in his trophy room.

“I am not getting any younger. I want to be a world champion. It’s every fighter’s goal in this sport,” he said.

However, Kelly stressed that his current focus is on how to beat Ting inside the ONE Championship cage.

“I am taking it as one fight at a time. I am not thinking of the belt right now. My focus is on my upcoming fight. If they will give the shot, thank you. If not, I will work more,” he said. – Rappler.com

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