Darragh Kelly | SBG Ireland | Bellator Dublin | Energized "One-2-Watch"

Summary

What is up and welcome to the latest Energized "One-2-Watch" Show! On this episode SBG Ireland's Darragh Kelly joins us to discuss the Countdown to Bellator Dublin, Training in SBG Ireland & More MMA craic. Like, Comment and Subscribe for more Energized videos! Follow us on…

Transcript (youtube_captions)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] energize show up the irish okay what's going on guys welcome to a brand new episode of energize one two watch roscoe introduced to yes man today we have the number one amateur featherweight and lightweight in all of europe it's mr daryl kelly he's undefeated welcome to the best mma podcast in the country sarah how are you doing i'm good i'm good glad to be on the best the best podcast in europe yeah well we keep we only keep the best for the best you know what i mean i'll just call it how it is you know what i mean i'm sick of all this humble [ __ ] like you mean growing we're putting in here or the cream of the creme you know we are hustling we are awesome there are like uh for people that haven't seen you on the show before we obviously had john before doing a face-off with them king solomon yeah and like that and like that was like that went off unbelievably well you went on and then won that fight on clown wars as well uh and the recent news is obviously as well that you you've saw him for bellator so like there's like a lot of things to talk about um i think i think we should start at the very very top like obviously you caught your you live in donegal and then you went on and now joined spg iron can you tell us how you sort of got into mma open down you got um well i every time i've been asked this i'm just it's the same answer of course uh i was just fighting constantly to be honest nights out football game i was fighting every chance i got since then from whatever age and i was always getting in trouble as well i may as well do it for for real so what was that what what made you were you just like really aggressive or was it just like just testosterone i just just always loved fighting to be honest i don't know where were you dara when you got sawing for bellator and who told you the news um so that's just down train again the other day and john says uh come to his office after trending for a chat and he just he offered me the fight and i just i took it so what was that two weeks ago what was that it was a bit of a shock because because the plan was to go pro early next year but uh john says this was too big of an opportunity to pass so he says if i was happy to go first we'd do it so i jumped at that opportunity i think i think this was um something that was definitely coming down the pipeline sooner rather than later and we discussed it previously with you but when when i saw it was like derek eddie son of bellator they obviously think very very highly of you as they've caught a lot of european talent over the last year so to take someone from irish soil to add them to the roster mostly they have very high prices for your work i suppose so i suppose so you're definitely so good yeah well like i said in the introduction you know i mean number one ranked in the uk and ireland that featherweight anna lightweight and obviously you know your name carries quite a lot away in this country do you feel any extra added pressure with the reputation you have going into this fight no um i don't to be honest um i'm making my debut like anyone else is going to make it you know there's there's no real process of fresh start um i'm just going on there i'm confident to everyone going against i'm confident that i can break whoever's put in front of me with the pressure i'm just gonna go and do the same thing as i always do throw heavy shots and be relentless yeah one thing i noticed from your last fight as well it was just your your wrestling was just on a different level i was like wow this is this is way this is gonna bring you very very powerful like how did you get so good at wrestling um honestly just since i came down here at the spg we focus so much on that cage work and to be honest i think that's probably my favorite part of the whole game though is i could tell i could tell there's so much food and i just feel like it suits my style so well like we go over category every single day down here and i just got really good at that and i've based my whole game around it now to be honest you know what it it it's almost reminiscent of camaro usman when he he does his work up against the cage it is that level i'm like that level of pressure do you do you find that like people are always gonna wilt to your pressure do you feel that when you're in there um i always think like you know everyone's got their breaking point you know you can break anyone so i like to look at it you know is he gonna break before i'm gonna break because we're both gonna be tired but i'm pretty confident i can make someone quite before i will so i like the one with that mindset that i'm gonna make him quit before i do this and like how much do you feel your game has evolved now since you joined spgr uh i can't even i can't even describe it like i would me you have to describe it last year bad i've just i'm proven so quick down here every every few months i'm i'm on a different level like i'm i'm i'm what is that what what are you sort of doing there that you're doing differently um well we do five by fives every single day and i try and get a couple of fight simulations on every week it's just what would you say it's just that there's that much i'm doing that much more to be honest like and the the training partners are in here the training partners i have down here levels through the reflex i'm forced to to climb up to that and of course the coaching so yeah you know there's only one way you're going really obviously dara you fought on the regional circuit in ireland and um you know you've also fought abroad once or twice as well i think as far as i can see in your record yeah now you're going to the big show you're going you're going with the bell tour what are you going to do in regards to like are you ready for like that walk out in front of the three arena and the place to blow and blow off like have you seen your walkout song for it have you decided you know who's going to be in your corner for that fight and also you don't have a nickname either like have you thought of a nickname to be announced in or have you given any of that consideration yeah i would have thought about it all like yeah i can't wait to to walk good um i think i'm the second fight of the night so far so place isn't going to be full but i'd say i think there'll be a few a good few hundred coming down from donegal so i'm looking forward to that i love i love the support i get at home and i want to push you one for everyone who's coming down so yeah they love you for that i'm excited when i think about it like um as from a corner more than likely it's going to be john and uh dave roach uh maybe rage burn if you're allowed three have you talked about the walk out have you talked about yeah they're from donegal so originally so you'll have a couple of hundred sold uh belt now which yeah going to be tuning in now especially in the build up to see like who is derek kelly what do what today what should they expect you yourself like like you you've watched thousands of fights what do you see that dara has that like is really going to bring him to the next level it's so it's so funny because i've watched so many people um me and barry we talk to each other all the time there and we're like he looks good he looks great maybe we say some people aren't that great off camera yeah we never try it we never try and slay anyone but like well i've seen you fight it's so strange because it's such a simple thing but like your ability to put pressure on your opponent is like no other obviously you don't have that similar voiceover but it's almost like watching the camaro use my kobe coming to new me like you're constantly having them but they're back against the cage and you're chasing them you're hunting them down and at the end of the day no one's been able to stop that it i've said it so many times about so many different fighters you almost know what derek had he's gonna do well you know exactly what i'm gonna do yeah but whether you can stop it is a totally different ball game and no one's been able to stop it now as you said they're great colby um stylistically he's probably my favorite fighter like i love the way he fights he throws heavy shots he puts the pace on and he's relentless on his take down so that's exactly what you're going to get me every time yeah it's a it's actually quite even from the opening bell in your last fight you know i mean he came in like i think there was a push kick throw straight away and then next thing you know within the first 10 seconds you had solomon up against the cage and look sullivan's no joke he's a high level uh amateur himself he's a very very skilled fighter but at the end of the day uh you got the job done and then i think you finished with a dar stroke is that correct yeah yeah and then that was extraordinary well drilled like once that was even sunk in it it was all over within 10 seconds that was your go-to uh finishes ah it would be yeah like that i actually think you're gonna go really far and like it's like the second like ross was gonna be straight away when you got started for bellator i was like that like i'm not surprised but like the way you're just so humble about it is like you're so assassin what should people sort of expect me like going into going into the future like do you think you're gonna go stay fed away move to lightweight what what um what do you like most i think i haven't fought too much of language to be honest i feel like i'm better featherweight um i'll definitely be going back to featherweight and i think i'll stick there for a while but jumping through the two divisions i don't mean that either but to feather it i think it's gonna be the best option one thing i definitely did notice between your last fight in the fight previous was you seem to have packed on quite a lot of size over the last year or two and what is your strength and condition like and has that really improved your game as well yeah see my weight i can fluctuate my weight fairly handy like i can i can set around 74 kilo if i want i could set it 84 kilo it doesn't like i can jump up and down it doesn't really seem to affect me too much um that's my striking investment rage burn um my boxing coach he hears us through a serious um what would you say routine of that there's a few of us now there must be six or seven of us we do that every every second day we go through his routine so i've noticed a big big difference in performance since i started that a lot stronger yeah i think i think regburn is slowly but surely getting more and more credit for uh spg's hard work i'd say two years ago he was closer to an unknown quantity and now he seems to be one the mainstays there everyone seems to love working with red so big shout out to reg uh barry here's a question for you you know obviously dara is absolutely incredible talent and it's hard to hold an incredible talent back to how how many fights do you reckon dar is going to have a pro until he's in those rankings of bellator um i think i think like you're you're literally getting like the best debut you could possibly get you know i mean like you're gonna be doing it in dublin and like like obviously i think like doing more interviews i think you're going to get pushed up the card more you know because the more interest people have in the fighters the later they come out you know what i mean so like saying that you're going to come in second like i mean like we'll be there from the first but the first void anyway so we'll be there anyway but i i think the way like just like we've we've chatted off here before and i see how dedicated you are and like like and how sound you are and nearly all spec all the aspects of the game obviously not the the fully completed deal yet but you haven't even gone pro yet so like i mean there's more is more to go but like i feel like you're definitely going to achieve that i think you're just the way you break down people is something that people are like oh [ __ ] this this is no joke you know i mean a lot of people will go to decisions or i know it wouldn't really be a overwhelming winner but any like every time you go out there you push the pace and you want to get the finish and it's just very very obvious that's why it's great way i really love doing the show and russell's as well to like let the irish nation know like who's actually coming up and who's keeping an eye out for you you know i mean but uh i i think like obviously you'll get that fight in it's it's it's actually it's on the fifth of november i'm on bellator's website here is bellator dublin bellator 270 is exactly 65 days away ross if you want to if you want to cut down to uh featherweight you can get going out but not there like you're gonna like do it the the following you have already and then them all come down as well for belgium dublin i think like the second you get in there the electricity will just blow your mind yeah you're on a trajectory straight away from there you know daryl what would you say is the best piece of advice john kavanagh has given you in fighting an outsider fighting um advice he's given me it's more so his actions he can he kind of lets you know by his body language and subtle ways that he's kind of shown me what it takes to be a professional fighter and you kind of know what it takes to get to the top level and i thought i was training hard before i came down here but down here is it's just it's a different level like you know what he expects is exactly what it takes to get to the top you know he's had he's had big names before obviously and conor so he he knows exactly what you need to do and he kind of lets you know how good is that knowing that you're putting your basically your career into someone's hands that has been to the top oh i trust everything he says you know he's not going to steer you wrong he's been there done us so even even having him in the corner for the fight like i'll take confidence from that do you know what i mean yeah yeah definitely and then another thing that spg has plenty of is people your size what type of bodies and which bodies are you working with down spg as you said there's there's no shortage of people down this way um the likes of richie smalling i've learned so much from rachel he i'd say he's like kind of like a team captain down here and now you talk about hard work and he's a good warlik um yeah she had a reaching for a toilet soon as well yeah yeah i think for a title in ukraine so retro she's on a different level like so i look up take your leg home so i i can't see what see what the likes of richie kiefer all them boys are doing i took a page out of everyone's book you know and uh what they're doing i'll i'll copy a lot of stuff you know and then from from the sort of non-in cage action is there anyone who you sort of look up to in terms of you know the way they carried themselves the way they deal with the media the way you know they get sponsors for that is there anyone you look at that you went you know what he has a good blueprint for someone like me to follow um i actually didn't think too much about all that i think you're going to have to nail though bro aren't you i know i'm going to have to liven up even i think this is just your first interview since you saw him with bellator yeah yeah okay yeah so we're putting thoughts in your head now you know well the character yeah well at the end of the day we're not asked to build a character but we actually want the best for you and we want you to full advantage of all the opportunities that you do get so uh it's cool to sort of think about those sort of things you know i mean like should i get new sponsors on board you know pick and choose what media you do like do what suits you like you have to almost ask yourself and like who is that audience like what what will i get from it and stuff like that so i always think those sort of things are important and look we only want the best free and that's why we ask those questions all right as you say that's that's half the game really isn't it you know at the end of the day it's you know this is a job i need to get as much out of it as i can and the media is going to be a massive partner so yeah we'll be backing you the whole way and also the things that bellator you can get your own sponsors as well whereas in uc you can't so like yeah that's that's the big thing too yeah that's the big one yeah i'm sure i'm sure all the twenty all uh all the dhonigal sort of companies will be and we'll be after you to you know have to have duraman in the cage and also the voice will be live on virgin media so it'll be on national television as well so like that definitely bodes in your favor as well that's the thing like uh there's not too many people doing it there's you know me and jordan fury really but jordan's in later kenny so he's about an hour away from me so i'm well looked after at home like there's a lot of businesses backing me so i can't really complain too much about sponsorship but yeah you know you you feel me we make guest appearances that uh ce sessions uh next year no bother why not yeah there's also a few other players on the card that have been announced as well like stephen costell's making his debut as well uh danny neal and three and all she's she's fighting again karen clark as well uh danielle as cat easy and um obviously on the main card we have james gallagher and um peter quilley on it as well so like it's it's building itself nicely we had james on a few weeks ago and like james after going over to missouri he like he seems like a changed man doesn't yours yeah he really does he seems to have very much matured into a man and he seems to fill out every uh what's called over there as well so i don't know whether he's doing something different or whether he's actually just grown you forget how young james was when he actually became a superstar it's actually crazy he grew up with a lot of life was he 24 night honestly crazy what did your friends and family like what was this sort of what was that sort of reaction because you see you seem very like a very like quiet uh guy you take everything in so like to give someone that information what were they like yeah you wouldn't imagine you would but we're never on the guard pictures would you no no i was like what wow everyone's obviously happy for me like you know um this this was my plan for next year and thanks for like kinda like i kind of talked that much about it there wasn't that big of a shock you know what i mean so like now obviously you've wrapped up your amateur career like what what what would you like what way would you look at your average career now like just looking back and like obviously no i know just kicking everyone's ass like what would it be your overall assessment of derrick kelly's work of art uh in the amateur scene um i'm happy that i i finished everyone but i don't think i achieved all that much you know like and i know it's good record but i don't know i don't i don't think too much about it like i'm only i'm only getting started now i haven't achieved anything in my eyes you know i like that sort of attitude it's always looking forward you know i mean like the past past it's almost it's almost irrelevant and look i have no doubt you'll be a superstar in the future i think you have number one you have the skill set it's absolutely on point and number two like never underestimate him how important being irish is and the whole country will get behind you and the whole country will be backing you and come the fifth of november the three arena tony girl's finest will make that walk the whole nation will take note and that's just the way that's the way it goes we're super proud to call you one of our own and we can't wait to see you on the 5th november bellator 270. three arena is always going to get the place blown off yeah exactly can't wait for that i just need to give a few shadows for this week as well obviously the irish football team are back in action but uh kelly taylor's fighting this saturday and the all you were fighting championships is on this sunday as well and then a massive shout out to the irish mma team uh going off to prague on tuesday as well uh sorry wednesday the meeting but uh like the floor is yours is there anything you want to say to the derrick kelly nation like in in the lead of the bellator dominance like give the fans something that they have to hear you know well one is about tickets and [ __ ] getting messages every day with tickets um we're getting our own personal link in two weeks so for everyone he's asking should they buy tickets before that don't uh we'll get everyone started i'll share the link and we'll get the crate going down yeah definitely hold off because um loads of people are probably buying tickets already that would buy them off uh dara it's a a bit of a a unique system that they have going that they have to sell fire tickets but make sure you get them off there make sure his tickets sell out how bellator dub knows yeah how much of a big deal he is and hopefully there's a kickback in there for him yeah that's the thing exactly i'll get my recommendation too yeah exactly which is important because you need that to be supported you know what i mean like this is this is the first outing as a professional that's making a big deal exactly well daryl we're going to wrap things up but uh like you know we'll have you on again in the build-up as well it is 65 days away that's that's the that's the crazy thing important but you are definitely one person to watch in the irish mma scene uh russell nelson said before rapidly um no doubt thanks million for your time and can't wait to see you friday 5th november or could be saturday i'm not too sure which day it is but it's the 5th of november friday yeah friday friday i thought so and we'll be there from the first bell so we'll make sure to catch our fight if anyone else is going on the 5th november make sure to be there for the very first fight you won't regret it if you are watching this video give it a like make sure to follow dara on the socials we'll have them tagged and everything and give us a subscribe because we're number one in europe like we said as always stay energized energized up the irish been switching you guys a couple of times i've seen a couple of clips i think you're doing some interviews with dylan moore and then that i i saw so keep going keep up the good work guys