Top 5: Fighters on the rise at PFL Belfast
Darragh Kelly will put his perfect 9-0 record on the line as a late-notice substitution for Irish compatriot Paul Hughes when he squares off with Jay-Jay Wilson in the Professional Fighters League headliner on Thursday in Northern Ireland.
Darragh Kelly filled the void left by compatriot Paul Hughes and did so with a smile on his face. The undefeated SBG Ireland standout will put his perfect 9-0 record on the line as a late-notice substitution for the Professional Fighters League when he takes Hughes’ place at the top of the ticket and squares off with Jay-Jay Wilson in the PFL Belfast main event on Thursday at the SSE Arena in Northern Ireland. Kelly, 28, boasts seven finishes among his nine career victories.
He last saw action at PFL Europe 3, where he dispatched Bakhtiyar Abdulloev with a rear-naked choke in the first round of their Sept. 26 pairing. Kelly trains under John Kavanagh , the same man who oversaw Conor McGregor ’s rise to power in the Ultimate Fighting Championship .
Wilson, meanwhile, enters the cage with high hopes of his own. The 28-year-old New Zealand native has rattled off three wins across his past four appearances, a decision loss to the unbeaten Archie Colgan at PFL Champions Series 3 in October his only misstep. Wilson has secured eight of his 11 professional victories by knockout, technical knockout or submission, five of them inside one round.
The 12-fight lineup at PFL Belfast features several fighters on the rise, with Kelly and Wilson at or near the front of the line. Three others to monitor: Eoin Sheridan Welterweight | 4-0 (2-0 PFL) Sheridan carries a fair amount of hype. The 6-foot-5 SBG Ireland rep returns to the PFL stage for the first time in nearly a year when he locks horns with Chris Mixan in a three-round welterweight prelim.