Nathan Kelly was drug addicted and battling depression when he messaged Conor McGregor’s coach asking him to help turn his career around.
But a message inspired by Dutch courage to MMA mastermind John Kavanagh would change Kelly’s life.
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Kelly was 1-2 professional and working as a manager at Aldi when his prospects suffered a KO during the coronavirus lockdown.
The Irishman was drunk, but he couldn’t get the image of his victorious MMA career out of his mind.
That’s when he mustered up the courage and approached Straight Blast Gym owner Kavanagh – who is best known as McGregor’s head coach.
“I just kept visualising coming back fighting,” Kelly, 27, told SunSport.
“I remember one night I was locked in a room, wallowing in self-pity and drinking too much alcohol.
“I was sitting at home one day and I thought, ‘Oh man, I’ll text John.’
“Because I kept having thoughts about fighting and I would see myself fighting again and I would get goosebumps.
“I wanted to see where this goosebumps thing would take me, so I messaged John.
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“I fought a lot of the SBG guys as a kid, and John said, ‘Man, you can come over anytime you want.’
“So, a few weeks went by and I got the courage to join in and ever since I joined I’ve been constantly trying to get to the point where some of the boys were.”
Kelly – presumably with a headache – admitted that she realised what she had done the previous night when she woke up.
He said: “Believe it or not, I was drunk and I thought, ‘Let it go, I’ll text her.’ And she said, ‘Yeah, come over whenever you want.’
“The next day I looked at the message and thought, ‘What am I doing?’
“But sending that message was like a subconscious thing for me to get myself back on track.
“I was trying to sort out a lot of the issues that were going on in my mind while I was sober, so that I could deal with them when I got sober.”
Kelly spent a year in Kavanagh’s gym before returning to MMA in August 2021, winning Nine Seconds,
We keep our conversations brief and respectful, and I think that’s what he likes about it.
Nathan Kelly on Conor McGregor
And the featherweight has only benefited from Kavanaugh’s guidance, winning nine consecutive bouts since then.
Looking back, Kelly believes the decision to text Kavanaugh changed his life.
He said: “I think it did. Because it was my first step towards going in the right direction.”
“I saw this quote, it goes something like, ‘A journey of 100,000 miles begins with a single step.’
“This was a stepping stone to a bigger journey I was about to embark on.”
Not only has Kelly benefited from the knowledge of John Kavanagh and Dave Roche, but he has also shared sparring sessions with McGregor.
The two have struck up a friendship and the UFC veteran is keeping a close eye on Kelly’s career.
He said: “When he came back into the gym he was congratulating me and I said, ‘Me and Dave have been working on that elbow for a number of weeks, so that was satisfying.’
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“He said, ‘I thought this sounded a bit like Dave, right!’ Since then he’s contacted me and we’ve gotten to know each other a bit more.
“Because I’m not one of those guys who’s going to go lick his ass and whore him around or try to get him to like me.
“I think he respects that, and that’s what naturally attracted him to me.
“We keep our conversations brief and respectful, and I think that’s what he likes about them.”
Kelly will now take on Jose Sanchez in Dublin on Saturday, as Bellator comes to Ireland.
But after Bellator merged with the Professional Fighters League, Kelly has his eyes set on a $1 million season next year.
The PFL’s format consists of two regular season competitions, where points are earned based on wins, and then play-offs.
The group stage and knockout rounds are reminiscent of the Champions League event in Europe.
Read more at The Scottish Sun
But instead of the coveted trophy, PFL winners celebrate with a life-changing $1 million check.
And Kelly added: “I want to have that season next year, that’s the goal I initially set for myself.”
