Cole Harbour fighter wins debut at Halifax’s first UFC card
The UFC’s first night in Halifax was sold out for weeks before it hit the news that one of Cole Harbour’s own MMA fighters would be on the card.
But from the crowd’s reaction when Chris Kelades made his way to the octagon on Saturday, you’d have a hard time believing he hadn’t been the main draw all along.
Audience members, some holding Nova Scotia flags, roared for Kelades as he made his way up the aisle to Jimi Hendrix’s All Along The Watchtower.
The two fights on the card leading up to his match both ended in the first round – a submission in 38 seconds, and a TKO in just over a minute.
Yet, while the combatants in these matches had prepared for weeks for their fights, Kelades only had five days notice to train and lose nearly 25 pounds to make weight for his first Ultimate Fighting Championship match.
He was fighting in the place of another contender who couldn’t attend because of pneumonia. “I was kind of thrown in the whirlwind a little bit, the paper and the radio and all this,” Kelades says.
The fight started with the undefeated Irishman Patrick Holohan going on the offensive against the 5’7” Kelades. Holohan sidemounted the former youth pastor tight against the cage while getting a few clean punches.
Kelades escaped from Holohan’s hold and seemed to briefly gain confidence after landing a hard right. Back on the ground, however, the Dubliner got Kelades into a dangerous rear-mount, getting very close to a rear-naked choke before the round’s end.
Both men, bruised, looked like they could use a nap after the tumultuous first round. After their corner teams helped them out, they recommenced.
The second round started with the Kelades softening his opponent with heavy knees from the clinch. After a takedown two minutes in, Kelades rained blows on Holohan from the northsouth and made a strong guillotine attempt from the guard. As he punched Holohan’s face, the audience yelled upon each blow.
Back on their feet, Holohan appeared to gain momentum, but the 5’10” fighter soon faced a powerful double-leg takedown.
The remainder of the round saw a ground-and-pound with Kelades sitting comfortably in a full mount. With only ten seconds left, Kelades attempted an armbar on Holohan, who was narrowly saved by the clock.
With the support of the crowd, Kelades says, in the third round he knew there was no way he wasn’t going to give it his all. The crowd was his turbo boost.
After a round’s worth of back-and-forth between the flyweights, the judges came to a unanimous decision and awarded Kelades the win. Kelades’ hand being raised as the winner’s roused a standing, screaming ovation from the audience.
The fight was named fight of the night. While only Kelades gets to say he won, both mixed martial artists were awarded $50,000 for this achievement.
Like so many punches this night, Kelades didn’t let the victory go to his head.
“Nobody’s going to go for short notice over a full camp, but I’ll take the opportunities as they present themselves,” says Kelades about his future fighting prospects. “I want time now to develop my skills, get better, be more prepared so I can face somebody else.”
Ethical disclosure: this event was attended via media accreditation by Zuffa, LLC. This writer had a single complimentary cup of coffee with cream in it and a complimentary 591ml bottle of Diet Coke.
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