MANILA, Philippines – After suffering a setback two months ago, Filipino fighter Eric Kelly seeks to bounce back on a high note as he searches for a convincing victory over Russian stalwart Timofey Nastyukhin on the undercard of ONE Championship’s “Global Rivals” event on April 15.
The 33-year-old native of Baguio City, Benguet is fresh from his third-round submission loss to Malaysian-Kiwi sensation Ev Ting this past January.
The loss to Ting spoiled Kelly’s objective to elevate in the ONE Championship’s featherweight rankings and possibly be considered for a title tilt with division kingpin Marat Gafurov.
Although Kelly had the option to take some time off to reassess his future as there are two more fights left on his contract, he accepted the offer to be booked for ONE Championship’s eighth fight card in the Philippines.
In spite of having a tune-up bout, ONE Championship pitted him against Nastyukhin, a highly-touted Russian prospect who won his last 9 professional wins by either knockout or submission.
Nastyukhin is known for brutally knocking out Eduard Folayang, who is widely regarded as the face of the Philippine MMA scene.
Setting foot on Philippine soil as an unknown foreign fighter in December 2014, Nastyukhin turned the lights off on Folayang with a flying knee and then nailed two soccer kicks on the ground to coerce referee Yuji Shimada to stop the action at 3:11 of the first round.
Kelly knows the possible threat that Nastyukhin could bring to his 7-year professional career.
“There’s so much at stake in this fight. I really need to win this fight for the sake of my career,” he told Rappler.
“The Natural” admitted that his submission setback to Ting compelled him to make necessary adjustments in his overall approach.
“It’s definitely a wake-up call. I have to learn and relearn new and old techniques to improve my craft. As a fighter, I have to do that because something big is in front of me on April 15,” he said.
With 9 submission triumphs to his own credit, Kelly would like to test his leverage over Nastyukhin, who was forced to tap by featherweight contender Herbert Burns with a first-round rear-naked choke in September 2015.
“I am prepared wherever the fight goes, but I am looking to utilize my bread-and-butter against him because I want a sure and convincing win this time around,” he stated.
When was asked if he feels he'll beat the Russian, Kelly responded, "I'll just do my best." – Rappler.com