British lightweight fighter Paul Kelly will be celebrating Christmas in July this year, as UFC executives made his fight with Jacob “Christmas” Volkmann on July 3 at UFC 116 official today.
Kelly, who has gained quite a following due to his exciting style of fighting, is coming off a submission victory over Matt Veach at UFC 112, successfully rebounding from his disappointing loss to Dennis Siver at UFC 105. Kelly holds a professional record of 10-2 with four wins coming in the UFC, along with both of his losses.
Volkmann entered the UFC late last year with a perfect record, but quickly dropped consecutive losses to Paulo Thiago at UFC 106 and Martin Kampmann at UFC 108. Volkmann followed the losses with a drop down to the lightweight division and capitalized with a split-decision victory over Ronys Torres at “Ultimate Fight Night 21.”
UFC 116 is set for the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 3 and features a mammoth of a main event, as heavyweight Brock Lesnar returns to fight interim heavyweight champion Shane Carwin in a title bout to determine the true champion of the division. The bout also features a middleweight match between Wanderlei Silva and Yoshihiro Akiyama.
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