Kelleher recounts wild fight week, feeling 'lethargic' before 39-second win

Two days before last weekend's UFC Fight Night, Brian Kelleher didn't know who he would be fighting - or if he would step into the Octagon at all.

Kelleher's original opponent, Ricky Simon, dropped out of their featherweight bout when one of his cornermen tested positive for the coronavirus, and Kevin Natividad filled in on less than a week's notice. Word came down that Natividad had a false positive COVID-19 test on the eve of the weigh-ins, and the UFC brought in Ray Rodriguez as a backup.

Rodriguez and Natividad weighed in on Friday, which was a good sign, but the promotion removed Natividad from the card on the day of the event as a precaution.

"With all the circumstances (surrounding the pandemic), you kind of expect that something could happen," Kelleher told theScore. "But with three different opponents within two to three weeks, and then having to face a day's notice change, it was definitely something different."

Still, Kelleher seemingly had no trouble taking care of business on Saturday night. He submitted Rodriguez with a guillotine in 39 seconds, improving his 2020 record to 3-1.

But Kelleher was privately battling the pressure of being a big favorite going against someone who had stepped up on less than a day's notice.

"It was kind of surreal, to be honest, because I went in there with all these nerves," Kelleher said. "For some reason, just more nervous than usual.

"I kind of was like, 'Man, I don't feel right.' Walking into the cage, I felt heavy, lethargic, I felt that nervousness in my legs, just a little weird. I went in there and it carried into the fight. And then there he was shooting on me, which we didn't expect, and his neck was available and I snatched it, and I was like, 'Holy crap, it's over this quick.' It was pretty nuts."

Kelleher said this was one of the craziest fight weeks he's experienced - from being booked to fight Simon, Natividad, and Rodriguez within seven days, to winning emphatically and picking up a $50,000 "Performance of the Night" bonus.

The 34-year-old went on to explain how he threw his game plan out the window after finding out about Natividad's false positive and Rodriguez's status as a backup.

"I kind of just said, 'You know what, I gotta go in there and improvise, and just fight my fight, and try to get a finish and a big win,'" Kelleher said. "Either one of them I was like, 'I'm going to mix it up and I'm gonna finish the fight.'

"I had my coaches look over some film, and they were getting some details to me. 'Hey, listen, if it's this guy, this, if it's this guy, this.' It was kind of a whole confusing situation, but I tried to keep my head focused and stay the course and make sure I was good to go."

Kelleher said the mental hurdles that came with last week's uncertainty were difficult to deal with.

"As soon as you start to convince your mind that maybe you're not fighting at all, you almost get this relief, like, 'Oh, I don't have to go through this. I might just get a paycheck for making weight, and then they'll rebook me in a couple weeks or a month and we'll go from there,'" Kelleher said. "But you can't let that trick you, because realistically, you gotta be ready to fight and prepared mentally."

After he secured the choke on Rodriguez, "Boom" breathed a final sigh of relief.

"I expected a harder fight just based off of how I felt," Kelleher said. "I thought it was gonna take me time to wake up - which is usual for me, I start a little slow. But I hadn't woken up yet and the fight was already over, so I was like, 'This is crazy.'"