UFC Fight Night 55: Zachrich Intends To Spoil Kelly’s UFC Australian Debut
UFC middleweight Luke Zachrich (14-3) heads to the Land Down Under to battle Daniel Kelly (7-0) on the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 55 this weekend.
UFC Fight Night 55 takes place November 7, 2014 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, at the Allphones Arena.
The preliminary fight card begins at 7:30 pm EST and the main card begins at 10:00 pm EST on UFC Fight Pass.
Zachrich, 32, enters the octagon for his third time as a UFC fighter. After coming off his first win inside the octagon against Guilherme Vasconcelos at UFC 175, Zachrich looks to keep his winning streak alive against the undefeated Kelly.
Zachrich suffered a first round TKO at the hands of Caio Magalhaes in his UFC debut. In his second bout, he earned a solid three round unanimous decision over Vasconcelos to bring his UFC record to 1-1 and overall MMA record to 14-3.
The six foot two inch middleweight and Bowling Green University graduate is a former Team Forrest, season 7 member of The Ultimate Fighter.
Zachrich is set to face his toughest task thus far in his UFC career as his opponent is Australian Dan Kelly, four-time Judo Olympian.
Kelly, 37, is a former member of Team Australia on TUF Nations. He’ll make his UFC debut against Zachrich in his home country.
“The Grizzly Bear” Dan Kelly is known for his close attention to MMA statistics. Expect Kelly to be aware of Zachrich’s perfect takedown defense inside the octagon. Kelly will also be aware of Zachrich’s elusiveness as the American has avoided 66% of the strikes thrown in his direction.
This battle will have all the makings for potential Fight of the Night Honors. Expect Zachrich to create angles on his feet as he peppers Kelly with strikes. Kelly will look for heavy haymakers and utilize his judo for takedowns.
Zachrich is also a world-class Judoka. The Defiance, Ohio native holds a brown belt in Jiu Jitsu, making him no stranger to grappling on the canvas.
Prediction: Kelly will find out that Judo isn’t tougher than MMA as he will be in a battle with American Zachrich. Luke Zachrich will spoil the mates debut in the land down under with a second round submission.
