Brian Kelleher Discusses UFC 224 Fight With John Linker

MMAjunkie recently interviewed UFC fighter Brian Kelleher ahead of his bout with John Lineker at UFC 224. The fight is set for later today in Rio de Janeiro. Below are some highlights.

Brian Kelleher on what a finish would mean for him: “If I can get a finish, that means a lot. I feel like nobody has really been able to finish this guy as of late, even Dillashaw, the current champ. So if I can do that, it makes a big statement and it puts me up there in title contention.”

Brian Kelleher on how stacked 135 division is: “It’s all timing, sometimes. The division is stacked right now, we’ve got a lot of good fights booked to see how things shake out after that. I would really like to fight the winner of Moraes and Rivera. Me and Rivera have history in the past. That would be good. But it’s all up to the UFC. You never know what they’re going to say. If I put a really good showing there, get a finish, sometimes they’ll skip you ahead of guys. If their fight is a little more lackluster, maybe they like me more, the way I perform, and they put me ahead of those guys. But my goal is to just perform and have a flawless victory and let the UFC do their job and put me up next, whoever they’ve got, I don’t care.”

His thoughts on Brazilian fighters: “I think most of Brazilian fighters are fighter’s fighters. They’ll fight anyone who’s available. So I figured he was a good guy to call out. I know he was supposed to fight Jimmie Rivera and that fight fell through. And he was open, looking for a fight. Most of the guys at the top of the division are taken up right now, so he was a good guy to call out, to put myself up into the top 10.”