Darragh Kelly will take on his toughest opponent to date when he squares off against Dmytrii Hrytsenko at Bellator Champions Series London.
The two unbeaten Lightweights will square off inside the OVO Arena as the promotion return to the English capital on September 14.
After establishing himself as one of the best amateurs in Ireland, amassing a 9-0-0 record, Kelly joined the professional ranks in 2022 and was instantly thrown into the spot light when he made his professional debut in front of a home crowd at Bellator 275. In his debut, ‘The Moville Mauler’ took on, the then 3-0, Junior Morgan. Kelly took everything in his stride and dispatched off Morgan with a first round guillotine choke.
He was back in action seven months later when the promotion returned to the Irish capital with Bellator 285. In what is his only professional decision, Kelly claimed the unanimous decision against Kye Stevens.
2023 proved to be the 26-year-old’s most active year as a professional so far. Kelly competed three times and racked up three stoppage victories with ground and pound wins against Dorval Jordan and Jelle Zeegers inside the Bellator cage, and a submission win against Andre Ferreira at Clan Wars 47.
The SBG man has already competed once on the Bellator Champions Series, when he faced Mathias Poiron at Bellator Champions Series: Dublin. In a similar fashion to his Bellator debut, Kelly stopped Poiron with a first round guillotine choke.
Although having first competed as a professional in 2016, Hrytsenko has taken several lengthy breaks throughout his career. The Ukrainian made his Bellator debut in 2023, when he faced Kelly’s teammate, Daniele Scatizzi at Bellator 291. In what was a close contest, Hrytsenko done enough to claim at least 2 of the 3 rounds on all three judges score cards to claim the unanimous decision.
He then also featured on the landmark Bellator 300 card, when took on Justin Montalvo. Once again, the 26-year-old done enough to get the nod from all three judges and pick up his second consecutive unanimous decision.
