Chris Kelades celebrates UFC win, aims for third fight in 2015

Nova Scotia's Chris Kelades is celebrating his UFC win in Saskatoon this week and hopes to fight again this year.

"It was good. I always like to finish a fight, but definitely getting the win is better than a loss," he said Wednesday of his split-decision victory over Chris Beal at UFC Fight Night 74.

The flyweight improves to 2-1 in the UFC and credits the "boisterous" Saskatoon crowd for getting behind him on Sunday.

The first few days after something like that, you feel like you've been hit by a car.- Chris Kelades

"It was a pretty rowdy crowd — they were excited to be there. It made for a fun place to fight," he said. "It goes a long way when you've got to dig deep in a fight."

Kelades, nicknamed the Greek Assassin, won his first UFC fight when the organization came to Halifax late last year. He then lost to Ray Borg in February. 

"Being home, with that kind of crowd and everyone behind you, was pretty impressive," he said of the short-notice Halifax fight.

Kelades admits he got off to a slow start against Beal.

"I've got to get better at that, because I'm giving away the first round," he said. "At this level, every minute of every round counts, so to give away the whole round like that doesn't bode to well for me moving forward."

He's back in Cole Harbour now and expects to resume training at Fit Plus MMA in Dartmouth soon.

"The first few days after something like that, you feel like you've been hit by a car, but there's no glaring injuries or anything."

When his next fight gets scheduled, he'll do the training camp in Florida's American Top Team gym.