Paul Kelly behind a fence at the Wolfslair gym: he will have to get used to the situation. Photo: Liverpoolecho.co.uk
Former UFC lightweight and welterweight Paul Kelly already knows where he will spend the next few years. The English fighter was sentenced by Liverpool Crown Court to serve a thirteen-year prison sentence for being the mastermind of a heroin trafficking ring.
At the trial, held in May, the Public Prosecutor's Office convinced jurors that Kelly's work was equivalent to that of a major drug trafficker, working with his best childhood friend to transport heroin using couriers. The sentence came out at the end of last week.
During the investigation into Kelly and his friend Christopher St John McGirr, the police found one of the couriers with 100 thousand pounds sterling (about 340 thousand reais) of pure heroin hidden under the seat of the car. Paul Rogers, another of Kelly's childhood friends, was caught with an amount equivalent to 10 thousand pounds. Both McGirr and Rogers will face eleven years behind bars.
Judge Mark Brown was tough on the former fighter. “In my opinion, you decided to supply class A drugs when your contract with the UFC was terminated. You obviously enjoyed the high life and saw selling heroin as an easy way to make money.”
Kelly will be sent to jail with a professional record of 14-5 in MMA, 5-4 in the UFC. He earned two fight of the night bonuses, the second in exactly his last fight in the organization, the loss to Donald Cerrone at UFC 126.
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