Former UFC fighter Paul Kelly, 42, has been jailed for four years after admitting to multiple offences on the first day of his trial at Liverpool Crown Court. Originally from West Derby, Kelly competed in nine UFC fights and was once earning up to £100,000 as a professional mixed martial arts fighter.
Background and previous conviction
In 2013, Kelly was jailed for 13 years after being identified as the mastermind behind a sophisticated drug operation supplying the dangerous Croxteth Young Guns (CYG) gang with class A drugs. Police linked Kelly and his childhood friend to the gang, which was involved in a violent feud with rivals in Norris Green, including shootings and arson attacks. A courier was caught with 1.5kg of heroin worth around £100,000.
Kelly was released on licence after serving six years and later claimed he had turned his life around, returning to MMA in 2020 and telling the ECHO that prison had changed his outlook on life.
Latest offences and sentencing
He was back in court facing charges including assault, criminal damage, disclosing private sexual photographs and breaching protective court orders. He admitted the offences and received a four-year prison sentence, alongside three indefinite restraining orders.
Speaking to the ECHO in 2020, Kelly said: "In prison you have no dignity, self-respect, humanity. You're just a number. It's given me a big appreciation of life, but it's also made me a harder, tougher, colder person. When you're in prison and you're away from your family, you can't show fear, emotion."
