THERE’S not much that Daniel Kelly hasn’t done in judo but he’s a man on a mission in mixed martial arts.

The four-time Australian Olympic representative judoka is unbeaten in the MMA arena, notching up nine straight wins, which included two wins in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

He hopes to keep the streak going and settle a feud when he takes on Sam Alvey at UFC Fight Night 65 in Adelaide on May 10.

Kelly recounts the first time he met ‘Smile ‘N Sam’ when they both fought different opponents at the UFC Sydney event in November.

“For some unknown reason, he keeps calling me out,” Kelly said.

“I don’t get it, we fought (separately) in Sydney, I had my family there, and he had his family there.

“I was like Gday mate how are you and said hello to his kids. Then after the fights he said he hopes to fight Dan Kelly. In his post-fight interview in the Octagon (February card in Brazil), he said it again.

“I think he thinks I’m going to be an easy match up for him.

“I thought oh well, no problem. I’m not going to be buddy buddy with him, he seems this happy cool guy but I’m not interested, I’m in there to fight. It’s weird how it’s occurred in that regard.”

Kelly competed in the Sydney 2000 Olympics, placing ninth, and the three Games following, placing 7th, 21st and 17th respectively.

“It’s a little bit different but it’s similar, the UFC happens a lot more often than the Olympics does but I consider it as the highest level of competition I can be in,” he said.

“I’m as nervous to fight in the UFC as I was in the Olympics.

“It’s important that I put a stamp there and that we’re (Australians) not easy beats or push overs and we can match it with the best in the world.”

The Melbourne native is keen to get onto the UFC 193 card slated for his home town on November 15.

There have been murmurs that the card could include UFC champions Jon Jones, Ronda Rousey or featherweight contender Conor McGregor

“That’s the big aim, that’s why I wanted to get on that Adelaide card so I can fight in Melbourne and have a good performance,” he said.

“It’s the first UFC event in Melbourne and it’s a pay per view card.”

As for a future opponent and at age 37, Kelly is happy to fight anyone who will get him closer to the UFC middleweight belt.

“I don’t want to limit myself in terms of how far I can go, obviously I have to listen to my body a little bit because I’ve had a long judo career which is demanding. I won’t say that MMA is as demanding on my body as judo was. For as long as I want to do it and love the competition and love fighting I will continue on. Randy Couture was very old, Dan Henderson is old, we have Anthony Perosh still doing well and he’s 42.”

The Adelaide card includes a main event heavyweight match between Stipe Miocic and Aussie Mark Hunt.

Australians Perosh, Robert Whittaker, Jake Matthews and Kyle Noke are also fighting on the card.

Tickets went on sale earlier this week and are available at Ticketek.