Issue 113
April 2014
The UFC middleweight and Green Beret hero on fighting Michael Bisping, and why he hates Kanye West and Miley Cyrus
Q. If you could choose one fight from your career every MMA fan should see, which would it be and why?
A. “Robbie Lawler (2011). That fight demonstrates who I am as a fighter. I’m gritty, I’m tough, I hit hard and I’m in your face all the time. It wasn’t an easy fight. It was actually the hardest one of my career. That fight hurt, physically, worse than any fight I’ve ever had. If you want to see the best of Tim Kennedy, that’s it.”
Q. If you could fight anyone in any weight class, who would it be and why?
A. “Definitely Michael Bisping, and not because I respect his skills, because I don’t. And not because I think he’s a talented showman, because he’s not. He’s just a bad person and a dirty fighter. He’s at the top of my list.”
Q. You’re fighting him in April, but you’ve been warring over Twitter for a while.
A. “I think it’s pretty evident he’s made personal attacks on me. He’s called me a redneck and I honestly don’t think he even knows what a redneck is. Maybe he’s so culturally diverse he has his fingers on the pulse of society in the United States, and at that point he can’t really call himself a Brit. Is he English or is he an American?
“There is nothing he can do that can hurt me, whether it’s verbally or in a fight. And everything I do he just can’t take. At first he was going to ignore me but he couldn’t and he fired back. Then he was like, ‘Tim is just a gnat on the wall. He is never going to be any good.’ Then he said he was going to punch me in the mouth but he won’t be able to. He just can’t take it, anything from me, whether it’s fighting or verbal jabs.”
Q. Who’s the biggest puncher you’ve fought?
A. “Melvin Manhoef and Robbie Lawler. The thing about power is this: there is raw strength where you can feel a guy’s strength and think, ‘Wow, this guy is strong.’ But when someone hits you really hard, you don’t feel it. You usually just wake up shooting a single on Herb Dean. Thank God that didn’t happen with either of those guys but that’s the kind of power they have.”
Q. If you could fight anyone outside the world of MMA, who would it be and why?
A. “Kanye West is up there. Every time he opens his mouth I want to shut it for him. The things that come out of his mouth about soldiers and veterans drive me crazy. Miley Cyrus is up there, too. Preferably I would like to take Miley Cyrus and beat Kanye to death with her.”
Q. Given that you’re an active member of the US Special Forces, does it annoy you when other mixed martial artists talk about their fights as ‘like being in a war?’
A. “Everybody has a unique perspective and experiences in their lives. Thank God most of those athletes have never had to see war. I don’t look at them condescendingly and think they don’t know; thank God they don’t know.
“I’ve seen Urijah Faber in wars in the cage. In his life, those truly are back-and-forth battles. It would be a disservice to him to say, ‘Hey dude, you can’t use that word.’ It would be self-righteous, narrow-minded and a stupid thing to do. They are more than welcome to use it. I don’t own that word.”
Q. Who’s your favorite fighter to watch and why?
A. “Chris Weidman. He’s a freight train. He’s scary, he hits hard. His ground game is fantastic. His submissions are great. And he has sick submission defense.”
Q. Do you have strange superstitions or habits before a bout?
A. “I only eat white rice for a week before the fight. I abstain from sex for a month before the fight and I wear my pants backwards the day of the fight.”
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