Issue 164

February 2018

Tim Kennedy KO1 Rafael Natal: 

A Green Beret sniper gets his greatest finish in front of the troops

There’s nothing like a UFC Fight for the Troops show. The Octagon gets set up in a venue near – or actually in – a military facility and a full fight card plays out in front of an audience made up entirely of members of the United States Armed Forces. That always makes for a rowdy atmosphere, but when they’re cheering for a military veteran, the volume goes way past 11.

Tim Kennedy was the perfect recruit to headline the show at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, in November 2013. The Army Ranger was guaranteed to have the whole crowd behind him, and it was their support he credited for carrying him to victory against Rafael Natal…

Step 1

Natal steps back with his hands down, so Kennedy leaps in with a long left hook and lands on the jaw.

Step 2

As ‘Sapo’ drops, Kennedy dives into half guard to deliver a few unanswered punches before Herb Dean can stop the fight.

Perfect Timing

The shouts for Kennedy were so loud, they almost caused him to miss the fight-finishing punch. Luckily, there was a moment of calm at the perfect moment. “I heard my coaches screaming for me to do something after the crowd stopped cheering: “Ranger Up!” he explains. “It was a perfect sequence where they stopped cheering, I heard my coaches, did what they said and executed it… and then I was able to spend the rest of the night with the troops!”