News of a third meeting between MTV’s Bully Beatdown host Jason “Mayhem” Miller (24-7) and Tim Kennedy (12-3) surfaced on Thursday.
MMAjunkie.com is reporting that both fighters are interested in the fight but no official agreements have been made as of yet. A bout between the two is likely to take place on the Jan. 29 Strikeforce card in San Jose, Calif.
The middleweight matchup has each fighter going 1-1 against the other. Kennedy earned a decision victory in their first meeting back in February of 2003 at an Extreme Challenge 50 event. While Miller would take the rematch four-and-a-half years later by unanimous decision at a HDNet Fights event in December of 2007 in Texas.
Taking this fight would mean that Miller, who has an ongoing feud with Strikeforce welterweight cahmp Nick Diaz, has moved on and is ready to take on new opponents. Currently he is 3-1-1 in his last five fights, having earned back-to-back wins over Kazushi Sakuraba at DREAM.16 and Tim Stout at the Strikeforce: Nashville show. Miller, who has only one fight left on his contract could be in a strong position to renegotiate his contract with a win over Kennedy. “Mayhem” could try to negotiate a middleweight title shot or try and make a return to the UFC.
Kennedy’s last fight was for the vacant Strikeforce middleweight title, a match he lost to Ronaldo Souza at last August’s Strikeforce: Houston event. The former Special Forces member had been on a four fight win streak since his loss to Miller at the HDNet Fight card. Kennedy is 3-1 with Strikeforce earning submission wins over Trevor Prangley in June, Zak Cumings in Sept. 2009, and Nick Thompson in June 2009.