Two-time Strikeforce middleweight title challenger Tim Kennedy is a former Staff Sergeant in the United States Army, so it makes sense that he isn’t big on pulling out of a scheduled fight.
He questioned whether or not Strikeforce fighters withdrawing from recent advertised bouts are legitimately injured in an interview with Bloody Elbow.
“Well, I don’t know. Maybe they are, maybe they aren’t. It’s pathetic and convenient for every single marquee fighter in all of Strikeforce, that we all know to be going over to the UFC, are pulling out of their fights, two weeks before the final card. It’s like, are you guys fighters, or are you just a bunch of little vaginas?”
Kennedy is set to meet Trevor Smith on the Strikeforce: Champions card on Jan. 12, the promotion’s last event, which originally had the lightweight, welterweight and middleweight title holders defending their belts.
However, Gilbert Melendez, the 155-pound champ, and Luke Rockhold, the middleweight title holder, both recently withdrew from the event citing training injuries.
Although he didn’t name anyone specifically, Kennedy took umbrage with the fact that some Strikeforce fighters who aren’t fighting at the January event are calling out competitors signed with the UFC.
“The whole thing seems like a big bunch of horse s***. Yeah, I’m gonna call all these dudes out, because I’m a super tough fighter, this is MY hood, fight me, blah blah blah, oh wait, I hurt my wrist, and I’m gonna be going to the UFC, so I’m not gonna fight. I’m just gonna wait and fight somebody in the UFC. What? What just happened? Blech. Whatever.”
This was likely a thinly-veiled short at Melendez, as “El Nino” stated earlier in the month that he wants to be the next man to challenge UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson for the title.
The Greg Jackson MMA product also indicates that he has never pulled out of a fight due to injury and wishes more fighters had that same mentality.
“I’ve never backed out of a fight for an injury. Ever. One time I was asked to take a fight, and I had to decline because I was already injured. I had torn my toe off. I just told them I couldn’t do it, not on four weeks notice, directly following having had my toe surgically placed back on my foot, but I’ve never backed out of a fight I’d already accepted. I’m kind of with Chael Sonnen, where I just don’t get guys backing out of fights.”
Kennedy is just 2-2 in his past four fights, though both losses were in middleweight championship fights against Ronaldo Souza and Rockhold, respectively.
Would certain Strikeforce fighters actually fake injuries to give themselves better odds of getting an offer from the UFC, or is Kennedy completely off base with his comments here?
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