It’s kind of hard to dislike Tim Kennedy. When the guy steps into the cage he is good, really good, and that is always something fans with admire. But he also comes off as genuine, nice, passionate, loyal. My personal interactions with the man have been nothing but positive. If I had detected the slightest bit of shiftiness in him my whole image would have crumbled like a house of cards as his niceness would have quickly morphed into shadiness because he is really almost too good to be true. He also has that whole military thing going for him as well which seems to play well in most parts of the US for better or for worse. For me the idea of portraying the military as only a source of goodwill and altruism while ignoring the parts of history that say otherwise doesn’t really work. But I’m also willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt and understand that when he says he believes absolutely in the cause he is fighting for that he truly means it. So with all of that in mind my question is what got into Tim Kennedy this weekend? Why the swagger and the screaming and victimhood?
For those who missed the card Kennedy turned in a dominant performance over Robbie Lawler, controlling him really from bell to bell despite a second round that saw him lose a pint or two. He won all three rounds on all three scorecards and then racked up some extra credit with the powers that be by spotlighting a war vet who had lost all four limbs in the line of duty. That much was at least to be expected. What I didn’t see coming was pretty much everything else. Go back and watch the way he came down the aisle. Do we sense a little extra bounce in his step? It’s almost as though he was trying to give off signals to the crowd about how supremely confident he was that he would own Robbie Lawler in a matter of minutes. Then there was the second round with the aforementioned blood letting. It came from an Earth shattering uppercut that clipped and broke Kennedy’s nose and was really hard to watch each of the eight times they replayed it. He recovered well, mostly by grabbing a leg and holding on for dear life, and came back to win the round without problem.
He executed more of the same in the final round and really should have had nothing to worry about while the scorecards were being tallied. And yet the Showtime cameras caught him yelling (yes, actual yelling!) at the judges about how the blood that was all over the mat was just blood. Post fight he clarified that he was only hoping to convey to them that the injury he sustained was superficial. But he didn’t stop there, he went on just openly declare that he doesn’t like judges at all.
I know, maybe it’s not as big of deal as I’m making it out to be. Coming from any other fighter I probably would have viewed it as a minor twist and a slight increase in edginess in their character. But with Kennedy it all seems very bizarre. Maybe we could blame it on that cringe inducing shot he took in round 2 that nearly KO’d him. A punch drunk Tim Kennedy’s words are a non-punch drunk Tim Kennedy’s thoughts if you will. But that’s probably too easy. I might then say that with another tour of duty hovering on the horizon, his career status up in the air and the sting of his decision loss to Jacare Souza still on the forefront of his mind he figured why not cut loose and tell the world what he was thinking. There is still nothing not-PC about him, but seeing him play anyone other than the National Guard lovin’ choir boy is a little jarring to my system. . . in a totally awesome way. I’d love to see more of this guy unchained and uncensored because the little taste we got on Saturday night was pointed and delicious indeed.
