Kennedy: Belfort hypocrisy too large to list

The ever outspoken and entertaining UFC middleweight Tim Kennedy appeared on the ever compelling Submission Radio for a wide-ranging interview. UFC 187 may soon be shorn of the Jon Jones vs. Anthony Johnson main event, but Kennedy says his interest in the Chris Weidman vs. Vitor Belfort co main is dropping “like Vitor Belfort’s testosterone levels.” He also took shots are the number of PED test failures among Brazilian fighters in general.

How many Brazilian athletes are there that haven’t tested positive?” asked Kennedy. “Jose Aldo. He hasn’t, right? Jacare hasn’t. But it seems like every single time one of them is randomly tested, they fail. I don’t know, maybe there’s a pattern here. It was disappointing. Like I think Fedor and Anderson and Sakuraba are the three greatest ever, and seeing a guy like that, that’s been the best ever go out like that, you know it’s just…..it’s disappointing. It’s heart breaking. It’s pathetic but unsurprising.

Belfort has remained a consistent target for Kennedy’s ire.

My excitement for this fight is dropping like Vitor Belfort’s testosterone levels,” he said. “Just, like plummeting every single day; and having nothing to do with Chris Weidman. It’s just, failed drug test here, hidden drug test there, a fake injury here. It’s just like come on man, you’ve been cheating the system for too long, you kind of got caught, even though you’ve been caught a couple of times in the past. It’s like, I don’t even think he deserves to be fighting for a title. I know he’s a huge name in Brazil and people love him and he has a great haircut, you know and Jesus Christ is like the best greatest thing in the world, and he drinks unicorn blood, but the hypocrisy that exists within that one man is just too enormous to list in this short interview.

Kennedy’s disillusion with the sport was such that he hinted at retirement, but that talk has waned.

With me, you know I think I’ll always have the itch,” said Kennedy. “I remember Chuck Liddell in the twilight of his career, you know he still always mentally was like wanting to fight and he had the offensive tools to be able to beat anybody, but then you know his body and his brain could only do so much. Forrest Griffin, another example of that. The list goes on. I’m not going to be that guy that’s going to be 1, 2, 3, fights too late. I’m gonna be done when I’m done, but I’m always going to have that itch. Even after the last fight. Even how stupid that whole fight was. Even afterwards, I’m watching my friends fight or I’m cornering a guy. You still have that itch. You know I’m still training – hell I’m training 15 times a week still. So things are good.

In fact, Kennedy recently called out Lyoto Machida, suggesting a loser leaves town scenario.

It wasn’t a stipulation. I never said stipulation, and I was just making fun with Ariel,” explained Kennedy. “Like we’re both old. I think as I said, man we’re both crusty old farts. You know we’ve both been fighting for so long that at this point of this career I think if both of us had another loss, is there any realistic chance that we’d be fighting for a title? If I don’t have hopes of fighting for a title, then what’s the point of me fighting? I’m not going to be that guy that’s just holding on for another fight for another pay check.

“I want to be fighting the best guys in the world, and you know Lyoto’s still one of those guys. I think he’s one of the most talented athletes ever, but he’s also getting old, maybe losing a little bit of his edge and quickness that he relies upon. You know his style is very based on responsiveness, and that’s one of the first things to go. My style on the other hand, that power grinder with big punches, with takedowns, lay on top of you and just take your soul and eat it – like obviously not a fan favorite – but with Lyoto and I, my style lasts longer.

“You know like Randy Couture for example of how long you can carry that style. Dan Henderson. Even though he’s post-prime now since he’s been fighting more, you know he took that into his 40’s as well. And Lyoto, he’s like I gotta catch you coming in, you have to make a mistake as well and I have to capitalize on it. Those are all very quick responsive type things that go with age. So I was just making fun of him, talking crap.

“I have so many advantages over him that I’m not sure I can even list them. First and foremost, I don’t ingest urine. You know I think my ability to consume other fluids is first and foremost paramount in the match up. So the toxins that are going to be leaving my penis, I’m not going to put back down my throat. So that’s major. And second is, I think Karate’s dead. So he may be good at a whole bunch of things and Karate is also one of them, but karate is not what made him successful.

“He’s a black belt in Jiu Jitsu, he has fantastic wrestling, he has great kickboxing, but he can still walk out with his Karate gi, he can try to front kick me – that’d be cool – what else? I’m trying to think of other things. I have better hair … I don’t have flaky pieces of my scalp falling onto my shoulders or any sponsorships from a shampoo company that specializes in dandruff.

In addition to his karate clowning, Kennedy offered a wake up call to unathletic Krav Maga students.

Yes it is a great effective style for self-defense,” he said. “It has zero application in MMA. So you know they’re kind of turning it into a sort of sporty thing too, which it’s not. It is a self-defense combative art form, which is super cool as long as people understand the limitations of their own physicality. One of the major problems is these guys – or these old ladies – go to these courses and they’re like ‘man I know Krav Maga. I can like kick a guy in the groin and poke him in the eyes. I’m like the dangerous guy on the street.’ You’re like ‘Bro you’re 135 pounds with your clothes like totally soaking wet. You’re bald, you have tiny little strings for arms, you’re really now just a liability to yourself.’ So you just need an accurate understanding of who and what you are. It’s a great art, and it’s super great for combative self defense. You just need a realistic understanding and know yourself.

Lastly, Kennedy offered kind words for Strikeforce and his former Strikeforce leaguemate Luke Rockhold, who he lost to for the Strikeforce middleweight championship. Rockhold of course recently defeated Machida.

Unsurprised – I think that fight could happen ten different times and the exact same outcome would happen all ten times,” he said. When you have the (UFC) middleweight division and pretty much number two, three, four, five and six are Strikeforce guys, I think it’s kind of clear what we were like when we were just in Strikeforce and everybody was making fun of us; you know a bunch of little fish in a little pond. Now here we are as the two through six contenders, and Luke effortlessly dismantled Lyoto. And everything that everybody said, like ‘his hips, his footwork, you know he’s so tricky, so offensive, so unpredictable, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah’. Luke walked him down and beat the crap out of him. Effortlessly.

The vindication is like, everybody that was so relentless and unforgiving writing about us. You like ‘These guys suck, they can’t hang in deep waters in the UFC.’ And now we’re just like … here’s nobody here for us. We’ve already eaten up everybody and just chewed ’em up and spit ’em out. So I guess that just means that the four of us are gonna be fighting each other for the next two years.

Kennedy thinks Rockhold is a tough match up for UFC middleweight Chris Weidman.

It’s a bad fight for Chris stylistically,” said Kennedy. “He’s going to take Luke down? Like Luke is really hard to take down, and when you get him down his Jiu-Jitsu is amazing. It’s one of the best and underrated offensive Jiu-Jitsu games in MMA; but then he has the range, he has the height, he has the size, he has the power. It’s a very, very difficult – you know of all the fights, if you look at Chris and match him up with the next six of us, that’s his toughest match up. And I think Chris and I would be a very tough fight, I think Jacare and Chris would be a tough fight, Yoel and Chris would be a very tough fight, and then you have Luke sitting here.

“So you know it’s, I don’t see, I think Luke could win a decision. A five round, outpoint him, hit him on the outside, force Chris to have to push for the takedown, push the for the big punches while he’s getting eaten up on angles. I could also see – you know I think Chris leans in later rounds. He loses some steam. That doesn’t happen with Luke. You know Luke if anything gets faster and better as the rounds go on. I think Jacare-Luke Rockhold one is a clear example of that, where he just starts, you know when his momentum starts building, he doesn’t get tired. He picks up the volume. And that would be a very bad situation for a guy who cuts so much, has so much strength, but then starts leaning towards the end of the fight.