Kennedy: I will probably break even on Evans fight

UFC middleweight Tim Kennedy has not fought in over two years, due to dissatisfaction with the company’s controversial handling of his last fight and the abundant other career opportunities he has created including Ranger Up and Sheepdog Response, among other issues. He told Brett Okamoto for ESPN that it took an incredible opportunity to get him back in the Octagon at UFC 205, and that this might be it for his fighting career.

“After Nov. 12, if they’re not saying, ‘Your next fight is against Michael Bisping,’ who I smashed, then I don’t know,” said Kennedy, 37. “I can’t even imagine the fight that would bring me back in again.

“It took Madison Square Garden, on the biggest fight card in MMA history, against a former light heavyweight champion, perennial contender, coming to a new weight class, in a state they just legalized MMA for the first time, for me to come back — with the potential of, ‘Win here, move into title contention.’ If it took that much to get me back here in the first place, it sure as hell will take a big, shiny belt for me to stay.”

One of the reasons he may not return is pay. Kennedy made $70,000 to show for his last fight, a fight he controversially lost. UFC contracts ordinarily do not escalate with a loss, so he may well make $70,000 to show at UFC 205 in New York. Given his other endeavors, Kennedy is likely at least in the 28% tax bracket, so back out a minimum of $20,000, leaving $50,000 or less. But a fight camp is expensive.

“[The UFC] actually had a tax attorney contact us to say, ‘Just wanted to warn you guys, here’s some tax documents you need to start filling out.’ I rented a house in Albuquerque [New Mexico, to train at Jackson-Wink MMA]. I’m paying $5,000 medicals. I’m paying coaches, management, gym fees, recovery costs, cryotherapy.

“I’ll probably be a wash for this fight camp in money. Think about that for a minute.”

“The sport is at an opportunity in the very near future to make a difference and be something really significant, special and fantastic. To see [athletes ‘] lives be sustained at a [financial] level that’s not embarrassingly humiliating, we’re close to that corner. I hope we take it and I hope I’m there to take this sport around that corner.

“I’m sure as s*** not in this sport for the money because it’s not there yet, but it will be. We’re close. Conor McGregor has made huge waves in changing what the realization of what somebody can make, and before him it was Jon Jones and Ronda Rousey. We know the potential is there for earning. We’re going to get it, but we’re not there yet.”

“We have to get extra rooms in New York. You know how much a room in New York is? How much a flight to New York is? [Cerrone] is going to be flying Greg Jackson out, I’m going to fly out [striking coach] Brandon Gibson. We’re trying to, economically between the two of us, absorb the financial impact from the aspect of New York.

“I don’t want to tell anybody what to think. That’s not ever what I’ve done. I’m going to tell you how it is and you be a smart, intelligent person and interpret what I’m saying. You make your own opinions. I don’t want to tell a fan what to think. This is just the truth of the sport. This is the truth about what I’m making. The expenses, people don’t understand.”

So Tim Kennedy, if he loses at UFC 205, and isn’t one of the four out of 26 fighters that gets a performance bonus, is roughly fighting for free. And here’s the thing. At 70/70, Tim Kennedy is one of the higher paid fighters. Joe Lauzon after 22 fights in the UFC and a record number of performance bonuses makes in the mid-50s to show. Lauzon runs his own gym and runs his own camp, which cuts down notably on expenses, but still.