Kennedy: I’m a fight or two from a title shot at 185 or 170
Tim Kennedy: “Had Robbie Lawler beat Johny Hendricks I would cut to fight Robbie. I think I’d have to be faster at 170. Watching these guys whoosh all over the place.”
Tim was an awesome guest. One of my all time favorite podcasts!
UFC middleweight Tim Kennedy appeared recently on the Joe Rogan Experience, and discussed weight classes in MMA.
“You have 155, 170, 185 and 205. You have four weight classes from 155 to 205. That’s crazy,” said Kennedy, as transcribed by MMAFighting.
“I think I’m kind of between 185 and 170. My shape, my reach, my height. I would love there to be a 180. That would be awesome for me.”
Kennedy is emphatically not moving up.
“I’m 5’11. I have a 73 inch reach,” he explained. “There’s no way I can hang with the 205ers that have 86 inch reaches that are 6’4. I might be as strong as they are, but as Brian Stann calls me, I’m like a squat little hobbit. Angry hobbit, sometimes troll.
“Jon Jones runs around the cage and jabs me to death. I try to athletically explode in and he violates me with something painful.”
However, dropping to 170 could happen. Kennedy beat Robbie Lawler in Strikeforce in 20111, and had Lawler beat Hendricks for the title in March, that have been sufficient incentive.
“Definitely possible,” said Kennedy. “Honestly, had Robbie Lawler beat Johny Hendricks I would cut to fight Robbie. I think I’d have to be faster at 170. Watching these guys whoosh all over the place.”
At either 185 or 170, Kennedy thinks he is not far from a title shot.
“I think I’m close, either,” said Kennedy. “The next fight, whoever Joe Silva gives me. If it’s Vitor Belfort, Jacare, that puts me right there. I’m No. 6. I beat a No. 2-3 guy, that’s a title fight. I’ll be 4-0 in the UFC just beating a title eliminator. My last two fights have been five-round main events. I’m potentially one fight away.
“Mark Munoz and Gegard Mousasi are fighting. Could I potentially be fighting the winner of that fight? That’s definitely in the realm, too. If that’s the case maybe I am two fights away. If I cut down to 170 I don’t think they’d let me fight for the title. I’d still be one fight away. Maybe two. So no, I don’t think I’d be any closer.”
