Army Sgt. 1st Class Tim Kennedy will fight in front of a decidedly friendly crowd tonight at Fort Campbell, Ky., in the main event of the third UFC “Fight for the Troops” card. Kennedy (16-4) will battle fellow 185-pounder Rafael “Sapo” Natal (17-4-1).
That’s “Natal.” With a “T”:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOTscXtjK0k[/youtube]Honest mistake — after all, Kennedy’s been busy in the run-up to tonight’s fight, continuing his stellar history of media-darling-ness:
- After his initial opponent, Lyoto Machida, was moved off the card to replace the injured Michael Bisping in an earlier event, Kennedy Twitter-bombed nearly the entire UFC roster, seeking a replacement. It’s not often professional fighters use “pretty please” in their messages to cohorts.
- He passed along 10 pieces of wisdom to our good friends at MMAJunkie.com — some no-joking-around advice for up-and-coming fighters, and anybody else seeking career or life guidance.
- He gave workout tips to our even better friends at Military Times, and talked fight technique alongside former Marine Liz “Girl-rilla” Carmouche, who’s also on tonight’s card, with our best friends at PT365.
- He continued his very public anti-testosterone replacement therapy stance, blasting UFC veteran Vitor Belfort.
- He sat with Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole for this profile, which talks about Kennedy’s military background, humorous side, and desire to “fight the guys everybody knows, and the guys who are regarded as the greatest ever. I want that in 2014.”
- He did this. OK, it’s from 2012, but still.
The fights will air live on Fox Sports 1, with the main card at 7 p.m. and preliminary bouts beginning at 5 p.m. Get a rundown of the military-themed card here and check in with MMAJunkie throughout the night for results and photos.
