Tim Kennedy Might Walk Away If He Isn't a Title Contender After UFC 205 | MMAWeekly.com

After Tim Kennedy controversially lost to Yoel Romero at UFC 178 in September 2014, he thought there was a good chance that was his last fight in the UFC. He stepped away from the sport to pursue other opportunities until the right fight came along to lure him back into the cage.

“I thought there was a very good chance that I would never come back to the sport. I don’t need MMA, but I love fighting. Those are very different things,” Kennedy said during an appearance on Submission Radio. “I think all the things just lined up perfectly for me to want to get in there at least one more time.”

Kennedy takes on former light heavyweight champion and former training partner Rashad Evans at UFC 205 on Nov. 12 in New York City. It was a bout that perked his interest.

“The UFC has come to me a few times and offered fights, but none of them were against a former light heavyweight champion, none of them were at Madison Square Garden, none of them were on the biggest MMA card in UFC history, and it’s the very first fight in the state of New York,” he said.

If Kennedy defeats Evans, he expects to be in the title picture, especially considering that he holds a decisive win over current middleweight titleholder Michael Bisping. If he’s not, he doesn’t see the point of continuing to fight at this point in his career.

“I’m just getting started in my work outside the Octagon, where you’re probably going to see me a lot more. But after Nov. 12, when I beat Rashad, if whoever the matchmaker is going to be in December for the middleweight division, if they’re not talking about me being in the mix, about me as a potential match-up against Michael Bisping for the title, then what’s the point?” said the 37-year-old.

“If I’m not gonna be in the mix for the title at this point in my career. I’ve got a lot of other things to do.”

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Kennedy defeated Bisping by unanimous decision in April 2014. Now that Bisping is the champion, the division is a lot more appealing to Kennedy.

“With Michael Bisping now being the champion, maybe the division is a little more interesting to me,” he said. “I not only beat him, I picked him apart every single way.”

Kennedy sees the 185-pound division as completely wide open, where a number of fighters could emerge from the pack and get a title shot.

“The division is a mess. It’s a disaster,” said Kennedy. “It’s anybody’s chance to get that next title fight and everybody wants it because, especially for me, Michael Bisping is the easiest fight in the division.

“The current champion of the division. If you go down that list, from Chris Weidman to Jacare to Luke Rockhold, Derek Brunson, that would be my number two, three, four and five right there. I don’t put Yoel Romero in there because I think he’s a cheater and he shouldn’t even be in the UFC. The Vitor Belforts, the Lyoto Machidas, they’re so past their prime, those four guys would walk through them,” he said.

“They’re talking about Nick Diaz coming back to the middleweight division and GSP (Georges St-Pierre), who has been out of this sport, maybe in retirement for the past few years, coming back and getting an automatic title shot. The division’s a mess; it’s anybody’s game.”

While Kennedy sees opportunities for himself in the division, he has to beat Evans before any talks of a second fight with Bisping can happen.

“What I know is, Nov. 12, I’m gonna go fight Rashad; I’m gonna beat him in a very, very clear decisive fashion; and Michael Bisping, he has not wanted to utter my name for the past year,” he said.

“So if he wants to stand there and really be a champion, stop calling out dudes that have been retired for a few years, stop calling out a 47-year-old man. Why don’t you fight a guy that beat the brakes off of you and on Nov. 12 at Madison Square Garden is going to make a huge statement in the division?” Kennedy added.

“I want the title, plain and simple.”

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