Teaching gig forces Tim Kennedy to turn down Lyoto Machida

Tim Kennedy

UFC middleweight Tim Kennedy was forced to turn down a fight with Lyoto Machida when military teaching jobs intervened on his schedule.

Kennedy (18-5 MMA, 3-1 UFC) on Monday told MMAjunkie the promotion wanted the two to fight in February at an unnamed event, bringing him into Machida’s (22-7 MMA, 14-7 UFC) orbit once again after an ill-fated booking in 2013  and public snipes that failed to produce a meeting.

This time around, Kennedy said his schedule is to blame, with a personal defense workshop set for February in his hometown of Austin, Texas, in addition to a teaching gig at a military urban combat course.

Kennedy said he didn’t care whether the UFC had moved on from the matchup, but added, “I still want (Vitor) Belfort.”

The former UFC champ and perennial contender knocked out Dan Henderson this past month at UFC Fight Night 77, prompting another round of callouts from Kennedy, one of his loudest critics during his time as a public user of the now-banned testosterone-replacement therapy.

Kennedy has competition for Belfort (25-11 MMA, 14-7 UFC), with his former opponent and current UFC champ Luke Rockhold calling for a rematch with the Brazilian, who knocked him out in his UFC debut two years ago. Belfort, in turn, has taunted the new titleholder.

But Kennedy, a special forces soldier and sniper in addition to MMA fighter, appears to be in no rush to return to the UFC’s octagon. Kennedy has alternately said he may never return to fighting and vowed to return to the cage to fight performance-enhancing drug users.

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.