Tim Kennedy Says UFC 206 Fight with Rashad Evans Canceled | MMAWeekly.com

The middleweight bout between Tim Kennedy and Rashad Evans has been canceled for a second time in as many weeks.

Kennedy revealed the bout’s cancellation on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour.

“I’m not fighting Rashad,” Kennedy said, indicating that the athletic commission in Toronto would not approve Evans for a license to fight at UFC 206: Cormier vs. Johnson.

Kennedy vs. Evans was initially slated to occur at UFC 205: Alvarez vs. McGregor on Nov. 12 in New York. The fight was canceled the week of the event due to the New York State Athletic Commission having concerns over Evans’ medicals, specifically with his MRI results.

Kennedy indicated that, from his understanding, there were still concerns about the MRI results when it came to trying to get a license for Toronto.

“He has brain damage. Welcome to sport where we punch each other in the head,” Kennedy said bluntly when asked why Evans was once again not approved to fight him. He noted that it is going to be a difficult road for Evans to continue his fight career after two commissions declined to allow him to fight.

“When you have two back-to-back athletic commission that won’t issue you a license, I don’t know what that means for Rashad. It’s a slippery slope moving forward for him,” said Kennedy.

“We were training partners at Jackson’s. I’ve know the guy for 6-7 years. Having an MRI come back and say something is wrong with your brain, this isn’t a good thing.”

With Evans now apparently out of the picture, Kennedy still wants to fight at UFC 206, just as he tried to get another fight at UFC 205. He confirmed the UFC is trying to get him another opponent, but didn’t have any news on anything at the time of the interview. 

Though Kennedy characterized Evans’ issue as not being able to get medically cleared to fight, Evans’ manager, Ali Abdel-Aziz, told MMAWeekly.com, “This is not correct.” He, however, had not responded to requests for a further explanation at the time of publication.

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