Tim Kennedy’s Fighting Style Won’t Change For Anyone

Tim Kennedy has been on a tear of the middleweight division lately, going 3-0 since joining the UFC, and even defeating #7 ranked Michael Bisping. Tomorrow night at UFC 178, he looks to build upon his already impressive resume by defeating Yoel Romero.

The only argument against Kennedy however, is that he is a boring fighter. Of his 3 wins in the UFC, two have been by way of decision, leaving some fans to criticize Kennedy’s wrestling based style.

He spoke with MMAJunkie about the criticism.

“It’s just that listening to people being like, ‘Oh, he needs a big finish to put himself into title contention,’ it just makes you feel like, ‘Yeah? Well you step in there with the No. 5 guy in the world and then complain about how I do it. It just always seems like there’s an unfortunate … not hypocrisy, but these expectations of fighters that are somewhat unrealistic. When you start fighting the best fighters in the world, you have to do things perfectly. And they’re also trying to do things perfectly. And if you do it incorrectly then you’re going to get owned.”

“Writers, bloggers, fans, whoever, they influence the sport. As dumb as it might be, some guy on Twitter can actually piss me off with the things that he says and affect what I’m supposed to be doing. Yes, I’m fortunate in the sense that I don’t need this sport to survive, but I do want to prove that I’m the best fighter in the world. To do that, people have these expectations that you have these finishes like Anderson Silva or Jon Jones every time out. But I’m a different fighter. I’m going to fight my own way, and I’m going to prove that I am the best.”

What are your thoughts on Kennedy’s fighting style?