Tim Kennedy – MMA Fighter and Special Operator

About Tim

Timothy Fred Kennedy (born September 1, 1979 in San Luis Obispo, California) is an American professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter who currently fights for the MMA promotion Strikeforce. He is one of the only fighters to simultaneously serve full time in the United States Army while fighting professionally. Kennedy is generally regarded as a striker, winning most of his fights by knockout or technical knockout. As of June 2010, his professional record is 12 wins with 2 losses.

Biography

Kennedy grew up the second son of three children in a Christian family in San Luis Obispo, California. As a youth, Kennedy’s mother placed him in cooking and piano lessons. To offset her influence on him, Kennedy’s father enrolled Tim and his brother in shooting schools, boxing lessons, wrestling teams, and Japanese jiu jitsu classes.^[1] Kennedy attended Eagle Academy private high school, graduating in 1998. He then attended Columbia College of Missouri earning a BA in Criminal Justice in 2002.^[2] Kennedy began competing in sanctioned mixed martial arts fights while still in college, but after graduation he joined the United States Army, enlisting in the elite Special Forces in 2004. However, he continued to compete in MMA while serving as a Green Beret. When the Army instituted a service-wide Combatives (hand-to-hand fighting) tournament in 2005, Kennedy entered and won the tournament in the light heavyweight division. He achieved this goal three years in a row.

Military career

Tim Kennedy enlisted in The United States Army on January 4, 2004 and attended Basic Combat Training, Advanced Individual Training, and the Special Forces Qualification Course. He was assigned to the 7th Special Forces Group^[3], where he served on Operational Detachment Alpha’s and with the elite Commander’s Inextremis Force (CIF) for 4 years. During this time he was also a sniper, sniper instructor, the principle combatives instructor for C Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group. Kennedy deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom multiple times^[4]. Among Kennedy’s multiple awards is the Army’s Bronze Star medal, which was awarded for valor under fire^[5].

Mixed martial arts

Kennedy began training at Dokan School of Martial Arts in Atascadero, California under Terry Kelly, and Barry Smith. He began his MMA training in 1994, training with Chuck Liddell, Jake Shields, Gan McGee, and John Hackleman at The Pit in San Luis Obispo.^[6] Kennedy first started fighting in 1996 and had 31 amateur fights, amassing a record of 30-1^{[citation needed]} before his first professional fight in 2001. In 2003 he entered and won a one-night tournament at Extreme Challenge 50, winning all his three fights. In 2004 he joined the Army. Kennedy only fought once in 2006. He then fought for the now defunct International Fight League in 2007, but did not fight in 2008 due to Army deployments overseas. During this time he wrote a three part series of “Letters from a Foreign Land” that chronicled his time in combat.^[7]^[8]^[9] He returned to mixed martial arts in 2009 with a win over Nick Thompson at ShoMMA: Strikeforce Challengers in Kent, Washington.