Jeremy Kennedy was sparring with Kyle Bochniak on Twitter weeks before a real-life fight between the two UFC-ers was announced.
Kennedy, the Fleetwood-raised MMA fighter, will take on fellow featherweight Bochniak in the “UFC on Fox 25” event at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Long Island, New York, on Saturday, July 22.
Kennedy learned about the fight on May 24, just before he boarded a plane home from Las Vegas.
“My coach texted me about it, because I was asking about Kyle already, and we were going back and forth on Twitter, so that seemed to be a fight that made sense,” Kennedy told the Now-Leader.
The man known as “JBC,” who trains at the Revolution gym Langley Bypass, was in Vegas for the UFC Athlete Retreat.
“The facility is so cool,” Kennedy said. “It’d ridiculous, they have top-of-the-line equipment and everything. I loved it, and it was perfect because I was training hard and didn’t know about my fight yet, and just as I was leaving, I got the call while I was sitting at the airport about to board the plane. So it was reassuring knowing that I was training hard all week and getting ready for a fight when I get home.”
tweetsOn Twitter, Bochniak had earlier “called out” Kennedy in hopes of landing a fight with the Surrey product.
That’s all cool with Kennedy.
“It’s good because it gets people a bit more invested in the fight, right, and brings a little more attention to it,” he said. “I mean, Kyle and I have each had only two fights in UFC, so I guess there’s anymosity. It probably gave (matchmaker) Sean Shelby more interest in putting it together as well.
“It just gets me more fueled up for the fight, easier to train,” added Kennedy, who was won both of his UFC fights.
videoLast August at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Kennedy scored a unanimous decision over fellow Canadian newcomer Alessandro Ricci, and in February he defeated local favourite Rony Jason at an event in Fortaleza, Brazil.
Next up for Kennedy is another local favourite, more or less.
“Bochniak is from Boston, somewhere near there, not too far from Long Island,” Kennedy said.
Either way, he’s keen on a mid-summer fight, to allow for another possible UFC appearance later this year.
“The timing is right for me, absolutely,” Kennedy said. “This way, I’m speeding up my timeline and I can fight again in maybe October or November, something like that. It’s about staying active.”
