Jeremy Kennedy is laser-focused on establishing his reputation as one of Bellator's finest competitors, and his path toward that goal picks up Friday night.
The Canadian fighter, Kennedy (16-2), is set to square off against Hungary's Adam Borics (16-1) at Bellator 256. The featherweight showdown will take place inside Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, and viewers can catch the action on Showtime.
Kennedy, currently 28 years old, has posted a 1-0 record since signing with Bellator MMA and is looking to build on that momentum during his second appearance for the promotion.
Borics arrives with momentum of his own. The Hungarian once held a spot in the featherweight grand prix tournament, sits on a two-fight winning streak, and represents a challenge Kennedy fully respects.
"Oh he's really good. He's established in Bellator. Out of all the guys that I wanted to fight next, he was right on the top of my list, so it worked out really well when his name came across. It's not like I even asked for him. I just wanted him and that's who they sent. That's who they had in mind," Kennedy told MMA Empire during an interview.
"It's a good fight stylistically for both guys. You see where our strengths lay, where he's had trouble. I think I have a lot of success in those areas. Him being established, it's perfect. It's that next step into the top group of elite featherweights. Bellator's got one of the best featherweight divisions. When they came up with those rankings, he's ranked right up there. He was ranked third. So, you got to think a win over him, I'm going to be right up in the mix because the guys above him are all in that grand prix still that's finishing up. So, the landscape is really well to come in and beat Borics, put on a good showing and put him away. I want the tests and I want to be known as one of the best or the best in Bellator, so this is the route I have to take."
This matchup follows Kennedy's triumphant Bellator debut, where he handed Matt Bessette a unanimous decision loss at Bellator 253.
Though Kennedy felt satisfied with how things played out, he's approaching the performance with the self-critical eye of someone who refuses to settle.
"I was happy with the result, I was happy with how the fight went. I would love to have got the finish, but I do know you're fighting the best guys in the world, fighting on the biggest stages in the world, it's not always going to go that way. But if you can go in there and get a 30-26, you can't be too hard on yourself," he said.
"I think it was a good way to introduce myself to the division. It shows what kind of threats I really do pose, and just how dangerous I can be, how much of a handful I'm going to be with these guys."
The clash against Bessette marked Kennedy's first competitive outing since the onset of the global pandemic.
Fighting behind closed doors gave Kennedy a strange blend of familiarity and unfamiliarity — it carried the controlled atmosphere of a sparring session, yet something distinctly odd lingered throughout.
"It was like a little bit of in-between. The crowd definitely makes it more of a fight feel, where the no crowd kind of is like sparring. You hear your coaches cornering you and it's a lot more quiet in there. It's just like some production people and whatnot. But at the same time you're still trying to inflict the same amount of damage on the guy, and he's doing the same to you," Kennedy explained.
"The whole lead-ups are a little different, you know the walkouts the announcements and all that. You don't have the crowd going crazy when they announce your name or whatever, but as soon as you touch gloves and get going, you're not focusing on anything else anyways. This guy's trying to hurt you and you're trying to hurt him."
For years, Kennedy split his training time between his native British Columbia and Nevada, but he eventually made the decision to relocate permanently to Las Vegas.
In his current camp, Kennedy has trained alongside high-caliber athletes including Magomed Magomedov and Islam Makhachev, among many other skilled fighters.
Normally, Kennedy tailors his sparring sessions to simulate the fighting style of whoever he's preparing to face, though his current camp took a slightly different approach.
"I try to really find guys that fight so much like my opponent, but this time I wanted to spar with guys taller. There's a lot of 145-ers around that are 5'8", 5'7", 5'6", and I just wanted a little bit more of a taller guy because he is my height," Kennedy said.
Before joining Bellator, Kennedy competed in the PFL during its 2019 season — a competition structure that awards points based on the method of victory.
During his time in the PFL, Kennedy often found himself scrambling to accumulate the highest point totals, pushing for quick finishes whenever possible. That experience ultimately helped shape the measured approach he brings to fights today.
"Yeah, I'm not going out there to exactly steal the show in a 20-second knockout type thing. I'm going to beat this guy everywhere. I find there's more dominance in a third-round finish once you've established. Anybody can get caught, it's a fist fight," he noted.
"But if you can go out there and out-strike this guy, take him down, beat him up on the ground. He gets up, he gets tired, whatever and then you finish late in the fight, that really shows who the better fighter is. And I think having composure, being calm, and not rushing anything, fighting the way you're supposed to fight is the best approach now."
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