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Morning Report: Tim Kennedy says he doesn't respect 'dirty' Michael Bisping, 'The Count' responds

By David St. Martin @SaintMMA on Mar 13 2014, 8:00a 12

Esther Lin, MMA Fighting




UFC middleweight Tim Kennedy finally has someone to verbally spar with. After breaking into the UFC against the mild mannered Roger Gracie andRafael Natal, Kennedy seems to be relishing the buildup of his bout with perennial contender Michael Bisping. The back and forth between Kennedy and the outspoken Brit has carried on for months, lending some much needed drama to the UFC's reserved 185 pound division. Serving as the five-round main event of the Apr. 16 Ultimate Fighter: Nations Finale, Kennedy says his dislike for Bisping became personal years ago.
"I've wanted to fight Mike since his bout against my friend, Jorge Rivera, a little more than three years ago at UFC 127 in Sydney, Australia," Kennedy blogs for Yahoo! Sports."He kneed Jorge illegally and then spat on his corner, and as far as I was concerned that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Bisping was loud, obnoxious, and a jerk, but when he fights one of my friends and fights dirty and does illegal things and should have gotten disqualified and wasn't and then spits on Jorge's corner, it's like, 'Now you've gone too far.'"
Kennedy elaborates on his distaste for Bisping's style, claiming he has a propensity for landing illegal shots. Bisping, who, he himself is recovering from an eye injury, most recently scored a technical decision win over Alan Belcher at UFC 159 back in April 2013. After Belcher suffered an eye poke late in round three the judges were forced to score the bout as is, leaving Bisping with the unanimous decision.
"Is he a jerk because he's a loudmouth who likes to talk a lot? Is he a jerk because of what he did three years ago fighting against a friend of mine? Is it his overall dislikeability? Yes to all of that, but it's how he fights. I think he fights dirty. I don't even know how many times he's eye-poked an opponent. He has to hold the record. I'm going to have to talk to FightMetric about that. He probably holds the record for the most significant eye-pokes in the UFC. That's pretty telling. He does a whole bunch of things. I couldn't narrow it down to just one thing."
Despite Bisping's best efforts, Kennedy claims his total lack of respect for his current opponent voids any real damage from his remarks.
"He likes to trash talk and has done a lot of it on Twitter. We've traded insults back and forth in social media, but I don't think there's anything he can say that would have an effect on me. He can make fun of my family. He can make fun of my military service in the Green Berets. I don't really respect the guy, so what's he going to say that's going to hurt my feelings? I'll handle things myself. I kind of take everything he says with a grain of salt. I don't care what he says."
Taking a bit of a meta turn, Bisping responded to Kennedy's post late Wednesday evening in an effort to do exactly what was said couldn't be done.
Just read @TimKennedyMMA blog. Oh my god, there's 5 mins of my life wasted. If you listen to 1 piece of advice today, don't read that shit
— michael (@bisping) March 13, 2014
@TimKennedyMMA look familiar? pic.twitter.com/nFva5ZUTYv

— michael (@bisping) March 13, 2014
Throwback to one of my fights in Australia a while ago. 5 weeks today I'll be doing the same. I'm not... http://t.co/E2II8CmT4C

— michael (@bisping) March 13, 2014
The Ultimate Fighter Nations: Canada vs. Australia Finale goes down Apr. 16 in Québec City, Quebec, Canada.
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