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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
The last time Michael Bisping fought someone affiliated with Ranger Up, he wound up spitting at the corner after his bout with Jorge Rivera. It was a low moment for Bisping, with Ranger up effectively getting into his head with their pre-fight videos.
He's got another Ranger Up man ahead of him in Tim Kennedy on Wednesday night at "The Ultimate Fighter: Nations" Finale, and Kennedy said this week he's preparing for any number of infractions to be attempted by Bisping during the fight.
"I told my corner to be prepared to be spit on, because he's done that before," Kennedy said in an interview with FoxSports.com. "I'm going to have to be conscious of his open palms when he's punching, if he tries to poke me in the eye. I know when he gets tired, he's going to try to kick me in groin. If I try to go for a takedown, he'll try to grab the cage or put his arm over the top of cage."
"He's done some of those things habitually. These are all things I know, so it's eyes wide open. I have to be prepared for that. I have to move forward with the expectation he's going to try these things."
The fight's been a long time coming, with Kennedy talking his way into it last fall and both of them trash talking in the months leading up to Wednesday's in-cage meeting. Kennedy's latest is just calling out what he believes to be a habitual series of illegal moves Bisping's employed during his career.
"I think he's a very talented fighter, very skilled, but I think he fights cheap," Kennedy said. "I think he tries to cheat at every opportunity. I have mixed feelings about him as a fighter because half of it very skillful, and the other half is him being a dirtbag. It will be very sweet to beat him."
PENICK'S ANALYSIS: We'll finally get a payoff to this feud on Wednesday after endless back and forth for the last six months. Bisping's gotten plenty riled up here, and Kennedy's not wrong about some of the things Bisping's done in past fights. That's not to say it will happen on Wednesday, or that it always does happen in Bisping fights, but he's certainly done plenty of questionable things in the cage throughout his UFC career. Whether Kennedy has to deal with those or not, he thinks he'll take another step up the UFC ladder by taking out the longtime UFC vet.
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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