With his first UFC win under his belt against a big name in Ray Borg, Casey Kenney is ready for the bums, and tough guys, waiting for him in the promotion.
Philadelphia, PA — Casey Kenny stepped in on short notice against Ray Borg at UFC Philadelphia, so it was a bit of a surprise to find that it was Borg, with a full camp and moving up in weight, was the one who missed weight for their bout Saturday. Then again, Kenney was fighting barely a week after picking up a knockout win at LFA 62 over Vince Cachero. Oh, and that fight was on short notice as well.
That’s the kind of crazy month Kenney has had. It’s a fight he feels has been a long time coming, as he told media outlets including Cageside Press backstage in Philly.
“I’ve been staying ready for like the last two and a half years for this call,” he said. “When it came, I was coming off that knockout [LFA 62]. Momentum, confidence is everything in this sport. I wanted to make it a little bit more exciting [of a fight], but that’s what Ray does. He throws that big overhand right, and tries to push you up against the cage.”
If you can’t tell from that previous statement, his UFC debut certainly wasn’t what he had expected. “Not at all,” he told Cageside Press. “One, I figured I’d get some UFC newcomer, not a guy that just fought Demetrious Johnson in his last fight for the flyweight belt.”
“The flyweight’s been my home for a while. I think bantamweight is the new step,” Kenney continued. “I wouldn’t mind taking a couple months and getting my weight up and becoming a true bantamweight. I’m still a flyweight right now. I’ve definitely got the experience and the body to become a true bantamweight. But I’m just enjoying the ride.”
With a big name in his debut, controversial as it was (the crowd was not happy to hear Kenney announced as the unanimous decision victor), what’s next should be interesting for the newcomer. In regards to future opponents, Kenney said that “I’ll take anybody, but you know, you step in against number three flyweight Ray Borg, that’s a tough fight.”
“There’s a ton of bums in the UFC I feel I would run through,” he added, which should raise some eyebrows. “Calling my bonuses, start knocking off those 50K when I put them away. But there’s also a lot of tough guys that I got my eye on as well. But I’d like to have a full camp, then get back in there and see what I can do.”
Bums or tough guys, however, Kenney wasn’t ready to pick and name. Yet while he spoke of taking time off in the octagon after his win over Borg, he added backstage “Not too much time! Shoot, like I said I’ll fight next week if they want me to. Give me a month, give me two months just to bulk up a little bit, get that cardio where it should be, fight camp shape.” So with that in mind, we should learn his next opponent soon enough.
Watch the full UFC Philadelphia (UFC on ESPN 2) post-fight press scrum with Casey Kenney above!
