Long Beach, CA — After a false start earlier this year, Jeremy Kennedy finally gets his date with Aaron Pico at Bellator 286 this Saturday.
“It was tough having that first one fall through, especially so close. That was the hardest part, was going through the full camp, mentally preparing, and we were almost ready to take off for fight week,” the Canadian featherweight told Cageside Press this week. Kennedy actually took an injury in the final week of camp, a fractured orbital. “That was a little bit, overcoming. Financially, just fully invested in a camp, and I just didn’t get to do the fight.”
Getting the fight re-booked “was perfect,” however, Kennedy continued. “It’s the fight that I wanted, it’s the fight that projects me the closest in the division, the highest up. This is the biggest reward. Big risk, biggest reward that I can get in any match-up right now. So I’m grateful that I was able to get it re-booked.”
Heading into the match-up with Pico, the key factor many see Kennedy having on his side is experience. The Canadian had a solid run with the UFC, then signed as a free agent with the PFL before eventually making his way to Bellator.
“I wouldn’t say so much in-cage that it’s experience, it’s more mentally preparing for it and showing up mindset ready,” explained Kennedy. “I think a lot of these guys that are fighting an up-and-coming guy, they’re intimidated, they’re worried, and when they get in there they don’t perform because they have this guy that’s been so highly touted staring across from them.”
“I’ve been in there with the best, man, the pound-for-pound best. I’ve been there all across the world, in every organization. So yeah, definitely, I’ve got those butterflies and those feelings that you’re supposed to have, but I’m ready to go perform and go balls to the wall, and kill or be killed.”
Kennedy added that “I’m coming to fight, and I think that’s where the experience comes from. Not necessarily what he’s going to show me in the cage, because he is so highly credentialed that he’s going to give me a handful, I’m sure. I know it. But I’m going to be right there, gritty, fighting back, standing my ground and putting him on his back foot too. So I think that’s more so when it comes to experience, I’m not intimidated, I’m ready to go.”
Jeremy Kennedy faces Aaron Pico at Bellator 286 on Saturday, October 1, 2022 in Long Beach, CA.
