Despite the bandwagon leaving two months ago, Strikeforce middleweight Tim Kennedy is still hot under the collar over Michael Bisping's "cheating" at UFC 127: "Penn vs. Fitch" when he landed an illegal knee on Jorge Rivera.
Bisping recently issued an apology for his post-fight celebration "down under" after conceding that he was, in fact, "out of line" for spitting at (not on) Jorge Rivera's corner team after his emotional second round technical knockout victory on Feb 27, 2011, in Sydney, Australia.
"The Count," who flew into a rage after finishing "El Conquistador," admits the pre-fight smack talk and steady drumbeat of insulting parody videos that "crossed the line" ultimately got the best of him on fight night.
But as Kennedy explains to Bloody Elbow, it was the knee, not the loogey, that makes Bisping "a big stain" on the sport of mixed martial arts:
"I'm a martial artist, I'm a professional athlete, I'm a soldier and everything about [Bisping vs. Rivera] was disrespectful to everything I stand for. Just watching that fight stirred the pot. [Bisping] is everything I'm against. He cheats. And when I say cheats, I hate all cheaters. I hate guys that use steroids, I hate guys that grease, I hate guys that throw illegal punches, or say they got kicked in the groin so they can get a break, guys that throw illegal knees to the head. I hate them across the board equally. But the worst situation is when the cheater wins and now it's like every single fighter out there is like, 'Oh, I can knee a guy in the head and get a slap on the wrist and then I can go back in there and win the fight.' That's idiotic, it's offensive and I personally take it as a big stain on the whole entire sport. So I really wanted to demonstrate that there's different athletes out there. That's there's guys who do the right thing, who fight fair. Fighting Michael Bisping wouldn't be about the money and that's why I said I'd give my fight money to charity. Let me just fight this guy and show them I can fight fair and win fair, and more importantly, I'm not fighting for the money, I'm not fighting for the fame. I'm fighting to fight. The charity of my choice can keep the money. So just to demonstrate and exaggerate the point that there are athletes out there who care about fighting, they care about martial arts and care about doing the right thing."In the immediate wake of "SpitGate," several 185-pound fighters, including Alan Belcher and Vitor Belfort, openly campaigned for the opportunity to fight Bisping next and put him in his place.
Now we can add Kennedy to that group of avengers, but is this a fight you, as a fan, would like to see?
Kennedy suffered a disappointing unanimous decision loss to Ronaldo Souza when they tangled back at the "Houston" event in August 2010, one that saw "Jacare" claim the vacant 185-pound strap and send the super-soldier to his first loss in over three years.
He rebounded with a submission win over Melvin Manhoef earlier this year and may be setting his sights on the greener pastures of the UFC after the promotion's recent acquisition of Strikeforce.
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