Tim Kennedy has a good idea about what won’t work for him against Robbie Lawler tomorrow night in Chicago

Strikeforce middleweight contender, Tim Kennedy has been giving his final thoughts on his fight this weekend in Chicago, Illinois with Robbie Lawler, explaining he has a good idea of what won’t work for him and now he needs to put into practise what will.
Speaking via MMAWeekly.com, Kennedy said:

“Robbie is such a talented and gifted wrestler, for me to do what I did against Melvin (Manhoef), which was stay on the outside, feint shots, and then actually shooting shots, scoring a takedown after the first or second try, that’s not going to work against Robbie.”

“I actually have to get in there and work for the clinch, work to close the distance, try to do damage in the clinch, try to do damage when I’m coming inside, try to make him respect my hands, so that I can actually score a takedown. Keep your chin down and your hands up.”

“(Lawler) is consistently in the Top 10 and I just want to fight the best guys right now. Strikeforce is signing a lot of really talented guys right now, a lot of guys from Brazil, a lot of guys from Japan. I would really like to welcome a lot of those guys to the United States, into my cage.

“If (Strikeforce feels) they want to put me in another fight before I can hop in there for a title fight, fine, I’ll take it. But if they’re ready for me to have another title shot, I’m hungry. I want to be in there. I want to fight for five rounds. I want to beat the champ.”

Kennedy was last seen in action just a few weeks ago, picking up a first round submission win over Melvin Manhoef. Prior to that he had come up short over five rounds when he challenged current champion, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza for the title. Lawler is also coming off a loss to the talented Brazilian submission artist and will be looking to get back to winning ways in this one. Prior to that he’d knocked out veteran grappler, Matt Lindland in brutal fashion.
By Michael Pepper.