FIGHTING CHANCE
BLOOMSBURG — Aaron Kennedy doesn't have time to waste. The fire inside him is too intense to keep him wondering when the promotional call or message from the UFC will arrive.
Instead, he puts his attention solely on his craft in cage fighting at Bloomsburg Martial Arts Academy, sometimes as much as eight hours a day. He figures that when the time is right, the UFC will come asking if he wants to fight. Until then, the only time he will rest — either his body or his morals — will be the week following a fight, something he has won the last seven of, dating back to December 2022.
That intensity has been burning since his childhood rivalry with his brother, Paul, through years of wrestling that led him to 92 varsity wins at Honesdale and recruitment at Bloomsburg University. It hit another gear when he started his professional mixed martial arts career with a pair of losses — the second being one he thought he should have won.
"I always knew I was made for this; it's what I'm called to do. I was touched by the universe and said, 'This guy is meant to fight,'" Kennedy said. "I never doubted that. ... It was really just bad decision-making; I wasn't prepared ... I wasn't ready for the transition in the first fight. That second pro fight [four years later] was kind of frustrating because we thought I had clearly won it, but lost it based on the judges' scorecards. After that, I wasn't going to allow fights to go the distance and just finish everybody."
Kennedy's done just that. Of his seven wins, he's had six consecutive finishes, including four submissions and a pair of knockouts.
That success bodes well for his goal of making it to the UFC series. But Kennedy, 31, who says he's at a great age for fighting as they peak later in life and attempt to get out around 40 years old, knows he still has options to raise some eyebrows.
Kennedy is applying to the Contender Series, and if he wins that fight, he expects to get a contract from the UFC. For now, though, he and his trainer, Joel Nott, are planning another fight for this spring.
In bantamweight, or featherweight, he is ranked third in the state, 14th in the Northeast, and 107th nationally. Pound-for-pound, Kennedy is 14th in Pennsylvania, 97th in the Northeast, and 742nd in the country. Both rankings are according to Tapology.
A professional fight consists of three 5-minute rounds. They are also not equipped with any safety equipment, such as headgear or shin guards, making the hits land harder compared to amateur fighting, something Kennedy said he had to get used to in his first pro fight.
Despite the lack of gear, Kennedy says he doesn't fear dying in a match. Kennedy is aware it happens, but attributes most of those occurrences to pre-existing conditions or fighters not taking safety precautions seriously.
Pinning all oppositions
Opponents aren't the only thing Kennedy has been knocking out. No obstacle or injury seems to stand in his way.
In a fight in Atlantic City, Kennedy had his orbital bone shattered, nose broken, and cheekbone caved in. He didn't stop the fight or give in to the opponent after that knee to the face. Rather, he fought three rounds and choked out Ahmed Khamis in the third round.
"That's always going to be my favorite fight. Usually, when someone gets hurt that badly, it's over, but I drove all the way to Atlantic City, and I wasn't going to lose now," Kennedy said.
He came away with the win and needed the right side of his face reconstructed with two titanium plates and 18 screws. He had to wait six months before he could get hit in the face again.
"All things considered, it looks pretty normal," Kennedy said. "They went through the roof of my mouth and inside my eyelid, so there wouldn't be a bunch of scars."
He also tore his left PCL and knee a month before a fight. He had to switch his stance to ensure he didn't step funny or have it taken out from underneath him, giving his opponent a literal leg up.
It didn't slow him down at all.
Neither did the decisions he made along the way. Despite giving up wrestling in his first semester because he found his true love of martial arts, Kennedy stuck it out at Bloomsburg University. He got his Bachelor's degree in philosophy in 2018 because he wanted to finish what he started. While working his way to a degree, Kennedy was also working part-time at Marley's and seemingly full-time at the gym.
"I train four to eight hours a day, seven days a week," Kennedy said. "There are days I train less, but there are never days I don't train. A week after a fight, I'll still come in and sit on the bike to get my blood flowing, but otherwise I'm a normal person — I walk my dog, go out to eat, and watch TV."
He makes ends meet by having financial advisor Brad Warhurst essentially pay Kennedy to make this his full-time job. He also has a dozen local businesses sponsoring him, with their logos put on a banner he carries out before every fight, on the shorts he wears during fights, and on the shirts he sells during events.
Kennedy is paid for showing up to fights, making more for winning them. He also gets a 20% commission from the tickets he sells, saying he always knows his father, Paul, and sister, Ashley Schrag, are going to be two of the 200 there to support him.
"I'm really like my own business. I have to sell my own tickets. It kind of sucks for fighters because we train for a living, and to make any sort of a living, we have to market ourselves. I don't make enough to pay someone. ... You have to pay your coaches, pay your taxes, and basically elect to live at the poverty level until or if you make it to UFC, at which point you could make a good living there."
Still, Kennedy wouldn't trade the hours, the injuries, or the experiences for the world, knowing a bigger opportunity could be awaiting.
"People think they want to fight. What they really mean is they want to be successful, and they want the attention. If they're in for that, they don't fight for long," Kennedy said. "They don't want to get hit repeatedly for years. It's a hard life, and it takes a long time. I've been fighting for 11 years, and we're just now getting to the point where I think I'm going to make it big."
Link to story: https://www.pressenterpriseonl...
