Tim Kennedy Quotes

Look at guys like Demetrious Johnson, who's the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. Why isn't he on the largest pay scale? Why are there people that aren't even champions making more money?

I'm an athlete rep, so I'll be available if they need me for anything.

Athletes aren't allowed to have an opinion. It's tough. Athletes are evolving right in front of our eyes. You see athletes who are politicians, etc., and still, we're told to shut up and dribble.

The UFC thinks they run off their brand, but that's not true. The UFC runs off the fighters, so hopefully, these fighters take notice and how I'm going about my business.

I know why the UFC runs the business the way they do. I know why Conor McGregor makes a base pay of $3 million. But I think I justify my pay with my skill set, and I've always been willing to promote my brand.

My first contract I was offered by the UFC, or my second contract, it was 1-and-1, 2-and-2, 3-and-3. That's $12,000 for the year. Don't complain to me about fighter pay. It was $12,000 for a year, and it was exclusive.

The UFC isn't this whole glamor everybody thinks. They don't pay you right.

I do get paid well as an MMA fighter, but this isn't boxing and I feel like we should get paid like this is boxing.

I would love to see Bellator come up and offer an opportunity for competition. Then, fighters could negotiate contracts, and they would not be limited to having only one opportunity, one option, where you have to take what's given to you.

A lot of fighters want that freedom to have their own sponsorships. When you think about it, how do you make independent contractors wear a uniform? That just seems strange to me.

With the UFC it's like, you make okay money, and only if you're the champion do you make good money. So they're keeping the fighters deliberately poor so they'll keep fighting.

Even when you're on top in the UFC, you only get paid a couple times a year.

MMA is not one of those up and down basketball seasons where you have a ton of games and you can still make the playoffs. It doesn't work like that in MMA. You get a couple losses, you get washed up, you get the door slammed behind you and they bring in the next person behind you who is here to take your place.

I'm not going to go fight the best guys in the world without getting championship fights or championship money; it makes no sense.

I fight guys that no one has ever heard of; I fought guys who are legends, like Frankie Edgar.

You have to entertain in the UFC. Like it or not, this isn't news. It has been this way for a while, and it will continue to be this way.

What's the point of fighting in the UFC if it isn't to become the champion?

I make, like, three or four times more when I don't fight than when I do fight. And, I'm one of the higher-paid guys in the UFC, which is remarkably tragic and pathetic.

In MMA, you can literally cheat over and over again, and it's OK. The media will back you.

I had Jake Ellenberger. I trained very hard for him; then I was able to get Carlos Condit, an excellent fighter. That's what it's all about.

I'm just asking for a fair shake. You see a lot of these guys, a lot of these other champions making what they're making. I'm not trying to take anything away from them, but I feel like I'm one of the more exciting fighters under contract in the UFC.

It was very important to me to join an organization that has an established track record of helping young fighters grow into world class athletes and champions. Gladiator Challenge has been a home to such fighters as Quinton Jackson, Rashad Evans, Urijah Faber, Tyson Griffin, Chael Sonnen, Michael McDonald, and many others.

At the end of the day, does the UFC really like its fighters?

I think we both matured together in this sport, so I think fight between Michael Bisping and myself would mean a lot.

I train with top guys like Chuck Liddell and Lyoto Machida, I have trained with Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez, and nobody have ever dominated me.