Tim Kennedy: 'There's no way' Chris Weidman will be ready by July
Tim Kennedy isn't a doctor. And he doesn’t likely have any insight into Chris Weidman's injury. But Kennedy has serious doubts about the planned UFC middleweight title fight going down on Fourth of July weekend.
"There's no way he's ready by July," Kennedy said Wednesday at Jackson-Winkeljohn MMA in Albuquerque, N.M. "There's no way."
Weidman had surgery on both of his knees Wednesday. In one, he had a torn meniscus repaired and the other he got a scope. The UFC middleweight champion is booked to fight Lyoto Machida at UFC 175 on July 5 in Las Vegas. The two were supposed to tangle initially at UFC 173 on May 24, but Weidman's knee injuries got in the way and the bout was pushed back.
Kennedy, a middleweight contender himself, doesn't think Weidman's knees are going to be at 100 percent in just three months time.
"Remember Chuck Liddell at the end of his career?" Kennedy said. "He still had the heart and mind to be a champion, but his body couldn’t do it. Chris Weidman is young, still has everything to be a champion for a long time. But what your mind and heart tells you is sometimes different than what your body will allow you to do. You have to be a smart athlete."
Kennedy meets Michael Bisping at the TUF Nations Finale on April 16 in Quebec City. Bisping is coming off an eye injury -- a detached retina -- and Kennedy is hoping he's completely at his best. The former Army Ranger just isn't too confident Weidman will be against Machida in July.
