Tim Kennedy forced to turn down Lyoto Machida fight

Last month Tim Kennedy revealed that he would be finally returning to the Octagon. With that being said, Kennedy didn’t give an opponent or date for his return, just that he would be coming back to fight PED users and TRT abusers.

Now, according to MMAJunkie Kennedy has been forced to turn down a February bout with Lyoto Machida due to his military obligations that will see him teaching a military urban combat course, and a personal defense workshop in Texas.

Kennedy hasn’t been in the Octagon since his controversial TKO loss to Yoel Romero over a year ago.

The fight was one of the most controversial of recent times, and saw Romero spending extra time on the stool between rounds to recover from being rocked at the end of the 2nd round.

So far there’s been no word on whether or not the UFC will look to book Kennedy vs. Machida on a different card, or look to give him another matchup.

For what it’s worth, Kennedy would be happy fighting Vitor Belfort, however UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is also looking for that matchup.