Kenney taking on MMA

When it comes to physically dominating opponents, Casey Kenney has always been among the elite.
It started when he took up judo at age 5. Before he reached the eighth grade, he had won three national titles.
He was a two-time state medalist in wrestling at Jay County High School, including the 103-pound state runner-up during his junior season.
Now, the Portland native is hoping to extend his successes into the world of mixed martial arts.
After six months of training, Kenney will try to take the first step toward that goal when he competes as part of Bad Boy Fights’ Fight Night at 8 p.m. Friday at Fort McDowell Casino in Scottsdale, Ariz. He’ll take on Lupe Valencia for the vacant 135-pound Bad Boy Promotions title.
“It’s amazing really. It’s finally all coming together,” said Kenney. “I knew when the UFC was kind of taking off five, 10 years ago I saw that and thought I’d like to do that some day. And it’s here finally.
“I’m definitely looking forward to the challenge, and I’ll see where it takes me.”
Kenney made the move to Arizona to pursue an MMA career after suffering a torn ACL and meniscus that derailed his wrestling career at the University of Indianapolis.
When he got there he met up with Rise Combat Sports fighter Anthony Birchak, who is now the Maximum Fighting Championships bantam weight world champion. He started working out with Birchak and found that he fit in well with the organization.
“I was there all the time training with him and just kind of fell into it,” said Kenney, who was Birchak’s corner man for a title defense earlier this year in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. “I liked the place, and I’ve been there since then.”
MMA fighting just seemed like the natural progression, given Kenney’s background in judo and wrestling. But before getting back into the action, he had to go through rehabilitation for his knee injuries.
He started training seriously about a year ago but had not planned to be fighting for the title Friday. The spot opened up when the fighter slated to take on Valencia suffered an injury, and Kenney stepped in.
He’s been in fight camp for the last seven weeks in hopes of winning the title, which was vacated when the previous champion turned pro.
“I’d like to knock him out, that’s my goal,” said Kenney of Valencia. “But I’m probably going to stick to what I know best, start with striking and then try to take him down and beat him up a little bit.”
In addition to using his judo and wrestling abilities in an effort to achieve that goal, Kenney has also been constantly trying to expand his skill set. Recently he’s been working a lot on Muay Thai boxing, a form of kick-boxing that originated in Thailand, with trainer and Ultimate Fighting Championship competitor Chris Cariaso.
Just like he did in judo and wrestling, he’s hoping to excel as an MMA fighter and eventually make it is full-time job.
“I want to be the best I can possibly be,” said Kenney. “The sky’s the limit. Hopefully I can eventually make a living fighting.”[[In-content Ad]]