Kenney gets his shot at UFC tonight

Ever since moving to Arizona to pursue a mixed martial arts career, Casey Kenney has been waiting for his shot to become part of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Tonight, he gets it.

Kenney, a Portland native and 2009 Jay County High School graduate, will fight C.J. Hamilton as part of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series.

“I’d have to call it the biggest fight of my life,” said Kenney. “Basically if I put on a good enough performance I could end up with a full UFC contract … It doesn’t get much bigger than that in the sport of MMA.”

Each show in the series, which is in its second week, includes five bouts featuring up-and-coming MMA competitors. The goal is to impress UFC President Dana White, who at the end of each show may offer contracts to the fighters who caught his eye.

White offered two contracts during the July 11 show.

“It sounds like it’s going to happen right there, if it’s going to happen,” Kenney said.

Kenney will open the show, which starts at 8 p.m., in a flyweight (125-pound) bout against Hamilton, a Georgia-based fighter with a wrestling background.

Hamilton, who began his professional career in early 2013, has an 11-4 record. He has won his last six fights, the most recent of which was a unanimous decision over Jesse Bazzi on April 7.

“He comes out pretty strong, but I think he’s got some holes in his game,” said Kenney. “His defense is a little weak, I believe, so I’m going to test that out.

“It’s already big enough pressure, the type of fight it is, so I’m going to come out and put some more pressure on him. Hopefully he’ll crumble.”

Kenney remains undefeated in his MMA career, both amateur and professional, but was not happy with his most recent result — a split decision draw against Bruno Gustavo Aparecido da Silva on May 5.

He felt he had done enough in the final round to earn the win over da Silva, connecting with a left hand and then a right followed by a running knee to the face with just over a minute left. But while one judge scored the fight 29-28 in favor of Kenney, another had it 29-28 in favor of da Silva and the third a 28-28 tie.

The draw, which came after six consecutive professional wins, served as a learning experience.

“What I really took from that was my performance, just closing distance a little bit better, putting guys away, really picking my shots,” said Kenney, who has earned four victories by submission and another by technical knockout. “I think I worked out a couple kinks that I found last fight.”

Tuesday’s fight, which will be at The Ultimate Fighter Gym in Las Vegas, will air live on paid subscription service UFC Fight Pass. The service is currently offering a seven-day free trial. There will be a traditional commentary team in addition to alternate commentary option from rapper Snoop Dogg and UFC Hall of Famer Urijah Faber.

Kenney, who still holds the Tachi Palace Fights flyweight title he won in February, is looking forward to the opportunity to impress the leader of the largest promotion in the sport.

“It’s great,” he said. “I knew something like this would eventually pop up if I stayed on track and kept doing what I was doing. And now here I am.”