Kenney comes up short

LAS VEGAS — Casey Kenney went punch-for-punch against one of the greatest competitors in this history of his division.

He just didn’t do quite enough to get the win.

Kenney dropped a 30-27, 29-28, 28-29 split decision Saturday to 11th-ranked Dominick Cruz, a former two-time bantamweight champion, in their bout as part of UFC 259 at UFC Apex.

“I left it all out there, went toe-to-toe with a legend,” said Kenney, a 2009 Jay County High School graduate. “You can never control a judges’ decision. Props to Dominic. It is what it is. On to the next one.”

Each of the first two rounds were essentially even, with Cruz (23-3) slightly out-striking Kenney (16-3-1) in the official statistics. Cruz had a 26-23 advantage in significant strikes in the opening round and a 36-33 advantage in the second.

“This is real close, and both corners expressing some urgency in between rounds,” said commentator Joe Rogan on the ESPN broadcast as the third round began.

Though he had a 27-18 advantage in significant strikes in that final round, it was likely takedowns that shifted the fight to Cruz. He caught Kenney with a single-leg takedown about 25 seconds into the final period, with Kenney countering with a choke while Cruz kept the top position.

“I thought I had that choke,” Kenney said. “We had talked about it in the back, if I get the opportunity I’m going to lock my hands. Normally I put people to sleep there in practice with that choke. He froze, so I knew it was tight, but he held on.”

Kenney eventually let go of the choke attempt at the 3:18 mark and was on his feet seven seconds later.

The fighters traded flurries of punches as the clock ticked past the 1:30 mark before Cruz recorded a double-leg takedown with 43 seconds left.

“This could cement him the win,” said Rogan at the time.

Cruz continued to stay on top of Kenney for the remainder of the fight.

“That (takedown) was good on his part,” Kenney said. “I felt like that was his round because of that. It was a close fight.”

The first judge’s score that was announced was in Kenney’s favor, but the other two went to Cruz. Two of Kenney’s three losses as a professional have come by split decision.

The former Patriot said he had hoped to put together more combinations, with plans to follow up his punches with kicks. He added it may have also benefited him to turn more to his grappling, but for the most part he stuck to his game plan well.

“I thought I did really well being patient,” said Kenney, who is staying in Las Vegas this week and will be in the corner for Cortney Casey for her women’s flyweight bout this weekend against JJ Aldrich as part of UFC Fight Night. “That was one of the things that I said coming into the fight. There were a handful of times I kind of chased him a little bit, but I thought I was trying to figure out the puzzle. … I wasn’t landing as many shots as I wanted to … but he did his normal Dominick Cruz stuff. He made me miss a few times. He hit his shots. … Everything didn’t go perfect, but a lot of things went right.”

The win over Kenney bumped Cruz up to No. 9 in the division rankings that were updated this week. Cruz’s only career losses have come with the bantamweight title on the line — two in title defenses and the third in a bout for the belt against Henry Cejudo in May 2020.

Kenney’s only other UFC loss came against No. 12 Merab Dvalishvili. He now holds a 5-2 record in the sport’s top promotion.