When fighters at a Squamish martial arts studio clapped their hands and began their training session last week, it started like any other day, but with one exception – there was a UFC fighter in the room.
Jeremy Kennedy, a Surrey native, made the trip to The Sound Martial Arts to show students some of the techniques that helped him secure an undefeated streak of 11 matches in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which is widely regarded as the premier league for mixed martial arts.
Watching Kennedy fight can be a clinic in grappling and conditioning.
For example, in his March 2017 fight against Rony Jason, Kennedy appears to maintain his composure regardless of whether he’s in guard position – where his back is on the floor with his legs controlling the aggressor’s waist – or on top of his opponent.
“My style in and of itself is so high-paced that it tires a lot of guys out,” Kennedy told The Chief.
During the match, which he won via unanimous decision, he also highlighted some his proficiency wrestling against a wall – a crucial skill in cage fighting where combatants often find themselves backed against the chainlink barricade.
A sampling of some of these skills were demonstrated to Squamish fighters last Thursday.
“It’s nice to come up and show what I’ve learned down in the mainland,” Kennedy said. “I’m sure I’ll pick up some things from them, too.”
It was the second time Kennedy was in town demonstrate ground fighting tactics, borrowing moves from Brazilian Jiu Jitsiu, which, along with wrestling, is considered the blueprint for winning grappling fights.
“I’m going to build off the stuff I taught last time,” he said. “Last time I was doing half-guard escapes.... Now I’ve learned more routes to go. I just have more entries and exits.”
Half guard refers to a grappling position where the person on the bottom has control of one of legs of the person on top. The idea is that this will stop an aggressor from fully mounting the defender – a position from which maximum damage can be done.
Crouched on all fours, Kennedy demonstrated several moves that helped him gain body control over Mike Nasu, one of the coaches at The Sound.
The journey from a UFC cage to the Squamish gym all began years ago when Kennedy became acquainted with local fighter Cole Smith, who’s made headlines as an undefeated 3-0 fighter in the local Battlefield Fight League, or BFL.
Smith met Kennedy at a BFL match where they were competing in separate matches.
“He was in the cage and he was warming up,” recalled Smith. “While we were warming up together I was like, ‘Hey Jeremy, I heard you were training in Thailand – I’m planning on coming out and meeting you and training.’ I was just joking. It was 100 percent just a joke.”
Apparently it was the type of joke that Kennedy could appreciate, as he contacted Smith the next day and offered to hook him up with a sponsorship for a trip to Thailand.
Once they arrived in the country, both of them trained with Team Quest, a muay thai school that has rubbed shoulders with UFC greats such as Randy Couture.
After becoming fast friends, the pair stayed in touch, with Kennedy making the occasional trip to Smith’s home gym, The Sound.
It seems like both of them will continue to train together, as they’re expected to be hitting the state-of-art UFC gym in Las Vegas in the near future.
Both have matches to prepare for.
Smith will be getting ready to defend his bantamweight BFL title against Tyler Dolby on Nov. 18.
Kennedy will be fighting that same day in Sydney – in Australian time – in the UFC against Alexander Volkanovski.
