UFC fighter Tim Kennedy has revealed that he’s become a target for threats from ISIS due to his long-time involvement with the US Military.
“Just spoke to the FBI regarding some recent credible threats towards me by #ISIS,” Kennedy stated on his Facebook page. “They were not overly thrilled with my response … ‘Let those cowards come.’”
The 36 year-old has served in the special forces in the past, doing tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and despite also fighting in the UFC he still holds the position of Sergeant first class with the Texas National Guard.
Kennedy has been the subject of threats before – in fact he says he gets from 5-10 a day on social media, mostly from “trolls” – but on this occasion the sources were of concern to the FBI.
“Apparently a couple of them were legitimate in trying to, from what the FBI said, plan stuff,” Kennedy told Army Times.
“They said, ‘Are you aware of this stuff?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ They said, ‘We think this is somewhat credible.’ Then I said, ‘I’m kind of desensitized to this stuff, so maybe you should tell me what my level of alarm should be.’”
Despite the FBI’s concerns, Kennedy has remained defiant.
“What’s the definition of terrorism?” Kennedy said. “It’s to achieve an objective through the use of force and fear. These are just nasty, evil, disgusting human beings who disrespect human life. I teach people how to live with threats like this. Who would I be to be cowering to a bunch of gutless cowards acting like a bunch of tough guys online?”
“They can send who ever they want, as long as they don’t want them back,” later wrote on Twitter as his story caught attention from major media outlets like USA Today. “The pathetic/sad part is that they would never go after me. They prefer unarmed women, children, and journalists.”
As far as his fighting career goes, Kennedy hasn’t fought since a controversial TKO loss to Yoel Romero at UFC 178 in 2014. Prior to that he had been on a four-fight winning streak and holds an overall 18-5 career record.
