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“Not right now,” he said. “I like where I’m at. Maybe one day, but it’s still not where bantamweight’s at. You can easily say bantamweight’s one of the deepest divisions in the UFC right now. Flyweight, a fight or two and you’re top ten, top 15, no questions asked. It’s making a resurgence, but it’s got a long way to go to live up to the hype of bantamweight.”
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Kenney is right when it comes to the depth at bantamweight, a shark tank of a division to say the least. And with the title at flyweight not to be filled until later this month, there is an opportunity there to win a couple fights and be in the championship conversation. So why take the longer road? For the 28-year-old, it’s just an attitude he was born with.
“I’ve been a competitor since as far back as I can remember,” he said. “I literally can’t remember a time when I wasn’t training martial arts. I was one of the most competitive kids around, and I still am. That’s part of it, and then obviously growing in the sport and everyone wanting to get into the UFC, that’s where the flyweight run came from in the beginning – okay, this is my quickest way in. I always had the plan of moving up eventually and at the time, the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world (Demetrious Johnson) was at flyweight too and he had beaten my coach (Chris Cariaso), so that was the first goal, to take out the best fighter in the world. But once he was gone and things happened to the flyweight division, it was time to move on.”