Who is Casey Kenney? All about the UFC fighter who has now come in trouble with the law
Casey Kenney has reportedly been arrested on several assault charges as well as kidnapping. This was said to have transpired on August 16 in Arizona which is the state the UFC bantamweight fights out of.
Kenney is said to have been released from custody but faces a total of six charges including a class 2 felony for the kidnapping, a class 4 felony for assault/ strangulation, as well as four misdemeanor charges.
It's thought that the 33-year-old could spend a minimum of four years in prison but could serve a maximum sentence of twelve and a half years if convicted. A status conference regarding the case is set for tomorrow (August 22) per MMA Fighting with a preliminary hearing slated for Monday (August 26).
Check out some of the recent reports on Kenney's situation below:
Who is Casey Kenney?
Casey Kenney put together a spotless amateur MMA record going 4-0 before making his professional debut nearly a decade ago as he stepped into the pro mixed martial arts ranks in December 2014.
Kenney put together a 6-0 record as a pro and captured the Tachi Palace Fights flyweight belt during this stretch. After a draw against Bruno Silva in LFA, he went 1-1 on the Contender Series circuit in 2017 before returning to LFA.
During that stretch, Casey Kenney would capture gold in multiple weight categories as he became the interim flyweight and interim bantamweight champion in the company before eventually punching his ticket to the UFC. This promotional debut came in March 2019 as Kenney bested former UFC flyweight title challenger Ray Borg on points at UFC on ESPN 2.
The 33-year-old would split his next two bouts with a unanimous decision win against Manny Bermudez only to then lose by UD to present-day number one ranked bantamweight contender Merab Dvalishvili.
Kenney would then carve out a three-fight winning streak against Louis Smolka, Alatengheili, and Nathaniel Wood by way of first round guillotine choke and a pair of unanimous decision wins, respectively.
The Indiana native would then suffer consecutive split decision defeats to former multi-time UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz at UFC 259 and then to Song Yadong at UFC 265.
Kenney has not stepped into the octagon to compete since August 2021 and has not fought in professional mixed martial arts overall since then.