Former UFC Fighter Tim Kennedy Reportedly Shot Three Times in Congo Ambush That Killed Ex-New Zealand SAS Soldier

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight Tim Kennedy was reportedly wounded in an ambush in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to reports from two separate outlets.

Kennedy was part of a three-man team that came under fire last month, MMA Weekly reported. According to the outlet, the former fighter sustained multiple gunshot wounds in the attack before he was evacuated to the United States to receive treatment.

MMA Weekly described Kennedy’s condition as stable.

The outlet reported that the attack took place on Sept. 17 and that Kennedy was struck three times in the leg.

Getting the team out of harm’s way was no quick task. According to MMA Weekly’s account, the evacuation took nearly eight hours.

The ambush turned deadly for one member of the group. MMA Weekly reported that Justin Conaglen, a former New Zealand Special Air Service soldier, was killed in the attack.

A third member of the team was also wounded, the outlet said. That person has not been identified.

Kennedy was medically evacuated to the United States in the aftermath of the ambush, according to the report.

The New Zealand Herald separately reported that Kennedy was shot during an operation in the Central African country, adding another account of the incident to the one published by MMA Weekly.

Exactly what Kennedy was doing in the Congo has not been made clear. The purpose of his reported presence in the country remains unclear, and neither outlet’s reporting established why the three-man team was there.

The Herald cited speculation that linked the operation to a private security company associated with Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater.
The outlet also cited speculation about a possible confrontation with Russia’s Africa Corps.

However, neither of those claims has been confirmed, leaving key questions about the operation unanswered.

Among the details still unknown are the identity of the third wounded team member and the reason the team was operating in the country in the first place.

What is known, according to the reports, is that the three-man team came under fire on Sept. 17, that one man was killed and two others were wounded, and that Kennedy was hit three times in the leg before a lengthy evacuation that stretched nearly eight hours.

Kennedy competed professionally in mixed martial arts from 2001 to 2016, a run that spanned 15 years in the sport. His career included time fighting in the UFC’s middleweight division.

The reports of the ambush mark a startling development for the former fighter, who was evacuated back to the United States after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds in the attack.
Conaglen, the former New Zealand Special Air Service soldier, did not survive the ambush, according to MMA Weekly.
As of the latest reports, Kennedy’s condition was described as stable following his treatment in the United States.