Tim Kennedy's ability to cope with contrasts keeps him sane

But what the elder Kennedy didn't know is that, in small pockets of the globe, a new sport was emerging. "The dark ages," as Kennedy called them. A show in a

Melissa Segura | Nov 5, 2013

Tim Kennedy's ability to cope with contrasts keeps him sane /

Tim Kennedy headlines UFC's Fight for the Troops at Fort Campbell in Kentucky on Wednesday. — Tim Kennedy headlines UFC's Fight for the Troops at Fort Campbell in Kentucky on Wednesday :: Jayne Kamin-Oncea/US Presswire

But what the elder Kennedy didn't know is that, in small pockets of the globe, a new sport was emerging. "The dark ages," as Kennedy called them. A show in a rope ring at a Tijuana bar here. A contest at a Native American casino there. A brand new sport of no-holds-barred fighting for which all the disciplines Kennedy studied could be combined. "That's why I was so good at MMA so early because I'd done everything," Kennedy says.

Tim Kennedy began fighting in unofficial bar brawls. — Tim Kennedy began fighting in unofficial bar brawls :: Jayne Kamin-Oncea/US Presswire

As he finishes the story, he lets out a smile. And then it becomes clear: The miracle of Tim Kennedy isn't so much that he lived but that he's still fully alive.

Published Nov 5, 2013

MELISSA SEGURA

Staff Writer, Sports Illustrated Staff writer Melissa Segura made an immediate impression at Sports Illustrated. As an undergraduate intern in 2001, her reporting helped reveal that Danny Almonte, star of the Little League World Series, was 14, two years older than the maximum age allowed in Little League. Segura has since covered a range of sports for SI, from baseball to mixed martial arts, with a keen eye on how the games we play affect the lives we lead. In a Sept. 10, 2012, cover story titled, The Other Half of the Story, Segura chronicled the plight of NFL wives and girlfriends caring for brain-injured players. In 2009 she broke the story that MLB had discovered that Washington Nationals prospect Esmailyn Gonzalez, who had been signed to a team-record $1.4 million bonus in 2006, was really Carlos Alvarez and he was four years older than he had claimed to be. Segura graduated with honors from Santa Clara University in 2001 with a B.A. in Spanish studies and communications (with an emphasis in journalism). In 2011, she studied immigration issues as a New York Times fellow at UC-Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. Before joining SI full-time in 2002, she worked for The Santa Fe New Mexican and covered high school sports for The Record (Bergen County, N.J.). Segura says Gary Smith is the SI staffer she would most want to trade places with for a day. "While most noted for his writing style, having worked alongside Gary, I've come to realize he is an even more brilliant reporter than he is a writer."