Dominick Cruz's next opponent: The controversy surrounding Casey Kenney ahead of UFC 259

The MMA community has lately been abuzz with discussions regarding Dominick Cruz’s UFC 259 opponent Casey Kenney.

Heading into UFC 259, Casey Kenney was initially recognized as former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz’s opponent. However, Kenney is now on the radar of most MMA fans for different reasons altogether.

What Casey Kenney said ahead of UFC 259

As we had previously reported, Casey Kenney was recently involved in a controversy with UFC women’s featherweight contender Megan Anderson.

During an appearance on the Timbo Sugarshow podcast, Casey Kenney spoke to hosts Sean O’Malley and O’Malley’s head coach and friend, Tim Welch. During their discussion, Welch questioned Casey Kenney:

“Would you smash Megan Anderson or no, Casey?”

In response to which, Casey Kenney stated:

“Probably not, man. She’s not too…Well, I mean if it came down to it and it was like five AM or four; she’s a five AM’er, four AM’er. Just us two hanging out.”

“She’s piggybacking you,” Welch continued.

And Kenney added, “Yeah. I’ll be like, ‘F**k it. Let’s do it’.”

Megan Anderson responded with a series of tweets. One of her tweets read as follows:

“I guess MMA is a line of work where you can publicly talk about whether you'd have sex with a coworker in an utterly degrading way and face zero consequences. Disgusting behavior and it's unfortunate that he'll be fighting on my card in March.”

The MMA community has largely sided with Anderson on this issue, and Kenney too eventually apologized to her for his comments.

I guess MMA is a line of work where you can publicly talk about whether you'd have sex with a coworker in an utterly degrading way and face zero consequences.Disgusting behavior and it's unfortunate that he'll be fighting on my card in March. https://t.co/hJd1OuHIyD

— Megan Anderson (@MeganA_mma) January 28, 2021

No, you did the right thing! Its not ok for anyone to be spoken about like this.

— Megan Anderson (@MeganA_mma) January 28, 2021

Dominick Cruz, Casey Kenney, Megan Anderson, and Amanda Nunes look to make a statement at UFC 259

UFC 259 (March 6th, 2021) is one of the most stacked fight cards of 2021, featuring three title fights. UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz defends his title against UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in the main event of UFC 259.

UFC women’s featherweight and bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes defends her featherweight title against Megan Anderson in the co-main event of UFC 259. The third title fight on the card will see UFC men’s bantamweight champion Petr Yan defend his title against Aljamain Sterling. Dominick Cruz vs. Casey Kenney will also take place at UFC 259.

Dominick Cruz’s last fight was a second-round TKO loss to Henry Cejudo in their UFC bantamweight title fight in May 2020. On the other hand, Casey Kenney’s previous fight was a unanimous decision win over Nathaniel Wood in October 2020.

Meanwhile, Megan Anderson’s last fight was a first-round KO win over Norma Dumont Viana in February 2020. Whereas, Amanda Nunes’ last fight was a unanimous decision win over Felicia Spencer in June 2020.

Come UFC 259, every fighter will be looking to steal the show in what’s set to be one of the most significant combat sports events of 2021.