Tim Kennedy, the former UFC middleweight and U.S. Army Green Beret, was reportedly shot multiple times in an ambush in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. MMA Weekly reported that the attack happened on September 17, when Kennedy’s three-man element came under fire. Kennedy reportedly took three rounds to the leg. The evacuation allegedly stretched close to eight hours before he was medevaced to the United States, where he’s said to be in stable condition.
Not everyone made it out. Former New Zealand SAS operator Lance Corporal Justin Conaglen was reportedly killed, and a third, unnamed member of the team was wounded but survived. The New Zealand Herald confirmed, per Essentially Sports, that Conaglen died in Africa only weeks after leaving the New Zealand Defence Force in August. Regional outlet Kivu Today reported he was killed during combat in North Kivu. His body has been returned to New Zealand for burial, and MMA Weekly reported that New Zealand authorities have opened an investigation into his death.
The scale of the attack is murky. The X account @rawsalerts posted that forces tied to Blackwater founder Erik Prince suffered an ambush leaving approximately 20 dead or wounded, Kennedy among them. The MMA Weekly and Essentially Sports reporting describes a three-man team with one dead and two wounded. Those accounts haven’t been reconciled.
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Why Kennedy was in the DRC hasn’t been officially established. Several reports linked the group to a private military contracting operation associated with Prince, who has reportedly held mining and security agreements with the Congolese government. Other reports suggested the team may have clashed with Russia’s Africa Corps, the force that took over Wagner Group’s operations on the continent. Neither claim has been confirmed. Kennedy and his representatives haven’t addressed the reported shooting, and no survivors have commented, which MMA Weekly attributed to the operational security and non-disclosure rules common in private contracting.
The fighter
Kennedy, 47, went 18-6 as a pro after debuting in 2001, building the record while serving. He earned his Green Beret in 2005 and deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan as a sniper and combatives instructor with the 7th Special Forces Group. In Strikeforce he got two title shots and lost five-round decisions to Ronaldo Souza and Luke Rockhold.
He came over to the UFC when Strikeforce was absorbed, beat Roger Gracie in his debut at UFC 162, knocked out Rafael Natal for a Performance of the Night bonus, then dominated future champion Michael Bisping over five rounds in a 2014 Fight Night main event. Then UFC 178. Kennedy nearly finished Yoel Romero late in the second, Romero’s corner held up the start of the third by close to 40 seconds, and Romero walked out fresh and stopped him by TKO. Stoolgate still makes me grind my teeth. Kennedy fought once more, a third-round TKO loss to Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 206 in December 2016, and retired. He re-enlisted in 2017 and has served part-time as a master sergeant with Special Operations Detachment-O in the Maryland National Guard.
My take: the fight résumé suddenly looks small next to this. A man who nearly got robbed by a stool now has three bullet wounds in his leg and a dead teammate, and the only confirmed facts are a date, a hospital bed and a funeral in New Zealand. Until Kennedy speaks, I’m treating that 20-casualty figure as unverified and keeping Justin Conaglen’s name at the top of my notes.
