Tim Kennedy celebrates an MMA match victory in 2010.
Former UFC fighter and Army Green Beret Tim Kennedy was reportedly wounded in an ambush in the Democratic Republic of the Congo last month that killed a former New Zealand special operations soldier and injured another contractor.
The Sept. 17 attack has not been officially confirmed, but details emerged Friday in a New Zealand Herald report and comments by a former Delta Force operator on a podcast Thursday.
Kennedy, 47, who competed professionally in the UFC and Strikeforce, did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment Thursday night.
Former New Zealand Special Air Service soldier Justin Conaglen was killed in the attack, war correspondent Robert Young Pelton told the Herald.
Conaglen, a former lance corporal, took leave without pay from the New Zealand military in March before leaving the service in August, according to the newspaper.
Pelton said the contractors were working on an operation to protect mining revenues, combat smuggling and collect taxes for the Congolese government.
Kennedy was medically evacuated to the United States after the attack, Pelton said, according to the Herald.
Former Delta Force operator Brent Tucker also discussed the incident Thursday on his Tier1 Podcast.
“He was doing contracting work,” Tucker said of Kennedy. “He was in a three-man element. There will be more information of this, but as of right now, we will call it an ambush.”
The contractors were shot multiple times and waited hours for evacuation, Tucker said.
Neither the circumstances of the attack nor the extent of Kennedy’s injuries have been independently confirmed.
Kennedy served in Army Special Forces, including deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan as a sniper. He was serving part-time in a Maryland National Guard special operations detachment as of last year, according to a July 2025 report by Military.com.
Kennedy told Stars and Stripes in June 2010 that he was studying criminal justice with plans to join the FBI while starting his professional fighting career.
After the 9/11 attacks, he decided instead to pursue Army Special Forces and enlisted in January 2004, he said.