Jeremy Kennedy might be calling himself “The Bandit” these days, but he used to have a much juicier nickname.
Some nicknames just stick and Jeremy Kennedy heard nothing but “JBC” for the better part of a year.
For the uninitiated, a JBC is also known as a Junior Bacon Cheeseburger from Wendy’s. PFL fighter Kennedy recently changed his nickname, but dished on the origins of “JBC” when speaking with Kajan Johnson and Shakiel Mahjouri on the Pull No Punches podcast.
“I was always the junior of my team I started fighting when I was 16,” Kennedy reflected. “It was back in the day and I wasn’t educated about dieting. I was eating McDonald’s all the time. I was going through high school.”
“My team sat me down and had a really serious talk just before I turned pro. They said, ‘you know man you really need to start focusing on your diet and nutrition.’ I took it to heart, I was dead serious about it,” he said. “A couple weeks passed by, and I thought I was doing great. I was feeling good. They asked me how the new diet was going and I said, ‘good, I switched to Wendy’s. It’s fresher and has all natural ingredients. The JBC. They started cracking up and since then it kind of stuck. They called me JBC... Nobody even called me Jeremy for the better part of a year.”
Since joining the 2019 PFL featherweight season, Kennedy has adopted a new moniker. The 26-year-old said “The Bandit” marks a new chapter in his career.
“It was light-hearted and I was kind of changing. Between the PFL and the tournament, I wanted to take things seriously,” he shared. “It’s not a game anymore. ‘The Bandit’. My team and I are ready to take that $1 million.”
Kennedy lost his PFL debut fight via TKO in just 23-seconds. Nonetheless, he is motivated by the promotion’s season system and is ready to get back in the cage. During the interview, he also talked about how much he dreaded fights in the UFC, moving his camp to Las Vegas and more. Timestamps are below for the video above.
0:50 - Junior Bacon Cheeseburger
4:30 - Is it relieving fighting in the PFL?
12:10 - Can you get good training in Canada, outside Montreal?
14:05 - Maturing after the UFC
