Ex-UFC Fighter Tim Kennedy Shot Three Times in Congo Ambush

Tim Kennedy, the former UFC and Strikeforce fighter and U.S. Army Green Beret, was shot three times in the leg during a Sept. 17 ambush in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Reuters reported on Oct. 9, citing three sources.

The attack in South Kivu province left about 20 people dead or wounded. At least seven Congolese nationals and a former member of New Zealand's special forces were killed. Kennedy and another foreign contractor were wounded.

Kennedy, 47, is being treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center near Washington. Neither the medical center nor the U.S. State Department commented on his condition, and his parents did not respond to Reuters.

He was working under contract for Vectus Global, the consulting and security company run by Erik Prince, the founder of the now-defunct private military firm Blackwater. Vectus Global declined to comment to Reuters. A source with direct knowledge of the company's Congo operations said it had not suffered casualties in the country before.

Three men, one vehicle move, and hours on the ground

A source with direct knowledge of the operation told Reuters the Vectus team was traveling between locations when it was ambushed.

Former Delta Force operator Brent Tucker described the incident on his Tier1 Podcast, in remarks reported by Stars and Stripes. "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."

Tucker said the contractors were shot multiple times and waited hours for evacuation.

MMA Weekly put the wait at nearly eight hours, reporting that Kennedy was shot three times in the leg, that a third team member was wounded, and that Kennedy was medically evacuated to the United States in stable condition, according to Sherdog.

The man who did not come home

Justin Conaglen, a former New Zealand Special Air Service soldier, was killed in the attack, war correspondent Robert Young Pelton told the New Zealand Herald.

Conaglen, a former lance corporal, took leave without pay from the New Zealand military in March and left the service in August, the newspaper reported. He had been understood to have moved into private security work.

What Prince's people were doing in Congo

Pelton said the contractors were working on an operation to protect mining revenues, combat smuggling and collect taxes for the Congolese government.

That matches how the arrangement started. Reuters reported in April 2025 that Prince had reached an agreement with the Congolese government aimed at improving mineral-tax collection and curbing cross-border smuggling. Congo sits on enormous mineral wealth, and a large share of the money that should reach the treasury never does.

The job did not stay on paper. In February, Reuters reported that Prince deployed private security personnel and drone operators to help Congolese forces secure Uvira, a strategic city near the Burundi border, after Rwanda-backed AFC/M23 rebels withdrew. Contractors provided drone support to Congolese special operations forces and the military. It was the first known frontline involvement of Prince's personnel in the country.

The State Department said at the time that the U.S. government had no contracts with Prince or his companies in Congo. How many Vectus Global people are in the country is not publicly known.

Nobody has pinned down who pulled the triggers

One source working with the Congolese government told Reuters that Rwandan forces backing M23 may have found the team by tracking a surveillance drone back to its operators.

Another source with direct knowledge of the attack said its sophistication pointed to Rwandan involvement, and two more sources blamed the Rwandan military outright. Those allegations have not been independently confirmed. Representatives for the governments of Congo and Rwanda, and for M23, did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

A separate theory circulated in early coverage. The New Zealand Herald cited speculation that the team may have run into Russia's Africa Corps, the force that took over Wagner Group operations on the continent. That claim has not been verified by military authorities, and neither has the link some reports drew between the team and Prince's firm before Reuters named Vectus Global.

A Congolese security source said villagers were probably among the roughly 20 people killed or wounded. The Sept. 17 attack has not been officially confirmed by any government.

The war the contractors walked into

Congolese forces have been fighting M23 in the east for years, and the United Nations and Western governments say Rwanda backs the rebels. Rwanda denies it.

On March 2, the Treasury Department sanctioned the Rwanda Defence Force and four senior officials over support for M23. Treasury said the Rwandan military was "actively supporting, training, and fighting alongside" the group and had helped it capture territory including Goma, Bukavu and strategic mining sites.

Talks have not stopped the shooting. An African Union delegation met AFC/M23 leaders on October 5 and called for continued engagement in peace negotiations, Reuters reported Oct. 7. Recent clashes have stayed concentrated in parts of South Kivu's highlands and North Kivu's Masisi territory, despite mediation by the United States, the African Union and Qatar.

Foreign hired guns have been burned here before

Kivu Today has reported on Congo's earlier use of foreign military contractors against AFC/M23. Roughly 300 Romanian contractors, many of them former French Foreign Legion personnel, were brought in to train Congolese troops and help defend Goma.

They ended up in combat alongside the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In January 2025, after M23 took Goma, about 300 Romanian contractors surrendered to UN peacekeepers and were escorted through the Grande Barrière crossing into Rwanda.

From the cage to the contract world

Kennedy compiled an 18-6 record over a 15-year professional career, fighting in the UFC, WEC, Strikeforce and other promotions, TMZ reported. He competed from 2001 to 2016.

He told Stars and Stripes in June 2010 that he had been studying criminal justice with plans to join the FBI while starting his fighting career, and that after the Sept. 11 attacks he went for Army Special Forces instead. He enlisted in January 2004.

Kennedy served in Army Special Forces with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan as a sniper. He moved from active duty to the Texas Army National Guard in 2009. In July 2025 he was serving part-time in a Maryland National Guard special operations detachment, according to Military.com.

Outside the military he built a large podcast and social media following, and his UFC run included wins over Michael Bisping and Roger Gracie.

The Bronze Star admission

Kennedy's record came under scrutiny in July 2025, when he admitted he had falsely implied that his Bronze Star was awarded for valor, Military.com reported.

The Maryland National Guard opened an investigation.

Everyone involved has gone quiet

Kennedy did not immediately respond to an email from Stars and Stripes requesting comment. He and his representatives have not publicly addressed the shooting.

Silence is standard in this line of work. Private military contracting runs on tight operational security and non-disclosure agreements, which leaves the team's mission and the sequence of events that led to the ambush unclear.

What is on the record: a three-man element, a long wait for evacuation, a dead New Zealander, at least seven dead Congolese, and an American fighter recovering at Walter Reed from three gunshot wounds to the leg, according to Reuters' sources. The attack occurred more than three weeks before the involvement of Prince's forces and the scale of the casualties were first reported.