| Kenny Florian – Time to Steal The Show |
With five straight wins – four by TKO or submission – in one of the UFC’s toughest divisions, the days of Kenny Florian creeping up and
surprising anyone in the Octagon are long over. And that may be an issue for the lightweight contender, who always used being the underdog as a motivational tool.
“I don’t know how to deal with that now – I almost liked it because I felt like I had something to prove all the time,” laughed Florian, who takes on Joe Stevenson in the co-featured bout on Saturday’s UFC 91 card in Las Vegas. “I had a lot of doubters, but it’s crazy to know that now a lot of these people are my fans. It’s unbelievable, but it’s very satisfying and I’m very appreciative. I think with a lot of the guys on The Ultimate Fighter show, we definitely had to earn our fans, no doubt about it.”
Florian took an especially long road to his current spot among the 155 pound elite. A rookie in the sport when he first came into the public’s consciousness as a member of The Ultimate Fighter’s season one cast, Florian was dominated in the 185-pound final by Diego Sanchez and then began on the journey 30 pounds south to the lightweight division. And once he entered the 155-pound weight class with a 2006 win over Sam Stout, he has been nearly unstoppable, going 6-1, with the only loss coming in a five round battle against Sean Sherk over two years ago. Most recently, Florian pounded out a three round decision win over Roger Huerta at UFC 87 in August, a victory that didn’t really satisfy the Bostonian.
“I would have liked to have seen myself establish a better rhythm,” said Florian of his win over Huerta. “I felt like the third round was my best round and I would have liked to have adjusted a little bit quicker to my opponent. I was a little disappointed immediately after the fight, and after going back and watching it, I was a little happier, but still not satisfied. It definitely showed that I was improving in the striking and footwork aspects of the game, and things are coming along, but I wasn’t satisfied – there were still some things I wanted to show and a lot of work I still need to do. I hope to show improvement in this fight once again, and I think I will.”
At times during the bout, Florian seemed to be content to pick Huerta apart technically, but when trainer Mark DellaGrotte would tell him to up the pace, he did, and he looked to be a sustained flurry or two away from stopping his foe. Florian agrees with that assessment.
“There were instances where I thought I really could have been more active – busier with my hands, busier with my kicks – but I don’t want to start coming up with excuses; I know I had my opportunities to take him out and I didn’t,” he said. “That’s one of the things that I was most disappointed about in my fight. I felt I could have done a little more, but I learned a lot from it and if I get into those same instances against a guy like Joe Stevenson, I hope to be able to capitalize to the fullest.”
Against Stevenson, Florian may be in with his most accomplished foe since Sherk, and though the two have been respectful to each other in the lead-up to the fight, ‘Joe Daddy’ hasn’t been shy about admitting his anger about being seen by many as the underdog in the bout.
“I don’t know if I’ll be the underdog or not in this fight against Joe Stevenson,” said Florian. “I certainly won’t be surprised if I am. He’s got a lot of experience and has been around the game for a long time and I think a lot of people are saying he matches up very well against me, which he does. But it really doesn’t matter to me. If I’m the favorite, great. If I’m the underdog, that’s great too.”
As mentioned earlier, the 32-year old Florian would almost prefer to be the underdog, as it gives him extra motivation to succeed. But no matter what the oddsmakers say, the point is that Florian has lost two of the tools he usually likes to have to enhance his mental approach to a fight: he’s not being underestimated, and there has been no pre-fight trash talk between him and his opponent. So what is Florian using to get up for this fight in his mind?
“It’s the excitement of fighting a guy of Stevenson’s stature, a guy who’s been there and done that in the sport,” he said. “It’s exciting to know I’m gonna fight a guy who’s very skilled, who’s been taking guys out left and right with guillotines, and a great wrestler who was the Ultimate Fighter season two winner. So he’s got a lot of credentials that are exciting to me, and I’m going to enjoy the challenge of getting around his submission game, his wrestling game, and his improving striking game.”
Plus, even though many consider him to be the next in line for a shot at lightweight champ BJ Penn, Florian knows that a win over Stevenson will cement that spot in the eyes of everyone in the sport.
“I don’t want anything handed to me, I don’t want there to be any doubt in anyone’s mind, and I want to put an exclamation on that point of being the number one contender,” he said. “I can do that with the
fight against Joe Stevenson, and I think it’s gonna help me as a fighter. I want to fight the top level guys and I want to go in there knowing that I’ve felt the fire against guys like Joe Stevenson, Roger Huerta, and all the other opponents, so when I go in there against BJ Penn, I know I’m gonna be ready. I’m gonna go in there with a lot of experience, all those things will be very fresh in my mind, and I’ll be that much sharper going in there to fight a guy like BJ Penn.”
But fighting Penn is another story for another time, a time after November 15th. For now, Florian is second on the marquee of what’s being called the biggest UFC fight of all-time between Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar. How does stealing the show from the headliners sound?
“It’s a tall task, but that would be awesome,” he said. “For me, I’m going in there and I want to put on a show. This is an unbelievable opportunity to be on the same card as a legend like Randy Couture and in what could very well be the biggest pay-per-view in history. So it’s an honor to be on the same card as Randy and Brock Lesnar and all the other great fighters, and if I can steal the show, that would be amazing. I’m gonna go out there, be aggressive, and I’m gonna try to take Joe Stevenson out and get the win in the most exciting way possible.”
