Florian: A simple plan
Kenny Florian wants to capitalize on his second chance. Riding a six-fight winning streak, Florian will take another crack at…
Kenny Florian wants to capitalize on his second chance.
Riding a six-fight winning streak, Florian will take another crack at the lightweight championship when he meets B.J. Penn in the UFC 101 Declaration main event on Aug. 8 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pa.
The 33-year-old Massachusetts native burst on the scene when he reached the middleweight final on Season 1 of The Ultimate Fighter in 2005, ultimately succumbing to the strikes of Diego Sanchez. He fought and lost to Sean Sherk in a bout for the vacant lightweight crown in 2006 but has steadily developed into one of the sport’s premier 155-pounders. He is clearly a different fighter than the one Sanchez took out.
It’s night and day man, Florian told the Sherdog Radio Network’s Savage Dog Show. I go back and I laugh. People say you got so much better since then. Well, yeah, my skills were at zero. I hope I got better. I was so bad back then. It’s funny seeing the old chubby Kenny Florian fighting at 185. More than anything else, I think just the mental aspect and the scientific approach to training and all that stuff, I was just clueless; I really was. The mental and physical preparation it takes to go into a fight is so much. I had no clue. I think that was the main thing.
Florian has a simple strategy for Penn.
I just have to beat him at everything, he said. That’s the only thing I have to do.