Florian faces possible retirement from back injury
Kenny Florian suffered a lumbar herniated disc in his lower back while weight training in November that may spell the…
Kenny Florian suffered a lumbar herniated disc in his lower back while weight training in November that may spell the end of his career. Florian has consulted with an orthopedist and a neurologist, and both instructed the 35-year-old to retire.
At present he is unable to train his lower body due to numbness and tingling in his legs.
It’s possible, unfortunately. I’ve kind of been going back-and-forth with some of the doctors, so it’s possible. I’m going to see. As of right now, obviously I can’t compete and train like I was at all. I’m just kind of doing what I can and hoping that things heal up and get better. I’m just kind of in a holding pattern. That’s why I decided to do this commentary for the time being and take this next six months to really heal up and try to make some money on the side. It sucks. The last couple of months I’ve just been figuring out what’s going on and what I’m going to do.
It’s not good. That’s why I’m trying to stay hopeful. We’ll see. I’ve been out here in (LA) doing this show every week for ‘UFC Tonight’ for Fuel TV and doing some other things. I’m just hoping that it can heal up and get better and then see if I can go back to doing what I was doing. So far, I still need to rest. If I go to do something physical, I’m just not able to do it. That pain is coming back.
Florian along with his brother Keith owns a successful gym in the Boston area, had a pre UFC career as a translator (he is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, and English), and has a proven to be a compelling broadcaster, most recently for ESPN’s “MMA Live”. He will no doubt find success wherever he focuses his attention, but hopefully the 35 year old can continue to fight in MMA for years more.