Florian walks the talk
“If (UFC matchmaker) Joe Silva calls up with a fight for you, you better pray it’s not (me).”
If you guessed Rampage or Tito Ortiz, nobody would blame you. But the real owner of that quote is Dover’s Kenny Florian. After submitting Din Thomas with a rear choke hold in the first round of their nationally televised match Wednesday night, Florian pronounced those words for all to hear. So what gives? Was it his alter ego, Evil Kenny, doing the talking?
“People keep saying I’m the guy that doesn’t look like a fighter. I’m the accountant-fighter,” Florian said with a laugh. “But in many ways, it’s how I feel really.
“Obviously, I exaggerated with the comment, but I wanted to get attention with that comment. I want fighters to know I’ve improved my game. When they have to fight me, I want them to say to themselves, ‘How do I fight him? He does this well, he does that well.’
“I want that in their head. I want to fight the best guys and get the most respect possible.”
Florian took more strides toward that quest with his performance against Thomas during UFC Fight Night on Spike TV. Once again, he was able to construct a game plan and stick with it.
“I wanted to stay patient and methodical because he’s a good boxer, and be super aggressive on the ground,” said Florian.
Florian accomplished that by frustrating Thomas early with kicks. The southpaw, no doubt harkening back to his soccer days at Dover-Sherborn and Boston College, peppered Thomas early on, doing some early damage and capturing the momentum of the fight.
“It takes its toll,” Florian said of the kicks. “Your forearm just keeps getting bruise after bruise after bruise and soon your arms drop. You don’t want to be taking a lot of those. The first kick I threw, I saw his eyes grow five times the size and he started getting angry. I could tell I was hurting him.”
Thomas appeared to injure his knee while shooting for Florian’s legs midway through the round. Florian sprawled away, went to Thomas’ back and started whaling away on him. When the ref didn’t stop it, Florian put him in a rear naked choke and ended it. Thomas was carried out of the Octagon.
The win was a big step forward in Florian’s quest for another lightweight title shot. The division is essentially on hold until the outcome of Sean Sherk’s October appeal of his positive drug test following UFC 73. But Florian is right there in the mix with Joe Stevenson, Roger Huerta and B.J. Penn, among others.
After fighting for the third time in less than six months, Florian probably won’t visit the Octagon again until the new year. Not that’s he’s not itching to return.
“I wouldn’t mind doing another fight in a couple of months,” he said. “But my team is adamant about not taking any fights right now. They want me to take a break from myself and from fighting. They’re going to lock the gym, not let me in.”
Don’t be fooled by that. The crafty Florian probably has a key under the mat. Then again, judging by his most recent tough-guy pronouncements, maybe he’ll just kick the door down instead.
The UFC and Spike TV are touting their big numbers from Wednesday night’s Fight Night. According to a press release, the show, which not only featured Florian’s win, but exciting victories by TUF alums Nate Quarry and Chris Leben, drew 1.9 million viewers and owned the key male demographics for the night. . . .
East Bridgewater’s Joe Lauzon is scheduled to fight Jason Reinhardt on Nov. 17 at UFC 78 in New Jersey. The fight will take place at the New Jersey Devils’ new arena. Reinhardt is from Iowa and has a 17-0 MMA record, but has not fought in the UFC before.
Lauzon had knee surgery in August to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee that he suffered in his win over Brandon Melendez in June. He’s presently training with Penn in Hawaii. . . .
Not only do Ultimate Fighter 6 coaches Matt Serra and Matt Hughes truly dislike each other, but they get to talk about it in dueling blogs at ufc.com. Thursday’s debut episode saw Mac Danzig, from Hughes’ team, submit Serra’s personal student, Joe Scarola, in the first round. Hughes wrote: “If that was Matt’s boy, then he should have taught him a few more things before he took him on the show.”
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