Nov-1-2005
Kenny Florian - A Second Chance to Make A First Impression
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UFC 108: Evans v. Silva DVD
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By Thomas Gerbasi
Kenny Florian remembers what it's like to be in The Ultimate Fighter finale. He remembers it well; so well that even though it was almost seven months ago, he can recall it like it was yesterday.
That April night in Las Vegas, Florian faced fellow finalist Diego Sanchez for the right to call himself The Ultimate Fighter, and more importantly, win a six figure contract with the UFC. It was the opportunity of a
lifetime for the Massachusetts native, but after 169 seconds, it was over.
He had lost.
For those who knew Florian, who not only saw his skill in jiu-jitsu but also his fighting heart, it was a disappointing finish to the Cinderella story.
Just think how the fighter felt.
"It's the pressure that starts getting to you," Florian explains, recalling the biggest fight of his career up to that point. "When I got there, I didn't feel anything; I was fine, it was just another fight. Then it hit me all at once. Having such a huge event, you start realizing, okay, you have these medical exams you need to go through right before your fight, you have people asking for your autograph, you have interviews, you have people taking your photo, and it just goes on and on and on. You see how many people are out there waiting to see you fight in the arena, there are cameras everywhere, and in your mind, you start realizing how big an event it really is. And then the pressure starts getting to you. Not only are you worried about the fight itself and what you need to do technically, physically, and mentally to win the fight - but now you have these external things - like pressure, your family's there, you have a six figure contract on the line, the actual purse itself, and these are things that you can't worry about."
It took a one-sided loss to Sanchez to learn that painful lesson, but for the 29-year-old Florian, it was worth it.
"I'm a big samurai fan, and it goes back to the whole philosophy of mushin, which is 'no mind'," said Florian. "Your focus can only be on the fight itself and what you need to do physically and technically. You preoccupy your mind with all these other things and that's just taking your focus away from your actual goal and your task. I think that's something I really tried to learn. And you can only really learn from experience. For those people who have been in title fights prior to being in the UFC, yes, that helps, but there's nothing like a big championship fight on the line, on TV. It's something you have to experience. I think I had 4-5 fights at the time, and it was something completely and utterly new to me."
So when it came time for the New England jiu-jitsu ace to return to the Octagon in August against Alex Karalexis, the setting was just as pressure-packed - but this time, the mindset of Florian had done a 360. He was no longer the deer in the headlights - he was the one driving the car.
"It was a huge difference," said Florian of the Karalexis bout, which he won via a second round TKO due to a cut. "I actually put a lot of pressure on myself in the Alex fight. I trained tremendously hard and I know I overtrained for that fight. So I actually did put a lot of pressure on my own part to win that fight, but I went in with the goal of really just trying to perform at my best - not necessarily thinking about the win itself. With Diego, I really just froze in there because of all those other things. This time I just went in there concentrating on Alex alone. I tried to breathe as much as possible, and relax as much as possible, and basically try to learn as much as possible from the Diego fight. I felt so much more relaxed in there. The Octagon is more familiar to me now, and just going though that whole process - the warm-up, everything prior to the fight - it's very familiar to me now. Basically, I'm just trying to learn from every fight and I feel more and more comfortable every time I go in there."
On Saturday, Florian is one of the featured performers once again, as he faces renowned Muay Thai champ Kit Cope in the co-main event of The Ultimate Fighter Season 2 Finale, live on Spike TV. It's an opportunity to show the world just how far he's come since the Sanchez fight.
"After experiencing the last Ultimate Fighter finale, I feel like I can really go through anything now," he said. "Just experiencing the craziness of everything that happens backstage prior to the fight, the interviews leading up to the fight, I've matured in a way that I'm gonna stay focused on the fight itself. Having gone through that before, I feel like I've definitely grown."
Against Cope, he'll be facing a fighter who comes into his UFC debut with an impressive track record in Muay Thai, but a spotty 1-2 slate in mixed martial arts. Don't dismiss the star of a recent MTV Real Life documentary though, because on his feet, he's deadly. And Florian, a ground master with a laundry list of jiu-jitsu titles, has got some eventual Muay Thai ambitions - so what better way to test those out than with one of the sport's best?
"Kit is obviously an elite Muay Thai fighter who has been in the big fights in Muay Thai, so I definitely think it would give me a good gauge of how I would do, assuming I'm striking with him the whole time," said Florian. "It's a little bit different because every time you throw a punch or kick, you're throwing it with the intention of hurting him, but at the same time you also need to be worried about getting clinched and defending the takedown. It's a little bit different in Muay Thai because you're not so concerned about getting thrown - which does happen in Muay Thai fights, but there aren't any points taken away. But every time he throws a punch or a kick it's going to be different because if he does commit to that punch or kick, he can be taken down, and vice versa. It's different in that aspect, but strike for strike, you can learn a lot and gauge how you may be able to do in a Muay Thai fight."
Whoa now, Florian fans. Though your man plans on taking the fight to Cope this Saturday, he's not going to be reckless, with a Jake LaMotta-esque desire to prove himself as a striker against a striker. He's going to be smart - whether that means standing and throwing, or taking it to the mat.
"I think the main thing is being aware of his skill level and what you're susceptible to," he said. "If you find you're getting nailed with that leg kick, front kick, head kick, or punch combinations, then you have to adjust and it has to be done quickly. I think that's the main thing - adjusting to that as the fight goes, making sure you're flowing and keeping him honest. If you keep going to his strengths, then you're on your way to losing the fight."
And Florian, a former Division I soccer player for Boston College, has no intention of putting another loss on his record. Remember, he gave up a possible soccer career for this.
"It's funny, I really miss soccer tremendously," he admits. "It's something I've played all my life, I was part of the Olympic development program, and I miss it, but in a way, I kind of left it behind for Brazilian jiu-jitsu at the time and I haven't looked back. I know what I could have done (in soccer) and in a way that almost drives me to not lose sight of this now. I'm here, fighting in the UFC, and I want to make the most of it. I'm not gonna just let this pass me by and it's really a new love of mine."
But it wasn't until his decision loss to current UFC contender Drew Fickett in 2004 that he truly realized that he could make an impact in mixed martial arts.
"That was a fight I took on nine days notice," Florian remembers. "It was a fight that a lot of people said I probably shouldn't have taken because it was only my fourth mixed martial arts fight ever. Drew had over 20 fights and he was one of those fighters who fought a lot of tough guys; he had already beaten two UFC veterans and it definitely showed me that I can hang with some of the best."
At the time, Florian was dabbling in MMA, training for a month up until a couple of weeks before the fight. After that, he would go back to his Brazilian jiu-jitsu schedule and train in that, as well as submission wrestling. As he puts it, "That was it. After The Ultimate Fighter was the first time I actually ever committed myself to mixed martial arts training. The fight with Drew showed me that I had potential, and that was also my first tough fight. My other fights I always finished in the first round and it was easy. I never even got hit in a mixed martial arts fight before that and it showed me that I could take a punch, that I could get through adversity and actually be involved in a war and just keep fighting back. It taught me a lot about myself and about my potential for mixed martial arts."
He gets to show some more of that potential against Cope this weekend, and he's looking forward to testing his skills on the sport's biggest stage.
"He (Cope) is a world-class Muay Thai champion, but I know I can hang with him on the feet, and I know that on the ground is going to be his weakness," said Florian. "I've seen some of his mixed martial arts fights from the past and he's been very weak there. But I know he's going to be a different fighter. I'm not expecting that same fighter from a couple years ago that was clueless on the ground. I'm sure he's been working on his ground game, but there's no way his ground game can really catch up to mine in that short a period. So I feel confident - I know I can hang with him on the feet, but I know that he can't hang with me on the ground. So wherever the fight goes, I'm going to feel comfortable. I'm not sure that he will really feel comfortable."
Comfortable. It's a word Kenny Florian wouldn't have used about his last appearance on an Ultimate Fighter finale card, but it's safe to say that this time, he's looking forward to his second chance to make a first impression.
"When I fought Diego Sanchez, I froze out there," he admitted. "I was nervous, not relaxed, and I went out there and fought to not lose. There's a difference between fighting to not lose and fighting to win. From here on out, I'm fighting to win. I'd rather die with my sword facing the enemy than facing away him, and that's one thing I have always done in the past, prior to Diego, and I'm gonna do it from here on out. I'm going old school, I'm going after my opponent and going out there to win."
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