Kenny in Cayman: Eyes Ultimate Revenge

(cayCompass.com) Fight fans have plenty of reason now to pay attention to The Ultimate Fighter reality TV show. The new season stars Georges St. Pierre in September and before then three of the major products of the show will take centre-stage in Mixed Martial Arts contests this summer.

On August 7, 19th-ranked heavyweight Roy Nelson takes on sixth-ranked Junior Dos Santos at UFC 117 in Oakland. From there fourth-ranked lightweight Kenny Florian faces Gray Maynard on 28 August at UFC 118 in Boston.

Of that trio Florian should be of most interest for locals. The Peruvian-American was here last month leading a pair of MMA seminars on the arts of Muay Thai kickboxing and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (his specialities). Some 85 people turned out to learn tactics and moves at the D Dalmain Ebanks boxing gymnasium.

Florian covered a number of topics while in Cayman. Among them was his background in The Ultimate Fighter show. As he states it’s a business endeavour first and foremost.

“The UFC is a business and like other sports franchises it needs high TV ratings,” Florian said. “As long as it offers a fight show with a lot of drama and produces guys who have careesr in the UFC then it will continue to go on in its current format.”

Four years ago Florian missed out on a six-figure contract from Dana White after losing the lightweight final to Diego Sanchez in the show’s first season. Since then Florian, 34, has stated he would like to avenge the loss with a re-match. In spite of Sanchez having moved up in weight class to the welterweight division, Florian still seems keen for a fight. “I don’t have any hard feelings that Diego went up in weight class,” Florian said. “I feel he’s not a drastically different fighter. If he were to beat all of the top guys convincingly then yeah I’d want to fight him again. At that point I’d feel like I have something to prove.”

In regards to his upcoming fight Florian faces a fighter in Maynard who is two inches shorter at 5’8 and has a reach of 70 inches, four inches shorter than Florian. Both are listed at the exact same weight of 155lbs. The founder of the Florian Martial Arts Center states he could be six pounds heavier for the fight.

“I walk around at 175lbs and I cut weight to 161lbs for fights. There’s a difference between cutting and losing weight. Cutting is a very drastic step that will mess you up if you try to sustain it. You can go from very in-shape to very overweight if you’re not careful.”

Aside from the physical differences both bring differing fight styles to the octagon. Florian has a background that sees a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu while Maynard focuses on wrestling and boxing with a number of commendations during his NCAA division one wrestling career at Michigan State University. Florian says he is not bothered by Maynard’s styles.

“No style is better than the other and no style is better for starting off with than the other. It’s about how you use those styles. Remember guys know the basic moves, counters and grapples and they know how you’ll try to take them out so it’s about execution more than anything. I’ve seen guys transition from great wrestlers to great strikers and vice versa. The biggest key is to keep training and learning moves and improving. When you become stagnant that’s when you’re in trouble.

“I’m always looking for ways to improve. I’m all about getting into the gym and working on my skills. I want to be able to step aside whenever it is I feel I can’t give my best and be 100 percent in a fight.”