Kenny Florian's upcoming bout with UFC Lightweight champion B.J. Penn at UFC 101 is definitely one of the more interesting match-ups to come along within the division in the last few years. Most notably, it will feature a Kenny Florian who seems to be improving by leaps and bounds in nearly every single fight against a B.J. Penn who isn't receiving the confidence vote from fans since his beating at UFC 94 against Georges St. Pierre.
The interest in the fight doesn't only come from the fact that this is a title fight, but rather that Florian is increasingly better in nearly every single bout in the Octagon. The Boston-native went from being overpowered by the behemoth lightweight wrestling powerhouse in Sean Sherk at UFC 64 to defeating Dokonjonosuke Mishima, Alvin Robinson, Din Thomas, Joe Lauzon, Roger Huerta, and Joe Stevenson.
Most notably, Florian's boxing, Muay Thai, and jiu-jitsu have benefited from the extra hours that have been put into those pieces of his skill set. Florian recently talked with Derek Bolander over at MMAMania.com regarding his upcoming match-up with B.J. Penn, and he's added top-notch strength and conditioning to his regiment along with a helping hand from Georges St. Pierre's camp:
Derek Bolender (MMAmania.com): Everybody knows by now that you did some training up in Canada with Georges St. Pierre for you upcoming fight with BJ Penn. Did you decide to go up there to get help with a game plan since GSP just fought him or were you going simply to hone your overall skills?
Kenny Florian: Really I was there to hone my overall skills. I’ve been wanting to train with Georges St. Pierre and his camp for a long time now. I started working with Jonathan Chaimberg, his strength and conditioning coach. He’s my new strength and conditioning coach. I’ve been working with him for the last three months in preparation for this fight. I got to work with Firas Zahaby as well who is a phenomenal trainer. And, of course, I got the chance to learn and spar and train with Georges St. Pierre.
Anytime you get the chance to train with one of the best pound-for-pound guys and feel that pressure and intensity in training it’s going to help you grow as a fighter. Were there things we talked about with BJ? Yeah, there were things that I already knew, but as far as game planning, everybody is different. I’m a much different fighter than Georges St. Pierre. Some of the things he can do I’m not going to be able to do so I have to come up with a completely different game plan for BJ Penn.
One of the key areas that I thought Florian really lacked was raw power. The Lauzon fight was a bit of an awakening to that problem as he had Lauzon full-mounted, but Lauzon was actually able to withstand the punishment. The fight was stopped mostly due to the fact that Lauzon just couldn't improve his position or buck Florian, but added power to those punches would have likely been a welcome attribute. This isn't to say that Florian needs that type of power, but it can only help his overall skill set.
Getting into the cage with someone like Georges St. Pierre will also give Florian some sort of idea of the kind of pressure he would need to put on Penn if this becomes a ground war in which Florian would need to avoid submissions. As Florian states in the answer however, gameplans are completely different from fighter to fighter in some cases. It's definitely true in this case.
Penn's hand speed at 155 is uncanny, so it'll be Florian's fight to show fans he can hang with one of the speediest strikers in the game. The same will be true on the ground as Penn's perceived skill level being considered very high.
A lot of fans have tried to downgrade Florian's past accomplishments, and they may have a slight case against where he's actually ranked among lightweights. Typical arguments aim at the fact that Robinson was a prospect, Thomas blew his knee out, Lauzon wasn't a significant step-up in competition, Huerta fought with a terrible gameplan, and Stevenson isn't a top-notch lightweight. I would only agree with some of those statements, but I think a Sean Sherk rematch would surely solidify Florian as an upper-echelon lightweight. Instead of a rematch with the man that fueled Florian's desire to become one of the best MMA fighters in the business, he'll take on an even tougher task in B.J. Penn. It should truly tell us whether Kenny Florian has improved remarkably once again in the face of being an underdog.
