EXCLUSIVE ChokeHimOut Interview: Kenny Florian
Interviews
Interviews
ChokeHimOut.com recently had an opportunity to interview Kenny Florian who is headlining the Ultimate Fight Night April 2nd on SpikeTV. Kenny talks about his upcoming fight with Joe Lauzon and his thoughts on MMA.
C.H.O: You've been fighting in MMA since 2004, how do you feel you've changed since you started fighting?
KF: You know I'm just training a lot and just starting really to find my game and find out what works best for me and how to mesh everything together. I still have a lot to learn, but I feel like I've made a huge accomplishment in all aspects you know, forget the mental and physical but also the technical. All aspects of the game and I think it is very important that you know you can constantly try to evolve, constantly try to improve it and be ready. If you're very well rounded, then you can fight anybody so I think that has been the key for me in training nonstop and it has really helped me.
C.H.O: How old were you when you started training in martial arts and MMA?
KF: Let's see I started doing karate when I was a kid. But as far as training for something as serious as Brazilian jiu jitsu, I started late, I started when I was about 20 years old. I started training when I was 20 and right now I'm 31, so I've been training Brazilian jiu jitsu for around 11 years. I started training in mixed martial arts when I was on the Ultimate Fighter in 2004/2005.
C.H.O: How long did it take you to earn your black belt under Gracie Barra?
KF: I earned my black belt in a little over 5 years.
C.H.O: What made you train in jiu jitsu?
KF: Originally I was inspired by martial arts, obviously when I watched Royce Gracie. That was my biggest thing, you know, I was just amazed by what he did out there against those monsters and I thought, 'Hey maybe I can do that too.' I was always a big martial arts fan, always a big Bruce Lee fan, always into boxing when I was a kid and actually all that stuff. I saw the UFC and I knew that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to do Brazilian jiu jitsu. I thought it was beautiful, efficient, effective and it's been perfect and I like that. The first martial art that did what they claimed it could do you know?
C.H.O: UFC fight night April 2nd. You are going into this fight 7/3 against Joe Lauzon. How important is this win for you?
KF: Every fight is important. There has never been a fight that hasn't been important. There has never been a fight that I haven't trained hard for and it's extremely important.
C.H.O: Joe has been training with BJ Penn and the majority of Joe's fights have been won via submission. You've also won a majority of your fight via submission. How do you train for someone like Joe?
KF: You get into it all. You have to train in all aspects to prepare for a fight because he could be working on different strategy. He would come out and try to strike with me. So yeah, I'm ready for it all. Obviously the ground is his strength and I think that is where he wants to take it and I'll be ready with whatever I need to be.
C.H.O: Can you walk me through an average day of your training, a month out from this fight?
KF: Yeah, basically, I'll have spar session every single day, always two sessions every day but Sunday is my day off. I do my strengthening, conditioning and cardio in the morning and I'll do my technical and training at night or my sparring at night. Possibly even have a session in the afternoon as well. It'll be two times a day, sometimes three and that's it. Just hard training, smart training and just pushing yourself to the limit every single day and approaching each training session with a beginners mind.
C.H.O: What's next for you after this upcoming fight?
KF: I don't know, I really haven't looked past it. You know, that's obviously up to UFC. I just want to fight the best guy. I just want to fight the best, the top fighters whoever that seems to be in the UFC. I'm just looking forward to this fight here and then whatever comes, let it come. I just want to focus on this fight, win this fight and we'll see what happens after that.
C.H.O: Besides yourself who do you think the biggest threat is in the lightweight division of UFC right now?
KF: Ah, there's a ton of great guys in the 155 division, it's tough to just say one guy. Obviously you want to look the champ, BJ Penn, Sean Sherk, Frank Edgar, Tyson Griffen, I mean there are some great fighters right there, Roger Huerta . Hopefully I get a chance to challenge myself against the best. I'm here to fight the best guys. I'm not in here to beat people up. I'm here to just fight the best guys and get the challenge. Hopefully that will happen.
C.H.O: Who's the toughest opponent you've had so far?
KF: Sean Sherk.
C.H.O: What made him the toughest?
KF: I just think his game plan, his strategy, his physical strength and everything. He's a well rounded fighter and he's great at getting his game plan. He does what he wants to do when he wants to do it and he's very strong physically and he's been around the game for a long time. He's an experienced fighter and those kind of guys are tough to beat.
C.H.O: How often do you get recognized since you started fighting in the UFC?
KF: You know it's pretty often. The Boston fans are pretty into it and the guys that I know are really into it. They are more than willing to come up and say hello and I definitely I find you get recognized in your hometown, traveling and airports. It ranges from all different people, from old ladies to young kids and you find a lot of people are into fighting and UFC.
C.H.O: Do you feel women approach you more now than they did before?
KF: I'd say the opportunity has definitely increased. Right now I have a steady girlfriend and I've had a steady girlfriend for a while but yeah, definitely, in my experience it's just the increase. It's kind of like driving a great car like driving a Ferrari and pretty much kind of like if you've been on TV you get more attention.
C.H.O: How often do you get challenged by guys on the street or if you are out in a club or a bar or something? Has that ever happened?
KF: You know it's never happened. No one has ever said anything to my face anyway. I'm sure they look at me and said "I can beat that little guy", but no challengers yet.
C.H.O: Anything you want to say to your fans before our upcoming fight?
KF: Yea, I just want to thank them for support and even if their not a fan of me, thank you for watching the sport and supporting the sport. I hope to be making more and more appearances all the time. The fans have been unbelievable with emails, Myspace messages and they are always encouraging wherever I go and it's amazing. It definitely pushing me in my training and pushes me during the fight to make them happy. So I'm going to keep on going out there and train hard and then finishing up hard for them.
You can get the latest news on Kenny at kennyflorian.com
Article by Tuesday on Mar 11, 2008