Kenny Florian Interview for City Paper

From City Paper




Ultimate Fighting Championship Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist Kenny "Kenflo" Florian will be tested against current lightweight champ B.J. Penn at UFC 101 next Saturday, Aug. 8, at the Wachovia Center. It marks the UFC's first event in Philadelphia, and Florian's second run for the lightweight title. The 33-year old, who was thrust into the spotlight as a finalist on the first season of Spike TV’s The Ultimate Fighter, failed to capture lightweight gold in 2006, when lost a five-round decision to Sean Sherk. Florian emerged a wiser fighter and rebounded with a six-fight winning spree. With one week left until his title bout, City Paper spoke with Florian about the art of fighting.

What inspired you to become a professional fighter full-time?

I think it was when I had my fall in Brazil [in 2002]. I was in Brazil and I fell off the cliffs, and that was my near-death experience. After, I said to myself, "Here I am working full-time doing something else, when I love Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I'm going to dedicate my life to it. I'm not sure what it's going to lead to, but I'm going to teach and train and see what happens." I never thought I would be a mixed martial arts fighter in the UFC, but this is what happened.

How did the accident happen?

I was working for a full-time translation company. I was [in Brazil] on a training trip in 2002. I was with some friends of mine, and we kind of did a climbing and running workout. We were descending down from a waterfall area. My buddy slipped in front of me and sort of took me with him. I ended up slipping down the mountain feet-first and my buddy grabbed me, turned me around, lost his grip and then I was falling headfirst. I fell 20 feet onto a rock. But if I didn’t fall on that rock, I would have fallen 100 feet after that.

Who are your favorite fighters to watch at the moment?

Anderson Silva, Georges St. Pierre, Fedor Emelianenko, Lyoto Machida . I see them all as martial artists and guys who are super well-rounded, super-technical and great human beings, as well.


How do you think Fedor Emelianenko would measure up against new UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar?

It's tough to see anyone beating Brock Lesnar right now but Fedor. Lesnar’s size would be an obstacle to overcome and also his wrestling skills and his speed and power. Plus, wrestling has always given Fedor some trouble. He's had problems with wrestlers in the past. He's beaten them, but you see the weakness in his game, and having a huge guy like Lesnar who is getting more and more skilled all the time would definitely make him an underdog.

Middleweight champion Anderson Silva is stepping up to the light heavyweight class to fight Forrest Griffin at UFC 101. Who do see winning?

You have got to have Silva as the top dog. Forrest Griffin is a friend of mine. I think he is the underdog, but he always performs very well as an underdog. When he is performing with no pressure is when Forrest is the most dangerous fighter ever. He trains as hard as anyone else out there, so he'll be very prepared. Anderson Silva’s skills are probably at a higher level right now, but never count out Forrest.

Since your loss to Sherk, you mentioned that you now train consistently. How do you balance training every day without taking too much of a toll on your body?

I take a Saturday off and sometimes I'll take a few days off. I train five to six days a week year-round. That way, I can definitely build my new skills and get better. Besides training, I really don't do much. For the last three years I haven’t really done anything but things that are MMA-related. I’m always doing something work-related. I have a job that I do for ESPN, or I'll go into a seminar where I’m teaching or training. Everything revolves around the sport, which is what I enjoy.

What sort of books do you read?

I just finished a book by Josh Waitzkin, The Art of Learning. I like reading Krishnamurti's stuff. He's an Indian philosopher. I like reading about the current real world in military books, things that are happening right now in Afghanistan and Iraq. I'm not a big fiction guy.

What does your daily training regimen consist of?

I'm in the final stages right now. As I get closer to a fight, there is more intensity and there's definitely more sparring, whereas when I'm training year-round and I have a big gap between my next fight, I'm not going crazy full-time. My strength and conditioning routines are more strength-based and not too intense. I train every week, six times a week, two times a day, sometimes three. Morning and afternoon will be either a technical training session or sparring. Night will be for strength and conditioning and another technical session.

You've mentioned before that you consider yourself a martial artist and not a fighter. Why is it important to make that distinction?

I really don't do it for the rush. I don't love to fight. I don't want to go out there and just brawl. Some guys are just brawlers. I have no interest in that. I just want to have the best technique in the world. I want to out-think the other guy. I see the beauty in the mixed martial arts. I'm trying to seek for that perfection in the technical sense, [which] is more important than anything else. The belt is for coaches, family and friends. The challenge of B.J. Penn is going technique-to-technique and seeing who is better.

How do you evaluate your performance after each fight?

The Sherk loss was a wake-up call for me. I had to be honest with myself and re-evaluate my strengths and weaknesses as a fighter. I hired a full-time strength and conditioning coach. Now I'm on a six-fight winning streak. I'm the worst coach you can have. I'll look at fights and see what I did wrong and be disgusted by my performance. I've done that and I have never been satisfied with the wins. The win or loss is irrelevant — it's about the technique. That's why I'm never satisfied. I think the key is really being honest.

Can you recall any crazy happenings backstage at a UFC card?

[Laughs] Well, this is sort of making fun of me. Before [my fight with Roger Huerta], I was pretty sick. I had something wrong with my stomach. I had to run to the bathroom a few times before my fight in between warm-ups. That was pretty scary and nerve-racking before a fight. I've never been in that position before. I had to do my best to control myself. The first two rounds, it felt like I had to save my energy and not exert myself or I would lose control of my stomach. Then in the third round, I started to relax and it was my strongest round.

People still joke about Tim Sylvia admitting to soiling himself when he fought Assuerio Silva.

[Laughs] Yeah. I definitely did not want that to happen.

Philly Fight Factory's Eddie Alvarez is considered to the top lightweights outside of the UFC. How does he measure up?

He's a little guy with a big heart. I think skill-wise he has weaknesses to expose like all of us, but he has heart and the work ethic to be one of the top fighters in the world. And I want to fight all the top fighters.