Between The Ropes
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
ESPN Florida AM 1080 and AM 1060
Simulcast online at BetweenTheRopes.com

On Tuesday night, November 18, the #1 contender in the UFC lightweight division, Kenny Florian joined hosts Brian Fritz and Dickerman live on Between The Ropes on ESPN Florida AM 1080 and AM 1060 to discuss his upcoming fight against BJ Penn, how he has improved since his loss to Sean Sherk, the broadcasting work he does on the side, and much more.

Kenny started out the interview talking about how great it felt to compete and win against a great fighter like Joe Stevenson at UFC 91.

Since his loss to Sean Sherk Kenny has been on a 6 fight win streak. He gives his loss to Sherk a lot of the credit for this winning streak saying “It was after that fight that I hired a strength coach, hired a nutritionist, brought people in from all over the country for training…If I were to face that Kenny Florian who fought Sean Sherk back in the day he wouldn’t last more than a couple minutes. I’m a completely different fighter.”

Now that he’s the #1 contender for the lightweight title Kenny was asked how he planned to handle the time he’ll have until UFC Lightweight Champion BJ Penn becomes available to fight him. Kenny said he currently has no plans to fight anyone else before BJ, but “I’ll have to make my determination based on what BJ does and what happens in that fight with Georges St. Pierre. After that fight BJ might want to stay at 170…I’ll have to continue talking to the UFC to see exactly what they want to do.”

Kenny then said that he thinks that right now “BJ seems to be into the bigger fights. Maybe he thinks a fight with Georges St. Pierre would be bigger, maybe a fight with Thiago Alves, maybe even Anderson Silva. Who knows? BJ is BJ and you never know what he’s going to do.”

On how it would feel to fight BJ Kenny said that he would feel more motivated than pressured since he would certainly come into that fight as an underdog. “It’s enough just knowing that it’s BJ Penn, but with some people considering him the best pound for pound that just adds to my motivation.”

Kenny also talked a little more about how he plans to handle the potentially long layoff until his title fight with Penn. “I like to stay busy and stay fighting every four months, so it would be tough to take the time off. Myself and my team have a plan for what we’re going to do in the mean time to create a sort of fight like atmosphere….(we’ll) have me make the weight cut and do a mock competition. Almost like I’m going to prepare for the fight. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep my mind and body fresh.”

Kenny was then asked about the other big winner from UFC 91, Brock Lesnar. Kenny said that he feels Brock is obviously a legitimate force and credited him with bringing in new fans and notoriety to the sports saying with Brock “there are a lot more positives than negatives.”

The interview wrapped up with some discussion about Kenny’s work as a broadcaster and hosting duties on ESPN’s MMA live. Kenny admitted that sometimes it’s tough having to interview his colleagues or even his boss Dana White. Kenny said that even though he majored in communications at Boston College he didn’t really have much experience when he started and admitted that he was more nervous breaking into broadcasting with his analysis of the Guida v. Huerta fight than he was for his fights.

To listen to the entire Kenny Florian interview including Kenny discussing MMA sponsorships, his martial arts school, and his love of samurai and warrior culture growing up as a kid, as well as the entire November 18 edition of Between The Ropes in streaming audio, visit the show online at http://www.BetweenTheRopes.com. In addition to listening to this week’s show you can become a site member and access hundreds of previous Between The Ropes shows and interviews. Join us for Between The Ropes for two hours every Tuesday night at 6:00pm ET on ESPN Florida AM 1080 and AM 1060 and worldwide on BetweenTheRopes.com.