Highbrow Brutality
Passion to fight
Joe Hall Apr 1, 2008
Of course Florian ended up on "The Ultimate Fighter" anyway. He
hadn't spent much time beforehand with muay Thai trainer Mark
DellaGrotte, but he had learned how to throw an elbow like the one
he used to stop Chris Leben
(Pictures) and advance to the finals.
Florian was a quick study. He was intelligent and trained hard.
Besides, the game seemed pretty straightforward -- to win, he just
had to beat the other guy up.
The complexity of the sport struck him suddenly backstage before his "Ultimate Fighter" finale bout against Diego Sanchez (Pictures). A future was on the line. A UFC contract and a major push from the promotion, but he had never fought on live television, much less with stakes so high. Thirty seconds warming up on the pads, and his arms were dead.
"Not now," he said, slapping at his limbs. "Oh my god."
The fighters circled in a slow opening. To Florian, it felt as if he and Sanchez had shuffled around the Octagon for 10 full minutes, staring at each other's paralysis.
By the time Florian realized he was in a fight, John McCarthy was pulling Sanchez off him and the bout was over. I screwed that one up, Florian thought. Picking himself up from the canvas, he began to understand MMA was more than just a fight. It was contracts and cameras, interviews and autographs. He had neglected the psychological side of the sport, which can never be neglected for long. Florian made note and went right back to training.
"He came off the loss to Diego and he was an animal," DellaGrotte says. "It was like we didn't know him for months."
Three wins later Florian found himself in a lightweight title fight against Sean Sherk (Pictures). His conception of MMA had changed after the Sanchez fight, and it was about to change again.
Florian had studied footage of Sherk's takedowns, but come fight time the dominant wrestler did things differently. He shot to the opposite side than he had previously, was faster than expected and more aggressive with his guard passing. Florian cut him with an elbow, though that only made matters worse. He was trapped under Sherk, who bled all over him for much of the 25-minute fight.
"You cannot train for that," Florian says. "I can remember the taste and the smell of the blood. Iron. Liquid metal is exactly what it tasted like. It was in my mouth, my ears, my eyes, my nose. It took three showers to get all the blood off. It was like a red oil."
After the fight, which Sherk won decisively via unanimous decision, Florian handed his urine sample over to a confused athletic commissioner.
"What is this?" the official asked.
The sample was colored with blood. "It was like brown sewage," Florian says. "It was disgusting."
Outside, while walking back to his hotel room at Mandalay Bay, he forgot about the blood and remembered the loss. Florian then "cried like a little girl," but he hadn't broken during the fight. Psychologically, unlike the Sanchez bout, he had been solid.
"I had a little bit of doubt about how you would experience something like that, when someone is just relentless on you," DellaGrotte told him. "When things go bad, you never know how a fighter is going to respond. You responded like a warrior. I have no doubts about what you have as far as heart."
What Florian lacked, however, was a top-notch fitness regimen. Sherk showed that better than anyone could. In response, Florian hired a strength and conditioning coach and began training like a professional athlete. The loss to Sherk had transformed his entire take on mixed martial arts.
"Originally it was an art, and there was something beautiful about it," he says. "There was a beauty to it and a certain technique and flair. I forgot about the brutal side, and after the Sherk fight, it came out. I needed to be prepared for a war. To see his blood, to see my blood. That's when it became very real for me. After Sean Sherk (Pictures), I said, ‘You know what? It's not a competition. It's a fight. It's a f------ war.'"
In the three bouts since, Florian finished Dokonjonosuke Mishima (Pictures), Alvin Robinson (Pictures) and Din Thomas (Pictures). With his success in the UFC, it's easy to forget he has fought professionally only 11 times. Eight of those bouts were inside the Octagon, where he's essentially learned on the fly and made a career for himself.
At this point law school is long forgotten. The 31-year-old Florian is a fighter, and that's fine with his father, who especially appreciates his son's technical skill despite the violence it can cause. He'll tell you Kenny has come a long way from those cement-floor sparring sessions with his brother. A long way from those backyard brawls, though a kind of neighborhood scrap is exactly what Florian has scheduled next.
In the main event of UFC Fight Night on Wednesday in Broomfield, Colo., he will fight fellow Boston-area product Joe Lauzon (Pictures). Florian watched the 23-year-old climb the ranks in local grappling competitions and fight promotions.
"I saw this kid who was just fearless," he says. "He would go for any move. When he started fighting MMA, I knew he was going to be a tough kid and a good fighter."
Florian expects an aggressive game plan from Lauzon, who could look to grapple him to the ground and punish him from the top -- the same strategy that local wrestler used against his brother Keith years back. This time Keith, who is one of Kenny's primary trainers alongside DellaGrotte, will be the cornerman, having prepared his older brother for a fight that could move him a critical step forward in a crowded weight class.
"A win just throws me closer, I think, to a title shot," Florian says. "Any win that you can get in the lightweight division is good."
Even if he gets by Lauzon, there's Griffin and Huerta and Edgar and Penn and Sherk. Wouldn't it be easier to go back to translating financial documents and considering law school? Isn't fighting kind of crazy when you could make more money in another field and never get trapped under someone bleeding on you while he elbows you in the face?
"That feeling of winning, after a fight -- there's nothing like it," Florian says. "There's no better feeling in the world. After that, it's definitely worth it. But as soon as my passion for fighting dies, then I'll probably say, ‘This is absurd. This is crazy.'
"But it hasn't died yet."
Relive Florian's UFC lightweight title war with Sherk by owning the UFC 64 DVD.
The complexity of the sport struck him suddenly backstage before his "Ultimate Fighter" finale bout against Diego Sanchez (Pictures). A future was on the line. A UFC contract and a major push from the promotion, but he had never fought on live television, much less with stakes so high. Thirty seconds warming up on the pads, and his arms were dead.
Advertisement
The fighters circled in a slow opening. To Florian, it felt as if he and Sanchez had shuffled around the Octagon for 10 full minutes, staring at each other's paralysis.
"Do something, Kenny," he kept telling himself. "Do something! What
the hell is wrong with you?"
By the time Florian realized he was in a fight, John McCarthy was pulling Sanchez off him and the bout was over. I screwed that one up, Florian thought. Picking himself up from the canvas, he began to understand MMA was more than just a fight. It was contracts and cameras, interviews and autographs. He had neglected the psychological side of the sport, which can never be neglected for long. Florian made note and went right back to training.
"He came off the loss to Diego and he was an animal," DellaGrotte says. "It was like we didn't know him for months."
Three wins later Florian found himself in a lightweight title fight against Sean Sherk (Pictures). His conception of MMA had changed after the Sanchez fight, and it was about to change again.
Florian had studied footage of Sherk's takedowns, but come fight time the dominant wrestler did things differently. He shot to the opposite side than he had previously, was faster than expected and more aggressive with his guard passing. Florian cut him with an elbow, though that only made matters worse. He was trapped under Sherk, who bled all over him for much of the 25-minute fight.
"You cannot train for that," Florian says. "I can remember the taste and the smell of the blood. Iron. Liquid metal is exactly what it tasted like. It was in my mouth, my ears, my eyes, my nose. It took three showers to get all the blood off. It was like a red oil."
After the fight, which Sherk won decisively via unanimous decision, Florian handed his urine sample over to a confused athletic commissioner.
"What is this?" the official asked.
The sample was colored with blood. "It was like brown sewage," Florian says. "It was disgusting."
Outside, while walking back to his hotel room at Mandalay Bay, he forgot about the blood and remembered the loss. Florian then "cried like a little girl," but he hadn't broken during the fight. Psychologically, unlike the Sanchez bout, he had been solid.
"I had a little bit of doubt about how you would experience something like that, when someone is just relentless on you," DellaGrotte told him. "When things go bad, you never know how a fighter is going to respond. You responded like a warrior. I have no doubts about what you have as far as heart."
What Florian lacked, however, was a top-notch fitness regimen. Sherk showed that better than anyone could. In response, Florian hired a strength and conditioning coach and began training like a professional athlete. The loss to Sherk had transformed his entire take on mixed martial arts.
"Originally it was an art, and there was something beautiful about it," he says. "There was a beauty to it and a certain technique and flair. I forgot about the brutal side, and after the Sherk fight, it came out. I needed to be prepared for a war. To see his blood, to see my blood. That's when it became very real for me. After Sean Sherk (Pictures), I said, ‘You know what? It's not a competition. It's a fight. It's a f------ war.'"
In the three bouts since, Florian finished Dokonjonosuke Mishima (Pictures), Alvin Robinson (Pictures) and Din Thomas (Pictures). With his success in the UFC, it's easy to forget he has fought professionally only 11 times. Eight of those bouts were inside the Octagon, where he's essentially learned on the fly and made a career for himself.
At this point law school is long forgotten. The 31-year-old Florian is a fighter, and that's fine with his father, who especially appreciates his son's technical skill despite the violence it can cause. He'll tell you Kenny has come a long way from those cement-floor sparring sessions with his brother. A long way from those backyard brawls, though a kind of neighborhood scrap is exactly what Florian has scheduled next.
In the main event of UFC Fight Night on Wednesday in Broomfield, Colo., he will fight fellow Boston-area product Joe Lauzon (Pictures). Florian watched the 23-year-old climb the ranks in local grappling competitions and fight promotions.
"I saw this kid who was just fearless," he says. "He would go for any move. When he started fighting MMA, I knew he was going to be a tough kid and a good fighter."
Florian expects an aggressive game plan from Lauzon, who could look to grapple him to the ground and punish him from the top -- the same strategy that local wrestler used against his brother Keith years back. This time Keith, who is one of Kenny's primary trainers alongside DellaGrotte, will be the cornerman, having prepared his older brother for a fight that could move him a critical step forward in a crowded weight class.
"A win just throws me closer, I think, to a title shot," Florian says. "Any win that you can get in the lightweight division is good."
Even if he gets by Lauzon, there's Griffin and Huerta and Edgar and Penn and Sherk. Wouldn't it be easier to go back to translating financial documents and considering law school? Isn't fighting kind of crazy when you could make more money in another field and never get trapped under someone bleeding on you while he elbows you in the face?
"That feeling of winning, after a fight -- there's nothing like it," Florian says. "There's no better feeling in the world. After that, it's definitely worth it. But as soon as my passion for fighting dies, then I'll probably say, ‘This is absurd. This is crazy.'
"But it hasn't died yet."
Relive Florian's UFC lightweight title war with Sherk by owning the UFC 64 DVD.
Related Articles
