After seeing a devastated Kenny Florian lose to Jose Aldo at UFC 136, in what was his third unsuccessful bid for UFC gold, most fans completely wrote off Florian’s chances at ever winning a title in the world’s top MMA organization.
While this is clearly the most obvious scenario, it seems most of the world has completely forgotten how good Florian really is.
It’s nearly impossible to earn a UFC title fight for the majority of fighters in the world, and the list of guys who have earned more than one title opportunity after failing the first time is even smaller.
Kenny Florian, Georges St-Pierre, BJ Penn, Shogun Rua, Tito Ortiz and Gray Maynard.
That’s it.
Of the six fighters on that list, four of them have cashed in on their second opportunity, with only Florian and Maynard failing on their second attempt; to date Florian is the only fighter to lose three separate title opportunities.
While one would assume that a “three strikes and you’re out” rule would come into effect, the fact remains that Florian is good enough to earn another shot at the belt.
Every opponent Ken-Flo has lost to inside the Octagon has either been a UFC champion or has had at least on shot at the belt themselves, and unlike a lot of fighters near the top of divisions, Florian has a knack for finishing fights.
After losing to Aldo, Florian announced that he will be moving back to the lightweight division, which is essentially a division with nearly a dozen guys who could be fighting for a title in the next few years.
What makes this interesting is that Florian already holds a win over top contenders Clay Guida and Joe Lauzon, and has very few matchups that could pose problems.
Fights against Donald Cerrone, Anthony Pettis and Jim Miller are very winnable for Ken-Flo no matter where the fight goes, and Melvin Guillard would certainly be a scary opponent on the feet, but Florian has an excellent submission game when the fight hits the ground.
While a rematch against Gray Maynard would likely result much like the first fight, Florian has trained with worthy current No. 1 contender Benson Henderson, which helps him on two levels.
- Training with “Bendo” can only help him improve his takedown defense.
- If he’s training with Henderson, he likely won’t fight him, which is good because Benson is a stylistic nightmare for Florian.
While most critics have counted Florian out for good, Ken-Flo has the talent and a favorable group of opponents in front of him to make one last run at a UFC title before he hangs up his gloves.
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