“Ken-Flo wants a cheeseburger, and Ken-Flo wants it NOW!!!”
Following his decision loss to Featherweight Champion José Aldo at UFC 136, there were plenty of questions asked about Kenny Florian’s next move. Having just fallen short in his third shot at UFC gold, the thirty-five year old fighter said that he needed time to evaluate his options, leading some to speculate that retirement was on the horizon.
But in an interview with the Boston Herald yesterday, Florian announced his decision to stay in the game and cited a tough weight cut for his bout with Aldo as the motivating factor in his return to the lightweight division.
“I felt [the weight cut] warming up, unfortunately. I don’t want there to be an excuse because there’s still things I should have executed that I didn’t, but I feel that it’s tough to go in there at a weight class that you’re not sure if you’re going to be 100 percent.”
Kenny’s drive to hold a title has seen him drop through a record four weight classes in the UFC. With a cut to bantamweight being physically impossible, Florian is coming to terms with not achieving his dream and focusing instead on his growth as a fighter.
“I didn’t get in this to be second-best, of course. But at the same time, not everybody can be a champion. I’m just going to go back to 155, work my way up, take it one fight at a time and see where it puts me.”
“I think there’s exciting fights out there for me, there’s still challenges out there for me, there’s still things I’d like to try to improve on and that’s the main thing. I don’t necessarily have the title in my eyes, but I do have my own personal goals as far as the technical level that I want to get to.”
While he may never achieve that number-one ranking, Florian belongs in the upper tiers of whatever division he chooses to call home, and a talent-rich division like lightweight can always use the help of someone to thin the herd at the top of the heap.