Tag: Opinion

Kenny Florian Making His Run at Jose Aldo and the UFC Featherweight Championship

It’s been a long time since we first saw Massachusetts native Kenny “KenFlo” Florian competing for a roster spot on season one of The Ultimate Fighter. Florian competed at middleweight on the show, defeating Chris Leben on h…

It’s been a long time since we first saw Massachusetts native Kenny “KenFlo” Florian competing for a roster spot on season one of The Ultimate Fighter. Florian competed at middleweight on the show, defeating Chris Leben on his path to the finals, where he lost in the finale to Diego Sanchez.

Following his stint on TUF as a middleweight, Florian has since competed at welterweight, lightweight and now featherweight. The most amazing aspect of his multiple changes in weight is that Florian has been successful at every level, picking up wins against top competition such as Sam Stout, Joe Lauzon, Roger Huerta, Joe Stevenson, Clay Guida and Takanori Gomi.  

Florian had his most success at 155 pounds, where he fought in two lightweight championship matches as the challenger. Florian earned his first shot as he faced off against Sean Sherk, losing by unanimous decision. That setback seemed to only make Florian hungrier, as he proceeded to go on a six-fight win streak, finishing five of those six bouts before the final bell sounded. With all of that momentum, he gained a second chance at the lightweight title, which was now defended by lightweight legend BJ Penn. Penn went on to dominate Florian throughout the fight, out-striking Florian and stuffing his take-downs until Penn locked in a rear naked choke in Round 4 to again deny Florian of the championship. 

Florian has now set his sights on the 145-pound featherweight division where top-five pound-for-pound fighter Jose Aldo reigns supreme. Florian stated that he has wanted to fight the exciting Aldo and decided to move down in weight just to have the chance at him. In order to get his chance, he has to get past a very tough Diego Nunes at UFC 131 at the Rodgers Center in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Nunes is a top-10 world ranked featherweight that has an MMA record of 16-1 but has went to decision in his last six fights while posting a 5-1 record. Florian will be his toughest fight to date and should propel the winning fighter into a title match with Jose Aldo.

This could be the division that “KenFlo” could finally capture the UFC championship that has eluded him for so long. The reason being is that the Achilles heel of Florian has been opponents with solid wrestling games and take-down defense. Florian has come up short against Diego Sanchez, BJ Penn, Sean Sherk and Gray Maynard during his tenure with the UFC. Neither Nunes or Aldo is known for wrestling, which might enable Florian to get the fight to the mat where he can utilize one of the best ground games in MMA. In addition to that, he will be a very tall and large featherweight, which will only help his striking and ground games with a reach advantage he will possess against most opponents in that weight class.  

In order to make his dreams become reality, Florian has hit the gym hard as he is trying to bolster up his strength. Seeing it as his biggest weakness, he worked with George Lockhart on his diet to maximize his performance inside and outside the gym. He again teamed up with Jonathan Chaimberg, owner of Adrenaline Performance Center, located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada to work on his strength and conditioning.

Florian should be a force at 145, as he will be an extremely big featherweight. His coaches have said that his strength has greatly improved, his speed is up and his cardio still remains as good as ever. With the addition of strength, Florian’s game should be one of the best in MMA, as he is also one of the most technical and experienced fighters when competing inside the Octagon. 

With all of those traits combined, at 35 years of age, this could be the best version of Kenny Florian to date, as he attempts to earn a third shot at a UFC championship.    

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UFC 131: 6 Reaons Why Junior Dos Santos Will Finish Shane Carwin

Heading into UFC 131, the late replacement of Brock Lesnar by Shane Carwin has turned a lot of heads. While late replacements are usually disappointing, many seem to believe that Carwin actually makes for a better fight with Junior Dos Santos.Both are …

Heading into UFC 131, the late replacement of Brock Lesnar by Shane Carwin has turned a lot of heads. While late replacements are usually disappointing, many seem to believe that Carwin actually makes for a better fight with Junior Dos Santos.

Both are known for their vicious knockouts and between the two of them, they have a combined 22 first round finishes.

Still, Dos Santos, for several reasons, will finish Shane Carwin at UFC 131 and get a shot at Cain Velasquez in the process. 

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MMA Coaching: The Sport’s Most Underrated Coaches

Every sport has coaches who receive enormous amounts of attention for their work. The NFL has larger than life coaches in Bill Belichick and Rex Ryan. Mike D’Antoni and Doc Rivers are two gentlemen who are frequently in NBA headlines. The same can be s…

Every sport has coaches who receive enormous amounts of attention for their work.

The NFL has larger than life coaches in Bill Belichick and Rex Ryan. Mike D’Antoni and Doc Rivers are two gentlemen who are frequently in NBA headlines.

The same can be said for Mixed Martial Arts, Greg Jackson will go down as one of the greatest coaches of all-time, and most recently, Firas Zahabi has seen his exposure skyrocket.

That being said, the sport features some of the most talented and hardest working coaches in all of sports who receive little attention from the public for their efforts.

So, here’s to the gentlemen that deserve attention for the countless hours they spend in and out of the gym helping their fighters chase their dreams.

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Will ESPN Ever Fully Embrace MMA?

Mixed martial arts is steadily entering the mainstream with each passing event.Fighters are being interviewed on more talk shows, casual fans are recognizing more athletes, but there remains one last obstacle before MMA can be considered a legitimate, …

Mixed martial arts is steadily entering the mainstream with each passing event.

Fighters are being interviewed on more talk shows, casual fans are recognizing more athletes, but there remains one last obstacle before MMA can be considered a legitimate, high profile sport.

More coverage on ESPN.

For a long time, the worldwide leader in sports gave little coverage, if any, to the UFC and no coverage at all to the other promotions.  MMA was believed to be bloody and barbaric, relegated to a small section on the company’s website. 

But the last two or three years has given way to a substantial increase in reporting for all the major MMA promotions by ESPN.

In 2008, ESPN started MMA Live as an internet show, mixing traditional analysts and commentators with fighters as a way to cover events.  The show received so much positive feedback that the corporate brass decided to make the internet segment into a television program.

The show, regularly hosted by UFC personalities such as Kenny Florian, Rashad Evans and Stephan Bonnar, has gained a huge following by MMA and casual fans alike despite being aired late at night once a week.

ESPN has also featured some of the sport’s most amazing moments on SportsCenter’s Top Plays. Anthony Pettis’ “Showtime” kick and Anderson Silva‘s front kick knockout are just two great occurrences that appeared on the segment.

But if MMA, and especially the UFC, want to take the next step, then they will have to push for even more coverage by ESPN, specifically in the United States.

ESPN has shown an increased commitment to reporting on MMA, adding more money to their MMA budget recently and partnering with the UFC to televise events overseas.

However, inconsistent coverage on SportsCenter and the terrible time slot for the MMA Live show makes ESPN hesitant to fully embrace the sport just yet.

As the sport continues to grow and gain more and more fans, I have faith that ESPN will certainly start catering to MMA fans and, hopefully, elevate the sport to a higher profile status.

You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattJuulMMA.

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UFC 131 Fight Card: Is Junior Dos Santos Destined to Be Heavyweight Champion?

At UFC 131, Junior dos Santos is set to face Shane Carwin in a heavyweight bout that will determine the No. 1 contender for the UFC heavyweight title.Cain Velasquez awaits the two fighters and is a tough test for either one of them. At the age of 26, i…

At UFC 131, Junior dos Santos is set to face Shane Carwin in a heavyweight bout that will determine the No. 1 contender for the UFC heavyweight title.

Cain Velasquez awaits the two fighters and is a tough test for either one of them. At the age of 26, is Junior dos Santos destined to overtake Velasquez or eventually take over the UFC throne?

Dos Santos has come into the UFC and picked apart each fighter he has faced with his devastating striking ability, beating the likes of Roy Nelson, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, Gabriel Gonzaga and Fabricio Werdum.

The brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, dos Santos has yet to showcase his ground game and it could be his one key weakness in his game. But who knows how good he really is on the ground? Yes, we haven’t seen it yet, but it could be great for all we know. It could also be very bad.

Dos Santos, though, has made it this far with his striking, and for a heavyweight, is a very athletic fighter. 

Eventually I see dos Santos as a champion, and he could be the best threat to Velasquez’s throne. If we knew what dos Santos’ ground game looked like, I could say how good of a chance he has. But, if the fight stays standing I think he has the ability to beat the likes of Velasquez.

Since we don’t know about his ground game, though, I think Velasquez could use his All-American wrestling to control dos Santos on the ground and win a decision victory, or get into full mount and ground-and-pound dos Santos.

Soon enough, the 26-year old dos Santos will be champion, and he has all the potential to become a UFC heavyweight champion. This dream for dos Santos could very well be achieved this year.

You can follow Sal on Twitter: @SalDeRoseMMA

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TUF 13 Finale Results: Can Anthony Pettis Fight Back into the Title Picture?

Last night at The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale, Clay Guida controlled Anthony Pettis for most of the fight and was able to slow down Pettis’ UFC lightweight title hopes.With Guida controlling him on the ground, Pettis found no answer to his wrestling and…

Last night at The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale, Clay Guida controlled Anthony Pettis for most of the fight and was able to slow down Pettis’ UFC lightweight title hopes.

With Guida controlling him on the ground, Pettis found no answer to his wrestling and couldn’t get it done with his striking, even with yet another “Showtime kick” that couldn’t find it’s target.

But with his loss to Guida, is Pettis able to fight back into the UFC lightweight title picture?

The division is so backed up, and it was just announced today that, in fact, Jim Miller would be getting the next shot at the title. Barring some sort freak draw—again—Miller will either face Gray Maynard or Frankie Edgar sometime late this year or early in 2012. 

So this long wait for these two bouts to finish gives Pettis enough time to rack up two or three wins before the title shot is actually up for grabs yet again.

Pettis is young at the age of 24, and has plenty of time to fight his way back to the top of the UFC ranks. Pettis can rack up wins against the other fighters who are close to getting title shots like Melvin Guillard and Dennis Siver and possibly have a rematch with Ben Henderson sometime soon.

Pettis has some very good skills, including his creative striking and good guard that seems to be the best in the lightweight division.

The former WEC champion is young and still improving. The fact that he even uses the cage as a way to land his strikes is new and helpful in his fights.

So for now, his title hopes are on hold, but Pettis still has a long career ahead of him and could definitely fight his way back into title contention.

You can follow Sal on Twitter: @SalDeRoseMMA

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