- The fight poster for Dream.6 is pretty bad-ass. (SubFighter Forum)

- Talking Rampage, ShoXC, GSP and more on MMA Rated Radio. (MMA Rated)

- Forrest Griffin and Mac Danzig land acting gigs. (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Kenny Florian’s younger brother set to make amateur debut. (Fightline)

- UFC 83 DVD outsells Boston Celtics and Ric Flair, kind of. (MMA Payout)

- A little old school Matt Hughes-Dennis Hallman action. Real old school. (MMA Scraps)

- It’s Beer O’Clock, are you properly outfitted? (Holy Taco)

- Four steps to becoming a rich jerk. (Wall Street Fighter)

- “Iron Man” deleted scenes feature hot girls, not so much Iron Man. (Screen Junkies)

(A face made for TV.)

When Kenny Florian told us in our exclusive interview that he hoped to get ESPN’s internet show “MMA Live” onto actual TV soon, we naturally assumed it was just one of those things you say without really meaning it. Kind of like, ‘We should get together for lunch some time’ or ‘I love you.’ But from the sound of it they might really be close to landing a TV slot for the show on one of the ESPN’s:

“I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag, but soon,” Florian said. “The next couple of months, we’re hoping to get [MMA Live] on ESPN or ESPN 2, and the sponsors are getting on board as we speak, so we should have a deal very, very soon. We’re all very pumped.”

In all seriousness, we really hope this works out. Not only is it a great step towards more coverage for MMA, but Florian is one of the sport’s greatest ambassadors. You put his suburban Boston mug on TV with the words ‘MMA Fighter’ below them and suddenly it gets a lot harder to call the sport human cockfighting fit only for tattooed bar bouncers. Plus, doesn’t the world deserve to hear about his hellbows?

(Props to MMA Mania for the poster image.)

— Kenny Florian doesn’t plan on sitting out until BJ Penn decides to defend his lightweight belt; he’ll be fighting one more time this year, no matter what. “(Penn) made the decision that he wants to fight GSP and I tell you what as a fan I want to see that fight,” Florian said during an appearance on MMA Weekly Radio. “It’s a risky move and some people have criticized me for it, but I still want to get another fight in…before the year’s end and I want to fight someone tough.”

— All signs are pointing to Cheick Kongo as Brock Lesnar’s next opponent. And why not UFC Hall-of-Famer Mark Coleman, who was originally supposed to take on Lesnar at “Seek and Destroy”? According to Dave Meltzer: “The basic story is this…Coleman really doesn’t want the fight.”

— UFC 90 (October 25th, Chicago) will see the Octagon debut of Matt Horwich, the Team Quest product and one-time IFL middleweight champion. He’ll be given a very tough test against BJJ ace Ricardo Almeida, who’s coming off a split decision loss to Patrick Cote at UFC 86. The UFC has also announced a UFC 90 middleweight matchup between Goran Reljic and Thales Leites.

— Even Jason MacDonald doesn’t know why he decided to fight Demian Maia on the ground: “It was a stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid fight on my behalf. And I take the full blame 100 percent for it. I’ll take it right on the forehead like I took those hundred elbows from Maia.”

Give ‘em a look while they last…

(St. Pierre vs. Fitch; props to MMA Linker)

(Lesnar vs. Herring; props to MixedMartialArtVideos)

(Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

It’s time, baby. Jon Fitch attempts to steal Georges St. Pierre’s welterweight belt, Kenny Florian and Roger Huerta throw down in a lightweight #1 contender “definitely in the mix” match, and Brock Lesnar smash face. Hit that “more” link and refresh the page every few minutes to read all the latest from the Target Center in Minneapolis, MN. Low prices every day — caged death tonight.

(In all fairness, the rearview mirror is knocked off just like Dana White said.)

- How the physical evidence matches up with Dana White’s insistence that Rampage Jackson did not cause a woman to have a miscarriage. (Fightlinker)

- Photos of Kenny Florian and Jon Fitch working out pre-UFC 87. (Combat Lifestyle)

- Takanori Gomi has a public training session. (Suki MMA)

- MMA agent talks marketing and fight game economics (Xtreme Couture)

- The UFC’s hard sell of Jon Fitch. (MMA Payout)

- GSP’s trainer raps with Ariel Helwani. (MMA Rated)

- Clips from Fedor’s instructional DVD. (MMA Scraps)

- Clay Aiken allegedly fathers a baby boy…somehow. (Holy Taco)

- The great investment opportunities that can be found on Ebay. (Wall Street Fighter)

(“Considering our fight is pretty much meaningless now, we’re just gonna bro out for a while, if that’s cool.”)

Partly because of BJ Penn’s restlessness and partly because of Roger Huerta’s stalled contract negotiations the UFC is no longer promising that the winner of Saturday’s match between El Matador and Kenny Florian will get an immediate title shot. During an appearance on TAGG Radio, Dana White edited previous statements about the fight’s #1 contender status:

“There’s no guarantees that Florian and Huerta are going to get a title shot after this fight,” White said of Saturday’s lightweight bout. “It definitely puts them in the mix … but definitely, if St. Pierre beats Fitch, it’s looking like it’ll be GSP (vs.) B.J. Penn.”

The thing is, that’s not exactly how Penn sees it. The Prodigy recently told MMA Weekly that he’s 170-bound no matter what happens in tomorrow night’s main event:

“I’d feel okay facing anyone for the welterweight title…It would be great to put on a big fight with me and St-Pierre, but then again, it’s about me fighting the best fighter and if Fitch goes down and proves he’s the best fighter, then he’s the man.”

(That’s not the face of a man you want to bet against, is it?)

You can learn a lot about life by gambling on sporting events over the internet. Mostly what you learn is that oddsmakers and bookies are smarter than you 90% of the time. The key is knowing that you know less than the oddsmakers and bookies and working around it (I think Socrates said that). Another thing you can learn is that some people actually bet on preseason football. Seriously. You might as well bury your life savings in the backyard and hope it grows into a money tree. At least that way you know where it is.

Fortunately for the off-shore gambling economy, UFC 87 is a stacked and somewhat unpredictable card, so the temptation to try and win some cash is almost irresistible. Our odds today come from Betus.com, and as always you should read Damon Durante’s MMA Betting for ‘Tards if you still don’t know how odds work.

Georges St. Pierre (-350) vs. Jon Fitch (+250)

It’s not exactly shocking to see GSP as the favorite, but the way people have been jumping on the Fitch bandwagon of late, claiming that he presents all kinds of new problems for the champ, I’m surprised the line isn’t a little closer. But there’s a reason it’s not. GSP is an incredible athlete who seems to be at the height of his powers, both mentally and physically. Fitch’s greatest strength is his wrestling, and you aren’t going to outwrestle GSP. Ask Josh Koscheck and Matt Hughes. You certainly aren’t going to finish him that way, and five rounds worth of trying for takedowns is going to leave you vulnerable to catching knee-in-the-face disease, which is known to be fatal to your title hopes.

A guy with Fitch’s natural ability always has a shot, but not one I’d want to bet on. If you do though, that’s cool. Maybe poverty will be good for you.

(Next big thing, or MMA’s Ryan Leaf?)

With a blockbuster UFC 87 lineup as our fodder, it’s time again for Cage Potato’s editors to argue like an old married couple that only got hitched because of an unexpected pregnancy. We don’t love each other and yet we don’t know enough to expect better from our lives, so here we are. In this edition we debate topics such as what’s to become of Brock Lesnar on Saturday night and beyond, who will be the number one lightweight contender when the dust finally settles, will Rampage Jackson be back in the UFC any time soon, and more. Let’s grimly get it on.

Will Brock Lesnar revive his MMA career with this fight, or will he officially be a bust once UFC 87 is in the books?

Fowlkes: Clearly the UFC isn’t interested in giving Brock Lesnar a lay-up to help jumpstart his MMA career, and you have to respect that. Heath Herring is tough and experienced and, had a couple things gone differently for him, he could easily be the top heavyweight contender right now instead of Frank Mir, who won all of two straight fights to achieve that distinction.

Lesnar is a physical specimen who is athletically gifted, this we know. But what else do we know about him? He hates airplanes and gays, prizes staying home, and is vulnerable to submissions. Basically, we don’t know what he’s really capable of as an MMA fighter. Strength won’t be enough against Herring (who will have spent the last couple months drilling his wrestling if he has any sense at all) and strength is about all we can count on from Lesnar at this point.

Herring is too crafty a veteran to get overwhelmed by pure power. He’s going to pick Lesnar apart on the feet and submit him late in the second or early in the third, and when he does you should turn up your TV so you can actually hear the air going out of Lesnar’s hype balloon. The UFC will give him a young up-and-comer next, just to see what he has left, but this is the point where he goes from a top prospect to another guy fighting for contract survival.

Goldstein: Yeah, Herring’s probably been drilling his wrestling. You know who else has been drilling his wrestling? Brock Lesnar. I wouldn’t be surprised if either fighter pulled a win out of this match, but there’s one thing that’s guaranteed: At some point, Herring will be taken down and put on his back. Seriously.

(Whose house? KenFlo’s house.)

As MMA fighters go, Kenny Florian is as intelligent and articulate a guy as you can hope to find. He’s also a workaholic and an ever-evolving bad-ass in the cage, and his next test against the formidable Roger Huerta should answer any lingering questions as to who deserves to be the UFC’s top lightweight contender. Whether B.J. Penn will stick around to defend his 155-pound title, well, that’s another issue altogether.

In this exclusive interview with KenFlo we discuss training strategies, Roger Huerta’s apparent dissatisfaction with the UFC, being an ESPN MMA analyst, and more.

CagePotato.com: Hey Kenny, thanks for talking with me. How has your training for this fight been going?

Everything’s been going really well. My training camp was awesome. I really didn’t take too much time off. After the Lauzon fight I think I was back in the gym the following week and I wasn’t completely pleased, technically speaking, with my performance, so I wanted to get right back in the gym and improve on those things. With all the commitments I had before this fight, the traveling and all that, I’m glad I got a jump on it early.

What were you displeased with about your performance against Lauzon?

Joe Lauzon just shouldn’t have taken me down like he did. That was the main thing, was the wrestling angle of it. I just wanted to get back and get my hands on a quality wrestling coach so I could really improve in that area. It’s one thing to be able to do it in training, but it needs to be second nature in order for you to use it when you need it in a fight. So I found a great wrestling coach who’s just been a phenomenal addition to my team.

I’ve just been working on a lot of the fundamentals of wrestling, both defensively and offensively, and working on making sure I’m doing things right technically. With wrestling in particular you get a lot of people who will tell you ‘Oh, you should do it this way or that way,’ but having a world class guy to show you this is the way it should be done and here’s why, it gets it into your muscle memory and makes you a stronger fighter.

What do you think Roger Huerta’s greatest strength is as a fighter?

(Wait, so if he isn’t banging Patrcyja, who is he banging? Uh oh.)

Grab a cup of coffee and settle in…

— UFC ring girl Arianny Celeste gets a crash course in BJJ. Yes, it’s hot. (MMA Rated)

— Nate Diaz vs. Josh Neer is the official headlining bout of the next UFC Fight Night (September 17th, Omaha); Mac Danzig, Clay Guida, Houston Alexander, Joe Lauzon, and Ed Herman are also on the card. Not sure what Neer has done to deserve a main event spot, but hey, Joe Silva works in mysterious ways. (ufc.com)

— In one of the preview videos on the official “Seek and Destroy” website, Dana White says Roger Huerta and Kenny Florian “have hearts the size of Tito’s fuckin’ head.” (87.ufc.com)

— Contrary to previous horrified speculation, Tim Sylvia is not banging Patrcyja Mikula. (MMAyou)

— Come on, you knew that Affliction wasn’t just going to use a regular ring for their totally Xtreme debut event. (BloodyElbow)

— Frank Trigg’s next fight will be against Makoto Takimoto (4-4) at Sengoku IV, which goes down August 24th in Saitama, Japan. (Nightmare of Battle)

— Edith Labelle adores The Notebook, has a Yorkie named Chico, and burps very loudly when she’s alone. And knowing is half the battle. (Men’s Fitness)

— The Association of Boxing Commissions was just kidding about their changes to the Unified Rules of MMA. (Fightlinker)

— Security-tape beating of the day: pizza shop employee vs. robber = large FAIL with double anchovies. (Holy Taco)

— Budweiser is now owned by foreigners. (Wall Street Fighter)

From the latest episode of ESPN.com’s MMA Live, Kenny Florian demonstrates a technique for clinch-domination that you should definitely add to your bar-fight repertoire. Speaking of which, James Irvin doesn’t believe that Anderson Silva is “real technical in terms of the clinch.” Yeah, he really said that — video proof is below.

Clear your schedules for August 9th, people. Like UFC 84, the three headlining bouts at “Seek and Destroy” are worth the cost of admission and the rest is just gravy. So, GSP/Fitch, Lesnar/Herring, and Florian/Huerta…who ya got?

Sort of related: The UFC has confirmed what most of us already knew — Michael Bisping and Chris Leben will meet at UFC 89, which will be held at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England, on October 9th.

In the latest installment of the half-hour MMA web show, Dana White stops by to chat about Anderson Silva, the UFC’s July SpikeTV event going up against Affliction’s PPV, and Lorenzo Fertitta’s new role in the company. On the UFC’s global expansion, White says: “In eight years, this will be the biggest sport in the world. Bigger than the NFL, bigger than soccer (!!!), it’s gonna be the biggest.” Later in the show, Kenny Florian talks about avenging his losses as well as punishments for missing weight, and Josh Barnett calls in to analyze the ongoing DREAM tournaments and his Affliction debut against Pedro Rizzo. In the “MMA for Dummies” segment, Ken-Flo demonstrates the Muay Thai clinch.

Here’s the second episode of ESPN’s new online series, MMA Live, co-hosted again by Kenny Florian. In this installment, the panel breaks down UFC 84′s main event, Tito Ortiz’s career, Mike Tyson’s rumored jump to MMA, and Rich Franklin’s rumored jump to 205. In the “MMA for Dummies” segment, Bas Rutten runs us through “The Exorcist,” a neck crank sub perfect for when your opponent just ain’t givin’ up that rear-naked choke. If you missed the first episode, it’s after the jump.

(Lesnar socks Frank Mir with one of his XXXXL gloves at UFC 81.)

The UFC released an official statement late last night on UFC.com announcing that the heavyweight fight between ex-WWE star Brock Lesnar and UFC Hall-of-Famer Mark Coleman will be the official headlining match for UFC 87, which has been dubbed “Seek and Destroy.” UFC 87 will take place August 9th at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota; tickets go on sale next Sunday at noon CT. Considering that Lesnar and Roger Huerta (who will face Kenny Florian in a #1 lightweight contender eliminator match on the same card) are both based in the Minneapolis area, you should expect those tickets to sell out fast. But hey, there’s always the UFC’s official bloodsucking scalpers “fan to fan ticket marketplace” StubHub.

Coleman expressed excitement at his matchup with Brock Lesnar and his return to the Octagon, but it doesn’t sound like the Hammer’s game plan is to outwrestle the 265-pound dick-tatooed beast. “I’ll be up against a bigger, stronger wrestler for the first time, and they know this fight will be extremely intense from the start,” Coleman said. “But I didn’t take this fight to lose, I expect to win and win by knockout.” Said Lesnar: “It’s an honor to get a chance to fight Coleman, he’s a legend and he’s made history fighting all over the world. I know he is going to come into this fight in great condition, looking to re-establish himself as a top contender in the UFC. It’s going to be a challenge, and I’m looking forward to it.”

(Roger Huerta could be ending his fight-hiatus in August.)

Brief (but important) developments in the world of organized violence…

— MMAMadness has learned from a “very reliable source” that UFC lightweight Roger Huerta will return to the Octagon at UFC 87 (August 9th, Minneapolis), against a yet-unnamed opponent. Could this be related to Kenny Florian’s recent call-out of “El Matador”? If it’s not, Joe Silva can basically go eff himself.

— In his first TUF7 column for Fox Sports, Forrest Griffin reveals that all the fighters were instructed to show up at no heavier than 190 pounds; so that one dude who had to drop 17 in one day only has himself to blame. Also: “I noticed that for the first couple of days ‘Rampage’ was much more funny than me and I was upset by that.”

— Perhaps due to the controversy spurring from last week’s news coverage of kiddie MMA, legislators are seeking to ban children’s MMA competitions in Missouri, the only state where youth matches are allowed. The MO-based youth-MMA organization Freestyle Combat League already requires its fighters to wear head gear and shin guards, and prohibits strikes to the head of a grounded opponent. The head of the FCL, Nathan Orand, says he’ll also be adding chest and stomach protectors for fighters younger than 14, allowing referees to stop a match if they see the danger of a joint injury, and switching from a cage to a ring. Sounds safe enough for our daughter!

— This Portfolio article on Chuck Liddell-as-accountant is notable for the following metaphor: “When I’m watching pre-fight tapes, I’m collecting all my receipts on my opponents, accumulating data,” [Liddell] says. “Once I step into the cage, it’s April 15. Everything is due.”

— MMAJunkie just put up an article evaluating the UFC performance of the 100 fighters featured on the first six seasons of The Ultimate Fighter. Junkie’s rather downbeat assessment: “[O]nly about 20 percent could be generously credited as UFC stars, or even serious contenders in their weight classes…more than half of the “TUF” contestants were unequivocal flops in that they failed to last more than two or three fights with the organization, if even that long.”

— Our buddy Ariel at JarryPark was recently named Editor-in-Chief of MMARated.com (mazel tov, brotha), and just put up a great audio interview with Cung Le, in which the new Strikeforce middleweight champ discusses Frank Shamrock’s trash-talk and his current contract situation with Strikeforce.

— Have a friend you don’t mind getting uncomfortably close with? Then these 10 “Ultimate Fighting” Exercises might be for you…

Many of you wanted the underdog to pull this one out, but it’s hard not to be impressed by Kenny Florian, who faced another tough opponent last night and walked away without so much as a scratch. The match certainly lived up to the hype, with a wild first round and decisive finish. Unfortunately, Lauzon was completely lost under Florian’s mount, and did very little to control Florian’s body. The better fighter won; simple as that. Let’s hope the UFC grants Ken-Flo’s wish and gives him a fight with Huerta to decide the 155-pound division’s next lightweight title contender…

(Yep, Kenny finishes fights. Photo courtesy of MMAWeekly.)

It’s a shame that the UFC couldn’t squeeze a fourth hour out of SpikeTV for last night’s Fight Night broadcast, because the preliminary matches were just as action-packed and stoppage-heavy as the televised card. Some highlights:

— Clay Guida dominated Samy Schiavo, taking the Frenchman down in the middle of the opening round and ground-and-pounding him against the fence until the ref stepped in.
— Marcus Aurelio sent Ryan Roberts to the mat with a right hand directly following the bell, then quickly tapped him with an armbar; the submission victory took just 16 seconds. The win contributed to a 2-1 showing for American Top Team fighters last night, as Thiago Alves defeated Karo Parisyan, and Din Thomas dropped a unanimous decision to Josh Neer.
— Of the three Armenians competing last night, only Manny Gamburyan found a win, finishing Jeff Cox in the first round with a guillotine choke; Karo Parisyan and Roman Mitichyan both suffered second-round TKO losses.

Full results are below:

Main Card
Kenny Florian def. Joe Lauzon via TKO, 3:28 of round 2
Thiago Alves def. Karo Parisyan via TKO, 0:34 of round 2
Gray Maynard def. Frank Edgar via unanimous decision
Matt Hamill def. Tim Boetsch via TKO, 1:25 of round 2
Nate Diaz def. Kurt Pellegrino via submission (triangle choke), 3:06 of round 2
James Irvin def. Houston Alexander via TKO, 0:08 of round 1

Preliminary Card
Josh Neer def. Din Thomas via unanimous decision.
Marcus Aurelio def. Ryan Roberts via submission (armbar), 0:16 of round 1
Manny Gamburyan def. Jeff Cox via submission (guillotine), 1:41 of round 1
Clay Guida def. Samy Schiavo via TKO, 4:15 of round 1
George Sotiropoulos def. Roman Mitichyan via TKO, 2:24 of round 2
Anthony Johnson def. Tommy Speer via TKO, 0:51 of round 1

Some final thoughts…

Case of beer? Check. Piss bucket? Check. Well then, we’re ready to roll! Click the “more” link and refresh the page every few minutes to get the latest updates from the “Bloodbath in Broomfield” (a.k.a. UFN 13).

(Ken-Flo and J-Lau will face off in tomorrow’s main event.)

Here are the quick weigh-in results for tomorrow’s UFC Fight Night 13. For video of the scale tippers and Joe Rogan’s screaming, go here.

Main Card:
Kenny Florian (155.5) vs Joe Lauzon (156)
Karo Parisyan (171) vs Thiago Alves (171)
Nate Diaz (156) vs Kurt Pellegrino (155)
James Irvin (205) vs Houston Alexander (205)
Gray Maynard (155) vs Frankie Edgar (155.5)
Tim Boetsch (206) vs Matt Hamill (204)

Under Card:
Josh Neer (156) vs Din Thomas (155)
Roman Mitichyan (170.5) vs George Sotiropoulos (169.5)
Marcus Aurelio (154.5) vs Ryan Roberts (155.5)
Clay Guida (156) vs Samy Schiavo (155)
Manvel Gamburyan (155.5) vs Jeff Cox (155)
Tommy Speer (170) vs Anthony Johnson (169.5)

(“Disrespect me again and I snap the kid’s neck!”)

In our chat with Kenny Florian, he kinda’, sorta’ hinted that feels he’s being disrespected by BJ Penn and the Lauzons. He flat out says it in an interview with MMAWeekly:

“But now here’s a kid looking past me. He’s training with B.J. Penn and apparently he’s become B.J. or whatever it is and they’re looking past me. You know what? If they do that, B.J.’s going to end up sending Joe Lauzon to the slaughter, because I’m not going to have anyone disrespect me like that or anyone going into a fight thinking they’re just going to run right by me.”

And a similar statement from a Sprawl.tv interview:

I think he has been very disrespectful. I think Joe has been hanging out with B.J to much, and now he thinks he’s little B.J. Well little B.J is going to get taken care of on April 2nd.

Joe Lauzon didn’t do any disrespectin’ when we talked to him and judging by the video the Lauzons shot and posted over at Joe’s official site, they’re full of respect.

A lamp shade on a head — when not creepy — is comedy gold, no matter how you slice it. Lightweights Ken-Flo and J-Lau will battle it out in the main event on Wednesday during UFC Fight Night 13.

By CagePotato Guest Contributor Brian Knapp

What began as innocent play-acting between friends on a backyard trampoline evolved into an unlikely career for Joe Lauzon — an information technology specialist by trade, a mixed martial artist by choice. Never in his wildest dreams could Lauzon have envisioned the path he has taken.

“It happened by accident,” Lauzon says. “We’d been power bombing and choke slamming each other on a trampoline, and it eventually turned into a grappling match to see who could stop who. A couple of my friends started training in jiu-jitsu, and the next thing I know, I’m getting triangle choked every two minutes.”

His competitive interest piqued, Lauzon decided to train, too, and through that seemingly insignificant decision, the Brockton, Mass., native charted a new course.

“I was like, ‘enough of this,’ and I started training jiu-jitsu,” he says. “And when my friends started fighting, I started fighting. A couple of years ago, I never would have thought I’d be on a billboard in Times Square.”

Lauzon has covered great distance in a short time, emerging as a top prospect inside one of the UFC’s deepest divisions. He will tackle Kenny Florian in the main event at UFC Fight Night 13 next Wednesday, April 2 at the Broomfield Event Center in Broomfield, Colo. And right now, Lauzon’s stock has never been higher.

By CagePotato Guest Contributor Ben Fowlkes

On April 2nd, Kenny Florian headlines the next edition of Spike TV’s “UFC Fight Night,” where he’ll take on lightweight up-and-comer Joe Lauzon. While most fans know that Florian, like Lauzon, got his start in the UFC with The Ultimate Fighter, what they don’t know is that his journey really began with a near-death experience that changed his outlook on life.

Florian took a trip to Brazil in the summer of 2003 with the goal of improving his jiu-jitsu. While hiking down a mountain with some friends, Florian slipped on the wet, mossy rocks and began sliding off a precipice. Friends tried to grab him, but Florian plummeted over the edge and fell “for what seemed like an eternity.” He landed on a rounded rock that stopped his fall and ultimately saved his life. The experience was an eye-opening one for Florian, and it prompted him to abandon the safety of his white-collar life and pursue his dreams.

In this exclusive interview, Florian talks about the ramifications of that incident, about being haunted and motivated by defeat, and about his impending showdown with Lauzon and what it means for his career.

CagePotato: You came into the UFC by way of The Ultimate Fighter, and you’d only had a few professional fights at that point. What’s the major difference between that Kenny Florian and the one we see in the Octagon now?
Kenny Florian: That last Kenny Florian’s a punk. No, the Kenny Florian on The Ultimate Fighter was a guy who was trying to test his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He was a guy who really wasn’t sure if he wanted to become a fighter. It was just an opportunity that was presented to him at the time.

Now you’re seeing a guy who wants to learn it all and who wants to be a master of it all, and who sees the beauty in any technique that works. Whether it’s striking or wrestling or expanding my jiu-jitsu game for MMA, I’m trying to not only get good at the individual arts but find a circle of techniques that flow into each other and compliment each other. It’s an art in itself, just finding what works for MMA.

Now that you’re fighting at lightweight and having success, do you ever look back and wonder, “What was I thinking trying to be a middleweight?”
I was fat, that’s the main thing that comes to my mind. I had no concept of nutrition, of strength and conditioning. Not until after the Sherk fight did I have any concept of those things like the way I do now. I was definitely a work in progress, but I was crazy then. I was really a natural 155’er who was given an opportunity to compete at 185 and I thought, why not? I had nothing to lose.

I had no idea it would become this big, running show. I thought it could have been my only opportunity to fight for the UFC or fight on TV and help bring this sport to the masses. It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up, and on top of that, week after week, I became more confident. I thought, with the skills I have now I’m doing well against all these experienced mixed martial artists, I may have a chance at winning this thing.

It was really one of my first experiences with mixed martial arts and it was a great chance to work out with great coaches like Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell and find out what it takes to get to that next level. Those are the guys that planted the seed in my head for what I’m doing now.

Reading past interviews with you, it seems like you’re really motivated by your losses. What’s it like after a big loss, when you get back to the dressing room and have to face that dark moment? How do you move past it?
It’s a terrible, terrible feeling. My loss to Sean Sherk haunts me to this day. At the same time it motivates me, and I can look at it as a positive experience. You can let things like that defeat you, or you put them behind you and learn from them and get better. That’s what I tried to do. There’s no such thing as a setback in life. There are only lessons. We’re made to evolve and get better and faster and stronger. You can do that within your own life.

It’s like pushing weights for the first time and your body’s sore and it sucks and it’s really hard, but after a while your muscles and your nervous system and everything gets stronger. Your muscle memory gets better. That’s the way it is with certain things in fighting. If you have a loss, you need to look at it and learn from it. What technical mistakes did I make? What strategic mistakes did I make? What mental mistakes did I make?

You cover all those bases and, if you need to, write it down and start working on patching those holes up. You can only look at it as a positive and live in the present day. If you live in the past, you’re dead.

Fine, we’ll be the first ones to say it — the scheduled card for January 23rd’s Ultimate Fight Night isn’t exactly turning our cranks. No disrespect to Swick, Cote, et al., but we have seriously low hopes for that mess. Luckily, the next UFN could be a killer, with two sure-to-excite bouts rumored to go down.

As MMA Junkie reports, Ultimate Fight Night 13 will air live on Spike TV on April 2nd, directly before the season premiere of The Ultimate Fighter 7. Lightweights Kenny “Ken Flo!” Florian and Joe “J-Lau!” Lauzon have agreed to a bout that will serve as the night’s main event, while Stephan Bonnar and Matt Hamill have also been discussed as a possible co-headlining bout.

The Florian/Lauzon fight could have major significance to the UFC’s lightweight picture, as the winner could possibly face Roger Huerta for the slot of #1 contender, and eventually face the winner of Penn/Stevenson vs. Sherk. As for Bonnar/Hamill, I have shameless schoolboy crushes on both the soft-spoken “American Psycho” and that big lovable deaf lug, so I know I’d be watching with a bag of Fritos, a bottle of hand-lotion*, and a mile-wide smile.

* Are anybody else’s knuckles drying out in this damned weather? What, you didn’t think I meant…oh come on, grow up!I totally LOVE WOMEN!

In honor of Ken-Flo’s upcoming debut in the announcer’s booth, here’s his most recent fight against Din Thomas at UFC Fight Night 11 (9/19/07), which was kind of a fiasco, actually. First, Florian nails Thomas with the hardest accidental groin kick I’ve ever seen. He was looking to break Thomas’s leg with that shot, and instead nailed him directly in the pills. Then, Mario Yamasaki does an awesome job of standing there with his thumb up his ass while Florian repeatedly pounds Thomas in the back of the head; at one point, Florian makes a gesture at Yamasaki as if to say, “Do you actually need to see the dude’s brains before you jump in?” But hey, all’s well that ends well.