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Kenny Florian Will “Wait And See What Happens With The BJ vs. GSP Fight”

(photo taken from ufc.com)

The UFC lightweight fighter Kenny "Kenflo" Florian (11-3-0) recently won his bout against Joe "Daddy" Stevenson at UFC 91.  With 6 consecutive UFC wins, Florian is undoubtedly the next lightweight contender in line for a title shot. There’s one little problem here though.  The UFC lightweight champion BJ "The Prodigy" Penn is currently preparing himself for a welterweight super fight against UFC 170-pound champion Georges "Rush" St. Pierre (GSP).  Since Penn has temporarily moved up to the welterweight division for a long-awaited rematch bout against GSP, what does Florian do in the meantime?

Florian doesn’t really like waiting too long for fights because he’s in a good rhythm at this point in his UFC career.  However, if he really wants the opportunity to fight Penn for the belt, he’ll just have to patiently wait his turn.  In a recent interview with mmaweekly, he had a few things to say about his current situation:

"If the UFC makes that decision then that’s what I’m going to do…I’m going to stay busy definitely in the gym.  I don’t really know what they have planned.  If that’s the way it’s going to go down, I’ll definitely be willing to wait a little bit.  It’s going to be tough, but we’ll see…at the end of the day, I think that’s what’s going to need to happen.  I spoke a little to Dana White about it, so I think that’s what’s probably going to happen…As a kid I always loved watching martial arts movies and I always wanted to be that ronin going around, traveling and training with the different masters and showing that you are the true master.  In order to do that you had to beat the other masters, you had to beat the best masters in the land, and BJ’s one of those guys.  That’s the way I see it…I like BJ.  I definitely didn’t want to do it in a disrespectful manner cause I have so much respect for the kid.  He’s such an awesome fighter, great kid.  He’s one of those guys to look up to."

Another option Florian mentioned was the possibility of facing Sean "The Muscle Shark" Sherk in a rematch bout, one of the only two UFC lightweights that defeated Kenflo (Diego Sanchez was the other UFC fighter to defeat Florian via TKO-strikes at the TUF Finale in April of 2005.  Drew Fickett also beat Florian via decision, but this was at CZ 7- Gravel Pit in July of 2004).  Florian believes that a rematch with Sherk is also on his to-do list and he’s confident that the results would be different this time around:

"I would love to fight Sean Sherk again.  I think he’s a phenomenal fighter, definitely think he’s a Top 10 fighter, no doubt about it, and I’ve got to thank him…He’s the one that really got me to step up my game, really commit myself as a fighter and as an athlete…This one would be ten times better and I believe with a different result."

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