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Title Or No Title Kenny Florian Eager To Fight, BJ Penn vs. George St. Pierre Likely In January ’09

Kenny "Kenflo" Florian just came off a huge win over Roger "El Matador" Huerta at UFC 87, which took place at the Target Center in Minnesota earlier this month. 

Many of his fans thought that he’d be fighting BJ "The Prodigy" Penn soon for the lightweight belt.  However, in a recent interview with Shari Spencer (George St. Pierre’s manager), he tells us that a rematch bout between BJ Penn and George "Rush" St. Pierre is already in the works…

"That’s my understanding…I know [UFC President] Dana [White] has been announcing it publicly. We haven’t officially signed a bout agreement, but everything is pointing toward January 31 in Vegas against B.J. Penn.”

Kenny Florian may seem a little disappointed with the decision after working hard to climb back into title position.  Nonetheless, he admits that a rematch fight between two of MMA’s greatest athletes would be a must-see fight he’d definitely watch himself. 

A title match would be great, but he doesn’t want to be sidelined and inactive for several months. 

Instead, he’d prefer to fight someone and hopefully before the end of this year.  The UFC seems to hint a bout between Florian and either Frankie Edgar or Joe "Daddy" Stevenson.  Florian tells sherdog.com that a bout with Stevenson seems more likely and plus he feels that a win there would give him more credibility, especially in such a competitive lightweight division that the UFC already has.

Here’s a snip from Kenflo himself:

“I’m a fighter, and I want to stay busy; I want to fight all the best people…There are a lot of people who think Joe Stevenson is still a top 10 fighter and I’m not. I still have a lot to prove out there. For me, I just want to fight the toughest guys. The title’s great. Of course I’d be thrilled having a world title belt or whatever, but for me, it’s about becoming a better fighter at the end of the day…Joe Stevenson is a tough fighter…He’s got a lot of experience. He presents a lot of problems. He’s a short, stocky wrestler who’s also great on the ground and has a solid boxing background. He’s similar to Sean Sherk with actually probably better submissions. Maybe he’s not as good with the takedowns, but he has great jiu-jitsu, great submissions. He’s catching a lot of people left and right…I wouldn’t be surprised if I went out there and knocked out Joe Stevenson in the first 10 seconds and they were like, ‘Kenny got lucky, and he still has to prove himself; he’ll never beat Sean Sherk or B.J. Penn, and Tyson Griffin’s a better fighter…For whatever reason, people are still doubting me. It’s normal.”

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