Florian steamrolls another lightweight contender
Kenny Florian is 0-for-2 in UFC lightweight title bouts, but he's money against everyone else in the division. Coming off a tough loss to champion B.J. Penn in August, Florian crushed another contender in Clay Guida on Saturday night.
In the middle of the second round, KenFlo caught Guida with a huge right on the back end of a combination. It was flush on the chin and Guida fell flat on his face. He never regained his wits and against Florian, a guy with some of the best killer instincts in fighting, Guida was dead meat. Florian quickly slapped on a rear-naked choke. Guida had to tap at 2:19 of the second round.
This was a completely different Florian (12-4, 10-3 UFC) than the one who fought Penn. He never got in a groove with his striking at UFC 101, so he went back to drawing board for this one.
"I worked a lot on sharpening up my boxing," Florian told UFC coloro analyst Joe Rogan. "I used to come up wide with my elbows. I've shortened up my strikes."
The fight wasn't a complete cakewalk. Guida goes 1,000 mph, using good movement and bouncing well on his feet. Florian had trouble finding Guida until about 90 seconds left in the first round, when he caught Guida with a vicious right elbow that opened a huge gash on the left side of Guida's head. The blood flowed at an insane pace through Guida's hair and down his left shoulder, quickly dripping down his chest and all over his face. It clearly affected his vision in the second round.
Some analysts thought Florian might be a mental mess coming in. He dumped longtime trainer Mark DellaGrotte after the Penn fight in favor of Georges St. Pierre's trainer, Firas Zahabi. He also put in extra time with his boxing coach, Peter Welch, and it paid off. When Florian saw an opening, his hands did the work.
Florian's only losses in the UFC have come against Diego Sanchez, Sean Sherk and B.J. Penn. He destroyed previous contenders like Joe Stevenson, Roger Huerta, Joe Lauzon and Din Thomas. Add Guida (25-12, 5-5 UFC) to the list. Guida's one of the nicest guys in the sport, but his subpar striking may always keep him from getting that elusive title shot.
Meanwhile, that's all that's left for Florian, 33, who also serves as a co-host on ESPN's MMALive:
"I'm trying to get back there. I want another shot at the title. I want to show the real Kenny Florian next time."
Guida did score a takedown just 56 seconds into the fight, but that's where Florian showed he's a class above most fighters at 155. He used his butterfly guard beautifully, never allowing Guida to really settle down into full guard and eventually kicked off the smaller fighter.
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