Kenny Florian
From OTMWiki
Kenny Florian is a mixed martial artist with a background in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He appeared on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter reality show where he lost the middleweight final to Diego Sanchez. As one of the UFC's top lightweight title contenders, he is known as one of the most intelligent and motivated fighters.
He was born in Westwood, Massachusetts on May 26 1976 to immigrant parents from South America. As a child, he excelled in many sports including soccer, tennis, and the martial arts. In high school and college, he focused mainly on soccer and put the martial arts aside. He played soccer at Boston College, and earned Big-East academic all-star status. He graduated with a degree in Communications.
After college, his interests turned towards mixed martial arts, and he earned a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from Roberto Maia, a fourth-degree black belt under Carlos Gracie Jr.
Kenny has traveled to Brazil often to train, and on one such occasion was hiking a mountain in Rio de Janeiro when he slipped off a rock to a nearly fatal fall. Kenny tells that this experience showed him how fleeting life can be, and at this point decided to abandon his day job to concentrate on what made him most happy, which was mixed martial arts. He has worked extensively with Mark DellaGrotte to develop a lethal Muay Thia package. Kenny's strength and conditioning coach is Kevin Kearns.
Kenny has a MMA record of 12-3. His most recent fight was against Roger Huerta at UFC 87, where be defeated Huerta by unanimous. He has a 5 fight win streak going with his next fight slated against Joe Stevenson at UFC 91 on November 15th.
Kenny also hosts MMA Weekly, a weekly program covering the world of mixed martial arts, which is broadcast on ESPN.com and ESPN mobile tv.
In the fall of 2008, Kenny and his brother Keith opened the Florian Martial Arts Centerin Brookline, Massachusetts.
At UFC 88, Kenny made his coaching debut, where he cornered Kurt Pellegrino to victory.
