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"One thing that needs to be made clear is Gray's the one who asked for this fight. He's the one that called out the winner of our fight... He was pretty quiet as far as wanting to get the belt at first, seems like he didn't want to fight B.J. or Frankie or whatever, and then all of a sudden when Frankie won it seems like he started to get real cocky, or started trying to make a name for himself. I don't know, it seems like he got cocky over night, all of a sudden...
It's motivating for me. I don't see any reason for him to be cocky. He's had decisions over guys. He hasn't finished anyone of note. He's squeaking by on these decisions, yet he's talking like he's already a world champion... I don't really understand where the cockiness is coming from. In those decisions he had against Roger Huerta, I thought he probably won it, against Nate Diaz, he barely won it, but I could have seen it going the other way. So these are fights to me, I don't think he was very impressive...
Maybe it's because he feels obviously he has a win over Frankie, but it just seems like he got very verbal and very cocky, so I'm looking forward to going out there and fighting him. I think he's fought tough guys, but he hasn't fought anybody like me. I think he's looking past me. I think he thinks he's already going to fight for the title or he's already won the title... I'm looking forward to it. One of my favorite things to do is spoiling a party, so I'm looking forward to doing that."
-Kenny Florian talks to MMAWeekly.com about his UFC 118 opponent Gray Maynard, and how he feels Maynard has developed an unwarranted cocky attitude ahead of their fight.
Penick's Analysis: I tend to lean toward Florian's thoughts in this regard. Maynard is a very good fighter, but he hasn't done anything in his UFC fights thus far that suggests he's going to be a dominating force in the division yet. He looked very beatable against Diaz, and like Florian said that was a fight that could have easily gone the other way. He'll get a shot at the title if he gets past Florian, but there's no need to get ahead of himself.
[Kenny Florian art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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