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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Kenny Florian entered the Octagon on Saturday night at UFC 118 in front of a raucous hometown crowd who was ready to see him pick up a win to get a third crack at the Lightweight Championship. Unfortunately for those fans at the TD Garden in Boston, Mass., Florian came up well short of the mark, losing in a one-sided decision to "The Bully" Gray Maynard.
It was another in a series of performances from Florian in big spots that have fallen short, and UFC President Dana White after the event went so far as to say Florian "chokes" in big fights.
"I hate to say this because I don't want to take anything away from Gray Maynard, but I think Kenny is just one of those guys who chokes in big fights," White said at the post-event press conference (transcribed by MMAFighting.com). "I'm not bad-mouthing him or trying to disrespect him; I'm just being honest... Kenny's hands are unbelievable. Kenny's ground is unbelievable. Kenny usually kicks guys to the body and legs so hard that he busts guys up. You didn't see any of that tonight. He stood there and stared at Gray Maynard for three rounds."
What is frustrating for Florian's fans, and clearly White, is that he's shown a killer instinct in every fight on his way up to these big fights. He's finished a number of fighters in impressive fashion, and yet, when there is something on the line, he's put in a listless performance the likes of which was seen on Saturday. White laid some of the blame on his corner.
"You'd think his corner would say, 'Dude, you just lost the first two rounds.' No sense of urgency in the third round," White said. "Not saying, 'I need a knockout or submission in this round.' None of it. Nothing. And I guarantee you if Kenny comes back and fights one of the mid-level guys, he'll probably run through them like a f***ing freight train. But the big fights? He crumbles, man."
Florian certainly has to go back to the drawing board, and where he goes from here is something he'll need to figure out as well.
Penick's Analysis: It's hard to argue with White's comments here. Florian has been a completely different fighter in so many other fights, and yet in the B.J. Penn and Gray Maynard fights he's been tentative and unable to do much of anything. That was just not a good showing at all, and it went completely against what we've seen from him so many times before. There's just no explanation for why he's changed his style in these fights, and that's unfortunate to see because he really could have pushed himself to the top of the division.
[Kenny Florian art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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