MMA News Forums » MMA Forums » General MMA Forum

[liddell316]

Florian isn't fighting for the title, he said he doesn't have proper time to prepare for Sherk.

[mattsoper]

Originally Posted by liddell316

Florian isn't fighting for the title, he said he doesn't have proper time to prepare for Sherk.

whoa...really...when and where did you here this

[killerinstinct]

Originally Posted by mattsoper

whoa...really...when and where did you here this

according to www.mmaweekly.com



Rumors started flying on Monday that highly regarded lightweight fighter Kenny Florian declined a fight with Sean Sherk for the vacant UFC Lightweight Title. Florian spoke with MMAWeekly and shot down any accusations that he doesn’t want to fight Sean Sherk or that he turned away from a potential title shot.

“No, not at all,” said Florian regarding the rumors that he turned down the fight with Sherk. “I would absolutely fight Sean Sherk, but the UFC wanted to push for the August show, and I just came out of training from my last fight, and I don’t want to push myself into another fight with only three weeks to prepare for a guy like Sean Sherk."

Regarding the specific timing, Florian said, "The UFC said I was fighting Sherk, and I accepted, but they said in October or November... then, all of a sudden, they pushed for the August show. I’m leaving for Brazil for two weeks to train pretty soon and just don’t have the time that I need to prepare for that fight. Sherk’s been on the sidelines waiting and training for a fight, and I just got done with my fight [against Sam Stout] and was in training for that for seven or eight months.

Florian is also still recovering from a nagging back injury, which kept him out of his originally scheduled fight with Sam Stout in March. On the June 24th Ultimate Finale broadcast on Spike TV, Florian vs. Stout finally took place, and Florian won by submission in just under two minutes.

Florian, who was a finalist on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, stands by his assertion that he welcomes the challenge of fighting anyone in the 155-pound division. “I’ll fight anyone at 155 pounds,” said Florian. “If Fedor [Emelianenko] can drop to 155 pounds, I’ll fight him. Just give me ample time to prepare for it!”

It’s not known at this time why the UFC pushed the title bout up almost three months from its originally scheduled date. It is unknown whether the UFC will now rush to find a replacement for Florian to go against Sherk for the vacant Lightweight Title at UFC 62 on August 26th.

[matto]

that would be cool if pulver was a coach, they should introduce the superheavyweight devision, frank mir would jump up there and be even fatter. but most of those guys if they really wanted to could lose some weight and fight in the heavyweight devison. has anyone seen ricco rod lately? he is in the superheavyweight devision and he is huge

[yumitree]

Originally Posted by KENO5366

Thats cool , I like it better when the coach's fight. I wish Hughes and Franklin would have fought. They could have met in the middle with there weights. You know that fight will never happen though.

well, the second coach was going to be the winner of tanner/franklin and it ended up being franklin. he and hughes are friends so they didn't fight, but if tanner won, the plan was for him to face hughes at the end of the show.

[yumitree]

Originally Posted by matto

they should introduce the superheavyweight devision

i can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not (fucking written word...), but why would the ufc start a superheavyweight division, when they can't have a deep, competitive heavyweight division?

[Bran]

i don't think the idea for an all heavyweight TUF would work out. they had heavyweights on TUF 2 and they all either sucked or dropped to light-heavy. UFC has a few good HWs in AA, sylvia, Monson and Vera. instead of wasting time on a HW TUF they should focus on getting over some of the HWs from Pride. is there anyone that doesn't want to see CroCop kick sylvia in the head?

[Bran]

Originally Posted by ramslakers1

Too bad Andrei Arlovski can't do it. Probably the reason why Dana White has not offered him its because of his English. Being a coach of course you need to properly communicate with your trainees.

i don't know if that's the case because his english doesn't seem too much worse than GSP's and GSP is an advisor on season 4. but if its lightweight it'll probably be a lightweight coach. i'd like to see BJ Penn or the muscle shark in there. i would have suggested Yves Edwards too but he's been on a bit of a slump as of late.

[ziggy]

Yeah I don't think HW division would work. at least a whole entire show of HW. The thing about HW is most of them are really slow and do slower paced matches. I think the reason why they are doing LW is cause they are really fast paced and entertaining and explosive. HW would be boring imo,

[kickass32]

Does anyone see Sam Stout as a contender for the LW title?
I've seen him look damn good, but then his last fight he looked horrible.....