For Kenny Florian, the itch to fight again has come and gone.
Six years after making his final appearance inside the Octagon, though, Florian does wish he had gotten a rematch with a member of the UFC Hall of Fame.
“I think that if I wanted to run it back, it would be one of the big fights for the belt, like a B.J. Penn or something like that,” Florian said during an interview with MMAjunkie Radio. “I think that coming off a loss is always easier, or it was easier for me, having faced someone I lost against. It was a lot more motivating coming off a loss.”
Florian fought Jose Aldo for the featherweight title in 2011, losing a decision. He met Penn back in 2009 for the lightweight belt and suffered a fourth round submission loss.
This coming Saturday, Anthony Johnson will try to avenge a defeat at the hands of Daniel Cormier for the light heavyweight belt at UFC 210.
“When you’ve beaten a guy already, sometimes you can get complacent,” Florian said. “Sometimes you can say, ‘I already beat this guy; I don’t have to train as hard.’ And I’m not saying that’s the case for Daniel Cormier. But sometimes you have a little more pressure on you. That might be the case for ‘DC’ – I don’t know that to be true. But it very well might be.”
