KenFlo fought with a ton of heart this past weekend as he fought for the UFC Lightweight Championship Belt against Sean Sherk. The fight went the distance all 5 rounds with Sherk getting the unanimous judge's decision. I caught up with Kenny to get his thoughts on the fight, his performance, and what's next for him.

Sam: Kenny, you have the biggest heart in MMA, dude. Major props for fighting all 5 rounds like a champion. You said in your pre-fight interview that, win or lose, Sean Sherk would respect you by the end of the night. You definitely earned his respect as well as the respect of fight fans worldwide after that fight.

 

The most important question in this interview: What's with the Japanese hamaka with the old west cowboy music? Those go together like peanut butter and concrete!

 

KenFlo: LOL, yeah I figure since most westerns are based on Kurosawa’s samurai movies, why not. I have always loved that song in “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” (Ecstasy of Gold) by Ennio Morricone so I thought it would be a cool entrance song. The old  gunslingers of the west were much like the ronin samurai so it kind of fits.

 

Sam: So your critics said "Kit Cope is too much for Kenny on the feet. He'll never be able to close the distance." Then they said, "Sam Stout has KO power and is well rounded enough on the ground to give KenFlo problems." Those opponents were primarily strikers. You faced a seasoned MMA fighter and wrestler in Sean Sherk. The critics had a lot to say about how you would last against Sherk and you proved them wrong. What say you?

 

KenFlo: I have my own expectations and don’t listen to the critics or the haters for that matter. Few people know what it is like to train for an MMA fight, let alone fight in one. Then fighting in the UFC is a whole other level. I am always the underdog and that fuels me a bit. Only my camp and the people I train with consider me a favorite in my fights. I set high expectations for myself and I still have a lot to learn and accomplish.

 

Sam: How did you prepare for the fight with Sherk? How was it different than previous opponents?

 

KenFlo: With the Sherk fight, I had to train harder and smarter because it was a 5 round fight as opposed to a 3 round fight. Sherk is a wrestlers and although I did not show it at all, I worked on my defensive wrestling quite a bit along with footwork and other things.

 

Sam: Tell us your thoughts on the fight. What went right, what went wrong?

 

KenFlo: From a technical standpoint, it all went wrong. I had an off night. My game was awful from the wrestling to the ground. My camp and myself expect and demand much more that what I showed that night. I don’t want to get into things that happened before the fight because excuses can be found by anyone. Sherk was the better fighter that night and that is all. My heart and my will kept me in that fight and I knew it was an off night but I still thought I could pull off a win until the last second. I did not lose hope and I will never quit.

 

Sam: It seemed in each round you landed some nice body kicks while standing. Were you  anticipating you could keep it standing longer and utilize your Muay Thai skills? Or did you expect to be fighting from the bottom?

 

KenFlo: I expected to stand more with him and force him into a striking match. I was confident I would knock him out on the feet if he stayed and traded with me. My lack of wrestling did not allow me to do that. Of course, I also expected to be on my back at some point. I

prepared for that as well but again, I was not my usual self on my back. I also thought I could reverse and submit him from my back as well but obviously that didn’t happen. The blood all over the place didn’t help and Sherk is very good on the ground as well and

knew how to defend and stay out of trouble.

 

Sam: A few times you reversed to top position with Sherk on the bottom in his guard. The crowd (and the people watching at my house) went nuts thinking the tide was turning. Unfortunately, Sherk was pretty quickly able to get to his knees and turn the tables again with the takedown. That has to be a roller coaster of emotions for you during the fight. Does it faze you or are you just rolling with it during the fight? Most of us fans will never know the ups and downs of being in the Octagon, so good and bad we want to live vicariously though you, Kenny. It's like the movie "Being John Malcovich."

 

KenFlo: Man, it was frustrating. I can equate this to when I played soccer. Sometimes, you would get the ball right in front of the net and you would think I am gonna score, I am gonna score and then you kick the ball over the net from 5 feet out. The reason you miss is

because you think about the goal instead of thinking about what you need to do to kick the ball properly and then score. It was my emotions getting the best of me during that time I was on top. I was thinking about pummeling him and tapping him instead of thinking I need to keep position a little and then work my game.

 

Sam: In round 2, you cut him with those sharp elbows from the bottom. That made for a bloody, bloody mess, but it seemed almost to be more of a hindrance to you than

to your opponent. At some point having all that blood all over your eyes, face, body do you say to yourself "This is nasty. Why do I do this for a living"?

 

KenFlo: Man, I drank so much of Sherk’s blood, it literally made me sick during the fight. At one point I remember gargling his blood and spitting it out and saying, this is ridiculous. I had tons of blood in my eyes, my ears, my nose, my mouth and it was all Sherks’. It was so damn slippery, I could not get anything going on the ground. Blood was everywhere. At one point, I had to use my own hand to cover Sherk’s cut because it was just pouring out so bad into my face. I thought I stayed really calm considering the blood hindrance.

 

After the fight, I did a urine test and pissed out red. It was Sherk’s blood coming out. It took 2-3 showers to get the blood off. Nuff said!!

 

Sam: You had some submission attempts throughout the fight. Some straight armlocks attempts and a few guillotines, one of which you were cranking and seemed pretty close. You had him with one arm in and one out. Was it as close as it looked?

 

KenFlo: It was pretty close at one point but Sherk knew how to defend well and fought the grips well. His lack of neck helped defend. The armlock was tight but slipped cause of the blood.

 

Sam: We know you are a spiritual guy and you take a holistic approach to fighting and training. In between rounds, your corner man told you to "Listen to God. He will tell you what to do." Soooooooo what is God's favorite move from the guard?

Seriously though, I know in MMA you have just a few minutes between rounds to gather yourself, recover, rehydrate, refocus, breathe, and tend to any injuries. You don't want 3 people all yelling at you to do different things at once when you won't be able to absorb any of it anyway. Then again, I've never heard a corner man say something quite like that. Was it, at that point in the fight, you just needed to trust in your instinctive skills honed through years of training and have faith that you could capitalize on the right opportunity? Let me know because maybe I've been coaching jiu jitsu the wrong

way all this time!

 

KenFlo: LOL, I know God is always with me win or lose so he kept me strong throughout that fight. I actually only have 1 minute in between rounds. I needed to trust in my training and hope that my body would find the answer but it didn’t happen. It is my fault for not

fighting well and for having an off night. I don’t blame my corners, God or anyone. It is all me. I never lost faith though despite fighting poorly. I still believed I could win somehow.

 

Sam: After watching the tape and analyzing the loss, was anything brought to light now that you didn't realize? Do you now train differently in the gym or work on specific things as a result?

 

KenFlo: We prepared perfectly for this fight. I screwed up, plain and simple. I just need to continue to train and do what I do and just pound the techniques into my brain more and make sure my body and mind respond better.

 

Sam: What or who is next for you? Pulver? Guillard? Yves? Hermes? Lauzon? Anyone in particular you would like to fight? And don't say "whoever the UFC puts in front of

me!"

 

KenFlo: Honestly, I don’t know. I would like to fight another grappler if possible and I would like to fight as soon as possible. I feel like I need to get back in there and redeem myself. Guillard, Hermes, Fisher are all possibilities. We will see.

 

Sam: I judge "great" champions not only by their fighting prowess, but by their level of humility and how they carry and present themselves win or lose. Randy Couture is a good example (Tito is not). You have a champion's character and when you do get that belt,

you will be among the greats in my book. You've gained a ton of fans through this and we look forward to your next fight.

 

KenFlo: Thank you for everything Sam. I appreciate that. I still have a lot of work to do and I hope to be able get another shot for the belt. This fight certainly motivates me to get back in there and eventually realize a dream of being a UFC champ. I am going to take a week off or so and get right back to learning and getting better. Thank you.

* Check out Kenny's website at www.KennyFlorian.com

** Then check out NHB GEAR and Jiu Jitsu Gear at www.NHBGEAR.com