Headquartered in scenic Woodloch, Texas, the Mixed Martial Arts
Hall of F@#$%&g Awesome (HOFA for short) commemorates the
achievements of those fighters who, while they might not be
first-ballot selections for a traditional hall of fame, nonetheless
did remarkable things in the cage or ring, and deserve to be
remembered. The HOFA enshrines pioneers, one-trick ponies and
charming oddballs, and celebrates them in all their imperfect
glory. While the HOFA selection committee’s criteria are mysterious
and ever-evolving, the final test is whether the members can say,
unanimously and with enthusiasm, “____________ was f@#$%&g
awesome!”
* * *
“I finish fights!”
—
Kenny
Florian
As tag lines go, it’s no
“Right leg hospital, left leg cemetery” or
“Blood is just red sweat,” but that simple
three-word declaration, as delivered by Florian ahead of his fight
with
Joe
Stevenson at UFC 91 in November 2008, was clear, unambiguous
and memorable. It was also extremely accurate, as “KenFlo” would go
on to choke out Stevenson in the first round, his eighth finish in
nine wins to that point in his
Ultimate Fighting Championship run, clinching a title shot
against then-champ
B.J. Penn.
The story of Florian’s route to the Octagon has become the stuff of
legend: UFC President Dana White, in Boston to scout talent for his
new reality television show, “The Ultimate Fighter,” attended
Combat Zone 7 on July 10, 2004, to watch 22-2
Arizona prospect
Drew Fickett
in a showcase fight against some local kid who was 2-0 at the time.
That local kid—Florian—acquitted himself so admirably in a
split-decision loss that he ended up getting the call instead of
the endlessly talented but endlessly troubled Fickett.
“TUF 1,” of course, featured light heavyweights and middleweights.
On the first episode, lined up alongside massive future light
heavyweight champ
Forrest
Griffin, middleweights like
Chris Leben
and even some fighters who would eventually drop to welterweight,
such as
Mike Swick and
Josh
Koscheck, the lanky 5-foot-10 Florian barely looked as if he
belonged in the same sport, let alone the same weight class. As the
multilingual son of a surgeon, Florian’s brainy, well-spoken
demeanor and cerebral approach to fighting, paired with his former
college soccer player physique, resulted in his being
underestimated by coaches
Chuck
Liddell and
Randy
Couture.
He was drafted 11th out of 16 fighters but would go
on to accomplish more than almost all of them.
On the reality show, Florian proved the eyeball test to be only
partially correct. Yes, he was physically overmatched against the
bigger bodies in the house, as he was in his middleweight semifinal
against Leben, but he could not simply be counted out, as he showed
when he split Leben’s face wide open with elbows from the bottom
for a win by doctor stoppage. The sight of a blood-soaked
Florian—all of it his opponent’s—snatching victory from the jaws of
defeat with a finish from an unexpected position was a good preview
of the career that was to come.
Florian was overwhelmed in the “TUF 1” middleweight final by the
younger, more athletic and far more experienced
Diego
Sanchez, but received a UFC contract, nonetheless. He quickly
established himself as one of the show’s top alumni with three
straight wins by finish. That streak coincided with the UFC’s
resurrection of its long-dormant lightweight division, and when the
promotion decided to fill the vacant title at UFC 64, Florian got
the call opposite fellow former welterweight
Sean Sherk. He
lost via decision, fighting valiantly but unable to stop the
takedown game of “The Muscle Shark” or find the kind of
fight-changing offense from the bottom that had turned the tide
against Leben.
That set the pattern, and the rhythm, for the remainder of
Florian’s career. After the “TUF” finale, he lost just four times:
three times in title fights and once in a lightweight title
eliminator against
Gray
Maynard. Of the men who defeated Florian, Sherk and Maynard
were two of the best lightweights of their era and Penn and
Jose
Aldo were two of the greatest fighters of any era—and
unquestionably the greatest lightweight and greatest featherweight
the sport had ever seen at the time he faced them. In between those
setbacks against the very best of the best, Florian was one of the
most potent offensive fighters and vicious finishers in all of MMA.
Ten of his 12 UFC wins came within the distance, and he was at one
time the promotion’s all-time leader in rear-naked choke
submissions.
Florian retired in late 2011 after his brief featherweight run,
citing his history of back injuries, which necessitated surgery and
threatened permanent nerve damage. Since then, he has remained
involved with combat sports as an announcer, analyst and media
personality, including roles with
Professional Fighters League, Fox Sports and alongside UFC
play-by-play man Jon Anik as one half of the “Anik & Florian
Podcast.” The role suits him well as a man who always had a mind
for fighting, but it should never overshadow his legacy as one of
the most sublimely violent souls to grace the cage.
* * *
SIGNATURE MOMENTS: Needless to say, a man with 10 finishes in the
UFC has plenty to choose from. One fair sample is Florian’s clash
with
Joe
Lauzon in the main event of UFC Fight Night 13 on April 2,
2008. Nearly eight years younger than Florian, “J-Lau” was in many
respects the new model, as a fellow Bostonian with a similarly
unimposing frame, identically constructed nickname and shared
proclivity for quick-strike violence. In one of the best UFC
lightweight fights ever, Florian showed on that night that the
original was still unsurpassed. He got the best of the first round,
cutting Lauzon open with an elbow—of course—and surviving multiple
submission attempts. In the second round, it was Florian’s ground
game that took over, and he overwhelmed Lauzon with a torrent of
punches and elbows from top position, his seventh finish in as many
wins in the UFC.
Florian should justly be remembered for his penchant for rear-naked
chokes and his pioneering use of elbows as murder weapons, but one
of his most admirable traits as a fighter was his refusal to
stagnate. His wrestling and striking, both liabilities early in his
career, were strengths by the end. Witness his pair of wins
immediately after his unsuccessful second lightweight title shot,
over
Clay
Guida and
Takanori
Gomi. Against Guida, whose calling card has always been his
wrestling, Florian showed sturdy takedown defense and even
initiated takedowns of his own, while also inflicting one of the
most horrific cuts of his career. Against Gomi, a
sprawl-and-brawler with numbing power, Florian showed off his
increasingly potent muay thai, getting the better of the striking
exchanges before hitting a beautiful takedown in Round 3 to set up
his record seventh rear-naked choke.
* * *
THE HOFA COMMITTEE SAYS: This enshrinement is long overdue. For the
time we got to enjoy his work—and as a late starter and early
retiree, it was sadly short—Florian was about as sure a guarantee
of violence as any name on the UFC roster, and probably the surest
guarantee of blood, bar none. He is one of the greatest success
stories to come from “The Ultimate Fighter” and one of the most
accomplished fighters never to win a UFC title. Just as important
to the HOFA, he was a true original who always stood out from the
pack, which is just as rare a quality today as it was nearly two
decades ago when he first crossed our television screens.
It is with great pleasure that we say: Kenneth Alan Florian, you
are f@#$%&g awesome.