Florian steamrolls another lightweight contender

[Clark Kent]

12-13-2009 12:10 AM:Kenny Florian is 0-for-2 in UFC lightweight title attempts but he is money against everyone else in the division. Coming off a tough loss to the champion B.J. Penn in August, Florian crushed another contender in Clay Guida. It wasn't easy, Guida goes 1000 MPH and really pushed the pace in the first. Florian had trouble finding Guida until 90 seconds left in the round when he caught Guida with a vicious left elbow that opened a huge gash on the left side of "The Carpenter's" head. The blood flowed at an insane pace, quickly dripping down Guida's chest. It had to effect his vision in the second. That's when KenFlo caught Guida with a huge right on the backend of a combination. It was flush on the chin and Guida fell flat on his face. He never regained his wits and against Florian, a guy with a killer instinct, Guida was dead meat. Florian quickly slapped on a rear-naked choke. Guida had to tap at 2:19 of the second.

Florian never caught Penn with a big punch at UFC 101 and went back to drawing board for this one:

"I worked a lot on sharpening up my boxing," Florian told UFC color analyst Joe Rogan. "I used to come up wide with my elbows. I shortened upmy strikes."

Some analysts thought Florian mightbe a mental mess coming in. He dumped his longtime trainer Mark dellaGrotte after the Penn fight in favor of Georges St. Pierre's guru Firas Zahabi. He put in ever more time with his boxing coach Peter Welch. It's all in an effort to get another trip to the top of the mountain:

"I'm trying to get back there. I want another shot at the title. I wantto show the real Kenny Florian next time."



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