Kenny Florian: I will be moving and staying at Lightweight

On October 8, 2011, Kenny Florian fought Jose Aldo for the UFC Featherweight title. The bout was Florian’s third shot at a UFC title belt and after 25 minutes it was his third loss in a UFC title fight.

It should be noted that when Florian broke into the UFC he fought in the 185 pound Middleweight division. Florian fought once at the 185 pound limit, losing to Diego Sanchez at the Ultimate Fighter Season One finale. In his next fight he dropped to Welterweight, winning two fights there before dropping to Lightweight, where he stayed for 12 fights.  Florian then dropped to Featherweight, defeating Diego Nunes to earn the shot at Aldo.

After losing to Aldo, a despondent Florian would not confirm what the future held for him as far as fighting in the UFC.

Recently Florian opened up on that subject as well as his fights at Featherweight, “Dropping to the Featherweight division was way too much for my body to handle. The Diego Nunes fight was the worst I’ve ever felt on a weigh-in day. Luckily, I felt better on fight day and was able to pull out a victory. But, against Aldo it was a brutal weight cut, and I really didn’t feel too great heading into the fight. In result, I had some medical issues I had to deal with. I had a thyroid issue that was based on the drastic weight loss. Those are the things you kind of ignore as a fighter, but it became very real to me after the fight. I’ll now be moving and staying at Lightweight.” – for more see BleacherReport.com

Photo: Kenny Florian speaks at the UFC 91press conference at the MGM Grand Hotel on November 13, 2008 in Las Vegas, NV. Francis Specker