A few days after Tyson Griffin announces that he will cut down to the featherweight class another current lightweight star is doing the same. Kenny Florian is planning on moving down to the featherweight division in 2011. First reported by ESPN’s Franklin McNeil, this is big news for the 145 weight class.
Florian, who has twice challenged for the lightweight title, is currently recovering from an injury that has had him sidelined since his lost to Gray Maynard in August of last year. Florian was pulled off of the January 22nd Fight for the Troops card when the injury left him unable to train. The 13-5 Florian has an impressive record that includes wins over fighters such as Clay Guida, Roger Huerta and Joe Stevenson.
This will be the third weight class that Florian has competed in while on the UFC roster. During the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, Florian was a middleweight in the tournament. He lost to Diego Sanchez during the season finale.
After that point, Florian dropped down to lightweight where he has spent the most of his career. He was in line to fight towards a third title shot but was derailed by the surging Maynard. Since then, he has shown an interest in fighting the current UFC Featherweight Champion, Jose Aldo, but nothing has been said about making that fight happen.
Florian also serves as one of the on air personalities of ESPN’s MMA Live, which is the studio show that covers various aspects of the MMA community.
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