UFC lightweight contenders Joe Stevenson (29-8) and Kenny Florian (10-3) are reportedly set to do battle this November at a yet-to-be-named UFC event that could determine whether or not Florian gets another shot at the 155lb title.
MMAmania.com has been able to confirm with credible sources that the proposed fight has indeed been offered to each fighter and while they are expected to sign, have yet to do so.
Stevenson is coming off an impressive rebound victory over Gleison Tibau at UFC 86 after watching his title hopes fade away under the tightly wrapped choke of current lightweight champion BJ Penn in their title bout at UFC 80.
Penn of course is taking a second crack at welterweight deity Georges St. Pierre this December in an attempt to avenge his controversial loss to the Canadian back at UFC 58.
As for Florian, he seems to be able to do no wrong as of late, steamrolling the competition since his decision loss to then-champion Sean Sherk at UFC 64. “KenFlo” is the winner of five straight and eight of his last nine.
Florian will likely face Penn if he can successfully get past Stevenson (once “The Prodigy” comes back from his vacation at 170lbs). While exciting for fans, Joe “Daddy” will be a dangerous test for the Boston native and could possibly interfere with his plans to go for the gold.
Tyson Griffin has been penciled in to oppose former lightweight champion Sean Sherk at UFC 90. A Florian loss coupled with a Griffin win and we could be looking at Penn vs Griffin in early 2009.
Let’s not forget about Stevenson, either — this is a huge opportunity to get right back in the thick of the title chase.
Stay tuned over the next few days for an official announcement from the UFC regarding the details of this fight, including its location. The November 15 event has recently been rumored to be taking place in Portland, Oregon.
We’ll keep you posted.
86 Comments »
Very dangerous for Florian indeed. As much as I would like Florian to get a title shot, I can only see Stevenson steamrolling florian in this fight.
Agree! Joe might be too strong for Florian?
I dont know who would win this one. Its a very close fight that I have wanted to see for a long time. Joe would control the wrestling but I think their Jits would cancel each others out. Strand up would probably go to Florian.
It is a very interesting match up. Much bettet then Tyson vs. Sherk crap for sure
THe two most likely scenario’s are:
Stevenson via TKO (Ground n pound)
Florian Via Ko (standing)
I doubt either fighter will be able to submit the other. stevenson better watch the “Hell bows” because he has shown to be a “Bleeder”.
Great match up! Props to kenny for not being like Karo!
complete bullshit. florian has been getting screwed for awhile now. the rumour was that the winner of the florian/huerta fight would be the #1 contender. if huerta would have won, he would be allowed to wait for penn. since florian won, he has to go through more bullshit to get a so-called title shot.
when florian beats stevenson, the ufc will make him fight someone not named penn again.
Before I read or say anything, after simply reading the headline, KENNY FLORIAN IS THE FUCKING MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bradpitt: Before you bash someone, know the facts! Florian has his title shot but he doesnt want to wait for it. Instead he is showing what a warrior he is and is choosing to fight in the meantime! He isnt getting screwed, its his choice.
Instead of trying to be like Karo, and ducking big fights to just wait for his title shot, Kenny is being “the Man” and choosing to do what Chuck did when he chose to risk his title shot by fighting a top challenger in Babalu!
Florian can just sit out and wait for the title shot that he has earned, but instead he is taking on another top contender and I really RESPECT that! No one is screwing him over, he is just being a WARRIOR!!!
Brad Pitt, Kenny can sit back and wait for a title shot, if he wants to wait for BJ to fight GSP which probably won’t take place until February cuz GSP can’t prepare in time. Then, as long as he doesn’t get injured, the soonest he could defend the LW belt, that is, if he chooses to defend the LW belt before defending the WW belt, would be around May. That is almost 10 months. Kenny Florian is a REAL FIGHTER. He does not want to sit on the sidelines for that long. He always wants to fight the best fighter available and prove to everyone that he is the clear cut #1 contender, even though he already is the #1 contender. He wants it so there isn’t even a #2,3, or 4 contener, just Kenny Florian.
There are many fighters that would choose to sit out and wait for thier title shot. But not Kenny. That is why everyone should have the utmost respect for him. If Karo was in this situation, he’d gladly sit out for 6 years if it meant he got a title shot.
With that said, this is going to be a very tough fight and I am VERY curious to see what the betting lines will open at for this fight. John made a great point that Stevenson is a bleeder and Kenny’s elbows are known for drawing blood. I think that Kenny will open Joe’s head up from the bottom position with elbows.
From now until fight day, the #1 thing Kenny should be working on is takedown defense. If the fight stays standing, he will pick Joe Daddy apart, seeing that Stevenson has the reach of a baby T-Rex.
“the reach of a baby t-rex” LMAO! Some good, funny, classic quotes on this site today!
Great work Men! (in my football coach voice)
you’re right VM, Ken is certified… i wasn’t convinced before but after taking care of Lauzon, Huerta and now that he’s taking the Joe Daddy fight, deserves much respect!
glad to hear from guys who understand what’s goin on here, kenny is gonna clean out the division for bj, then they will fight and in all likelihood bj wins going away and it looks alot like the middleweights… oh well
VM, Why would BJ defend a WW belt that he doesn’t even own. There won’t be any WW belt to worry about. I know belts and spankings have something to do with each other, but just because GSP is going to spank him, doesn’t mean the belt goes with that spanking.lol
Agreed!!!! fight makes no sense…think about it…. Stevenson wins, than what? Penn already destroyed him!!! And Kenny is out in the cold, with a win over Roger.
Very easy to call… Stevenson’s striking is average at best and he has one strong ground submission (guillotine choke). Florian will outstrike him any day of the week and can outwork Joe on the ground to prevent damage. Florian in R2 by TKO.
Alright!! Time to lose Florian! Stevenson will just walk along the cage fence while holdin’ on to one of Ken-Flo’s skinny arms then SNAP!!Stevenson wins via arm breakage!!
A Florian loss coupled with a Griffin win and we could be looking at Penn vs Griffin in early 2009.
too bad neither of those are going to happen… Stevenson is one dimensional and he will either get submitted or TKO’ed… Sherk is a much better wrestler than Tyson Griffin and will pull out a decision win
Finally a comment based on reality and not fantasy.
How many times have you thought that Florian was going to lose a fight, and then he ends proving you wrong. I used to doubt him in the early days, not anymore.
florian is a good exciting fighter i see him beating the daddy
This fight makes no sense to me. Kenflo deserves a title shot now . If Joe wins then what, he gets a rematch with BJ again? If Kenflo loses, then he has to start from the bottom again?
I agree, but KenFlo wants to fight again before Penn. Still, I would rather see Stevenson vs Sherk and Florian vs Griffin.
Very good quality match-ups indeed! They should do a shuffle to end up w/these matches Jesse, hehe!!
this situation begs for a UFC Lightweight Grand Prix
hayden_deacon, Jesse, seeing as how BJ beat Stevenson and Sherk, then these two matchups make sense! Because if Florian cant get by Stevenson (which I dont think he will) then he had no business in with BJ anyway! And the same for Griffin, if he cant handle Sherk (which again, I dont think he can) then how could he handle BJ?
If Chuck can handle Wandy and Jardine can handle Chuck, how is Wandy going to handle Jardine? He’s going to KHTFO , and QUICK. I could go on and on with examples, but you get the point.
I agree Jesse.. Kenny vs Tyson would be ideal if Kenny was not to fight BJ Penn for the belt now.. and Sherk would still be in a same type of fight. Tyson and Joe can be related to eachother.
Jesse, I agree totally. If Stevenson and Sherk both win then they will have to square off with each other for No.1 contender status for a fight with BJ we have already seen. Why not move forward more quickly, have Sherk and Joe Daddy cut to the chase and fight first, then one can move closer to his rematch. That way with Griffin and Florian will at least give us a fresh match-up against Penn either way it turns out.
Good call. Let the two guys who have already lost to Penn fight, and let the next two contenders… contend. Much like how Franklin and Henderson should be fighting.
TOTALLY AGREE…Give KenFlo a title shot already…
kenflo vs penn is a dream match for me.. so i dont like this fight one bit.. joe’s much bigger and will over power him.. only way kenny wins is with his BJJ..
i would love for a kenny win by TKO but its gunna be a rough night for him.
If he can’t beat Joe Stevenson, then I doubt that he could beat BJ. I know that styles make fights but BJ Penn is a top competitor. I think that the winner of Kenny vs. Joe needs to fight the winner of Sherk vs. Griffin to determine who should get a title shot. It took John Fitch 8 wins to get a title shot. While Kenny is doing good, he still has a long way to go before he can beat BJ. The number one contender should beat out the top competition so it will just take time. I think narrowing it down to these 4 is smart because it shows whether Tyson or Kenny should even be considered for a title shot considering BJ dominated the guys that they are about to fight.
Florian and Penn a dream match? Seriously? I would really haave no interest in seen them two fight. It would be a very easy, one sided win for BJ. Besides, I think Stevenson will beat Florian via guillotine.
its a dream match for me because kenflo is one of my top 3 favorite fighters and i want him to get another shot at the title.
Has it been confirmed that BJ is fighting GSP in December, or is that just a rumor? I thought GSP said he was taking the rest of 2008 off..
its a rumor going around that they will fight in montreal on dec.5th wich happens to be a friday.
Stevenson wont win….if Tibau hadnt been an idiot he wouldve won as he was easly winning at the time. Said it before stevenson blows Florian should smash him or just dance around him kinda like Huerta except worse since Steven has shit for standup.
exactly, stevenson was dominated the whole fight
i fealt bad for him
Remember when he took Guillard off of his feet with a punch?
great co main event to supposely wandy vs rampage 3
Oh man… wandy vs rampage 3 would be great! Dont get my hopes up like that!
Pretty sure BJ beat Stevenson by RNC; not guillotine as the article suggests.
that is correct good catch
Whoops, my bad, it’s late here on the East Coast.
This is BJ’s fault; Florian should already have a title shot but they’re delaying it.
The match between BJ and GSP was rumoured to be in Febuary.
There is enough time for BJ to defend his fight title against Florian, but it seems he feels above defending his belt.
That and the fact that GSP says he needs a vacation. GSP/Penn could have gone down in November, easily.
Don’t really see the point for Florian tbh. JoeDaddy just barely lost to Penn by quite a margin. This is great for Joe though. I’d like to see Frankie Edgar fight more. I know he has a recent loss, but his record is so good and he’s beaten some pretty good dudes, I’m wondering why he’s not in the mix a little more.
Because his style is B-O-R-I-N-G and he can’t finish a fight to save his life.
I became an instant fan of Frankie after beating Griffin, but have liked less and less with every performance since then. ESPECIALLY the Maynard fight. Frankie should be fighting at 145.
Edgar would be best suited at 145 WEC
naaaa Edgar is cream of the brulee. VM, you’re just salty from losing $ from Maynard/Edgar!
I know, I know… LOL
He is a bit small for the division and Gray proved that to him. He would be great at 145, but he wouldn’t be any sort of threat to Urijah
They’d be able to sell the heck out of that fight too!
The only man to beat Faber = Tyson Griffin
The only man to beat Tyson Griffin = Frankie Edgar
Can Urijah once again prove to the morons that MMAmath does not work!
yea! faber graduated from wec already! he’s ready for the big leagues already.
True, however you can say the exact same thing about Griffin. In fact Griffan is worse. He has 5 decisions and 1 sub in the UFC and Frankie has 4 decisions and 1 TKO. I like both these guys, but FINISH a fight already.
i see joe daddy ending ken-flos win streak, but ive been wrong about kenny before.
I really like JoeDaddy’s character as a person and as a fighter.. I just watched the UFC 80 DVD, and it was quite interesting to see how he was leading up to the fight against Penn. BJ said that inbetween the 1st and 2nd round, he seen Joe’s wife crying for him in the crowd and he felt bad. I hope JoeDaddy is champ one day, assuming BJ’s waist gets sore from wearing the belt.
i don’t get some of you guys. we bitch about dana when the ufc puts together mismatches and now we bitch when they put together great fights. As a homer Kenny fan, this matchup makes me a little nervous…more nervous than Huerta..except for the power. huerta could have ko’d kenny but was never gonna win a dec. in my estimation. joe daddy can win this fight in a number of ways. Very risky for kenny to take this fight but i am sure glad he is. this kid is for real and i hope after he beats joe down u guys will give him some respect.(not all of you). my real question here is what happens after he wins. if bj/gsp don’t fight till feb. how long does bj want off to get back down to 155 shape….kenny could perhaps be looking to fight twice before a shot at bj… if this is the case, why not put together a GPX???
for the record i have kenny taking his back and winning via unanswered strikes or rnc. kenny will never get armbarred by joe(thenegation)
Its not the worst matchup in the world, but I was hoping for Stevenson-Sherk.
Anyway, I agree with pUniSHment - I watched the UFC 80 DVD too just a few weeks ago and really like Joe Daddy’s style and character. Not many down-to-earth guys in this sport. Hope he can outpower Florian in a clinch and take him down. As much as I like Joe Daddy, as much I dislike Florian - time to lose Ratboy.
As with most, I already thought that Florian had his title shot in the bag, and rightly so. He shouldn’t have to fight Stevenson. Kenny has already proven himself. I like Stevenson, he is a good guy, but Kenny should take this and I believe he has more right to be fighting for the belt.
Florian deserves to fight for the belt. He knows, we know it, the ufc nows it and even BJ know.
BUT, BJ has decided that fighting GSP comes first for him. Cant argue with that from BJ’s point of view all though i dont really think he deseverves that with his record at 170. But yes,I, like every else, really want to see that rematch as fans point of view.
And Florian says that he doesnt want to wait, and be out of action for so long. And he doesnt want to fight a nobody either cause that just not his style (mhm.. Parisian) So fighting Joe S is a nice match-up with all this in considaration. Not so many others that could make sence. Yes, its a risky and ballsy move for Florian if he decides to take this fight but thats just how he rolls. And i dont think its that bad of a matchup for him. Watch Joe Vs Josh Neer!
I don’t understand why BJ is fighting GSP. He has just become undisputed champ and hasn’t defended once yet as undisputed. GSP has only defended once since regaining. Let these guys have at least another fight each at respected weight class, then put it together.
It’s gonna take too long to find another title fight for GSP. It’s probably gonna be the winner of Alves-Diego, but then the winner is gonna need some time off after that fight, so we’re looking at about 6 months. BJ-GSP is gonna happen sooner or later, and this would have been great timing for that match, if not for GSP wanting some time off.
I think Dana is going to get the matches while they’re hot, which I kind of agree with. The Wandy Chuck fight was hot and they didn’t do it, but tried to go through the ranks and it didn’t work. They finally decided to just do it, which I agree with. The belts are great and gives everyone something to shoot for, but if a matchup is hot then do it. Right now I don’t think he wants to risk either of them losing or getting injured or whatever. Just put the fight together now, while it’s hot.
What if one of them loses, then what?
I don’t like this at all.. Anything is possible but if Sherk and Joe win then what does the UFC do? I deff don’t wanna see either of them fight bj again right now… I think this would be a great matchup after kenflo fights bj.. not before
How about if they both win then Joe vs. Sherk?
Now this is the fight of the year. I love both of these fighters, but man.. this is tough for me to call.
That’s where I’m at. I really like both of these guys, and could see a scenario where either one comes out the winner. I don’t get the easy dismissal ( by some) of Kenflo in this matchup.
The day Sherk is involved in a fight of the year is they day that pigs fly
There are plenty of good fighters in both weight classes but I agree with Pat in that winner of Alves-Diego probably gets the next crack at GSP - and considering GSP is probably going to walk through either of them GSP Penn would be an exciting fight.
Get my boy Gray Maynard a fight soon! He picked apart Frankie E, who beat Tyson. Ipso facto, HE should be fighting Sherk! Haha, that’s a joke for anyone who didnt get it.
Sherk/Maynard sounds better than Sherk/Griffin
The UFC should make this a title fight because BJ is fighting GSP and I think he will beat GSP if that happens I doubt we would ever see BJ at 155 again. He would probably want to go up to 185 and fight Silva.
Anybody know if Clay Guida is scheduled to fight again any time soon?
why risk those great UFC tix by fighting and possibly losing and sitting in the nose bleeds again….enjoy your seats Clay
Dammmmmmmmn the another great match up in the lw division.
dangerous for Florian yea but maaaaad props to him….
stevenson by gullotene
I use to like ken flo but when he fought huerta all he did was run away everytime huerta would start throwing them thangs I can’t standb it when people fight like machida there to boring
It was just strategy. He was avoiding any hits from Huerta yet he was still doing damage to him. Float like a butterfly sting like a bee. You know what I mean?
This is a MUST see video. BJ Penn talks about his upcoming fight with GSP. The lady giving the interview is asking some pretty tough questions. BJ also talks about what will happen with his fight against Kenflo after the GSP fight. It is also interesting to noe that Penn was stuck in his hotel elevator the weekend of UFC 87 in Minnesota.
Here’s the link:
http://www.bjpenn.com/video/video/show?id=2022293:Video:209339
BJ looks to be back to his old ways. Have another 4 scoops of gravy and 3 bottles of condomints on those potatoes BJ. I heard BJ was going to put on weight the right way this time. Yeah it looks that way, with his huge gut and all. BJ grew up a rich kid. He doesn’t have what it takes to be his best at WW.
I like how BJ said, take-downs don’t mean nothing to him. They better start meaning a whole lot to him, because he is going to be fighting the best take-down artist in the business. They also mean something to the judges and they mean GSP will be on top of him dropping bombs. GSP has improved his punching power a lot and he is much more effective at doing damage on top then he was 2 1/2 years ago.
People keep saying that Florian should get the shot now and that this fight is unnessisary, but what people aren’t getting is that Kenny asked to fight again sooner rather then later, for the title or not. He understands the risk of fighting again before he fights for the title and he is comfortable with the gamble. Florian is a gamer and I’m interested to see how this fight plays out. If I had to place a bet it would be on Florian, but it could go either way. Florian definatley has a stand up advantage and their jits ia about even. Joe definatley has the wrestling advantage. It’s a very even fight.
I have even more respect for Florian, taking such a difficult fight when he didn’t have to. Karo could learn something from that. Stevenson should be thanking him for such a great opportunity.
This is a scary fight for me both my boys are on the line, But I think this is rude to Kenny seeing as he just beat Huerta and Joe is coming off a win.
Two great fighters. If this were a fight based strictly on ability I would give it to Joe Daddy. But Kenflo is a smarter fighter, so I think he wins this match up. Kenny is to smart to lunge in and leave himself open for a guillotine and that alone will cut Joe’s offence in half. I see Florian using his reach and kicks to score points. If he gets mount he’ll score with some gnp and use his jiu jitsu to counter any submission attemps. On his back he’ll tie Joe up to wait out the round. For Joe to win, he’ll have to do what Huerta didn’t- stay in front of Kenny and press him for the whole fight.Not Joe’s usual style.
I agree with Kdog 100%, but I would like to add that Stevenson probably knows this too. If Florian wins it will either be by “Huerta-ing” Stevenson, or by cutting him. As DaddyFan, I hope that Stevenson wins this with his professional heart, strength and technique.