BJ Penn is not looking past Kenny Florian, but he stills wants to fight GSP again
Published by Zach Arnold on July 21st, 2009 in Current Events

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BJ Penn has spending a lot of time lately on camera doing… whatever it is he has been doing. Whether it’s jumping three feet vertically from inside a pool to the cement or sending messages to Jens Pulver to spar with him, Penn seems somewhat focused on his upcoming August 8th fight against Kenny Florian.

“I just got a text from Jens Pulver, wishing me luck for the fight. Thank you very much, Jens. I hope everything is going great for you. I heard just got married and stuff, so congratulations. For all the people out there I was trying to bring Jens Pulver in to actually help me for a sparring partner for the fight, but he was busy getting married so Jens, all the best for you and thanks for the support.”

I think the best way to sum up Penn’s state of mind is by quoting a recent conversation I had with Sherdog.com writer Jordan Breen.

“Do you think he’s 100% focused on Kenny Florian?”

“Of course not. It’s Penn.”

That, in and of itself, is the story of Penn’s career lately in UFC. He’s such a dominant champion at 155 pounds and yet he always seems to be focused on something else – moving up in weight, getting revenge on Georges St. Pierre, doing things outside of MMA. Despite Penn’s occasional erratic behavior, he is still a favorite going into this fight against Florian. How much so? Penn is a -200 favorite and Florian is a +180 favorite. Comparatively speaking, three months when Lyoto Machida fought Rashad Evans, Machida was a -200 favorite and Evans was a +150 dog. I have a strong feeling that Penn vs. Florian will be a significantly closer fight.

But that doesn’t mean that Penn is 100% focused on the August 8th fight.

“You know whether I overtrained or whether I did all these other things I was ready to go out there and get into the knock-down, drag-em-out brawl that needed to be done,” said Penn in a recent UFC media interview about his January 31st bout against St. Pierre. “If he’s so big and I can’t handle all this power and all these things, then why did the fight go for so long, you know? Why wasn’t I taken out immediately if I don’t belong in the ring with him?”

Admittedly, Penn’s loss to St. Pierre was such a blow that there’s no way that it wouldn’t have an effect on the man’s psyche.

“I don’t know, it’s 6 to 8 months since the fight and at the end of the day, I got to get back in the Octagon and I got to kick somebody’s ass. I could almost still be down there feeling sorry for myself, you know, feeling like the world’s coming down on me. You got to stand up and especially if you’re a champion, what kind of champion is not going to get back on their feet?”

One man who saw the fight in person was Kenny Florian. He took note of what he saw in front of his own eyes and seven months later will be able to apply at knowledge going into their Philadelphia fight.

“I had a front row seat to the Georges St. Pierre/BJ Penn fight and you know it was just, I thought, a masterful performance by Georges St. Pierre,” said Florian in a UFC media interview. “He was able to take BJ Penn out of his fight and out of his game and BJ couldn’t get anything started.”

Penn has drawn a tough task by getting Kenny Florian, who alongside Forrest Griffin are the two biggest talents to develop out of The Ultimate Fighter reality show. A lot a symmetry going on at UFC 101 in Philadelphia. Florian has established him as such a great elbow striker and submission artist and yet people still seem hesitant in picking him to win his fight at UFC 101. Jordan Breen thinks that Florian’s main chance of beating Penn is in the striking game.

“I do think that has close and competitive written all over it, but Penn should be a healthy favorite. For Florian to win, it has to be stick-and-move stuff on the feet. If he’s gonna win, he’s going to have to kick to the legs and body, stay away, and maybe later if BJ is tuckered out, he can find top position somehow. But early on, he’s got to kick outside of BJ’s jab.”

Florian has been slowly gaining momentum, but his dominant performance over Joe Stevenson changed both men’s careers permanently.

“I wanted to use Joe Stevenson to make a statement, make a statement with my skills and say that I’m ready for this belt. After the Joe Stevenson fight I felt like I definitely got more respect.”

As Florian headed to the top of the division, Stevenson went back to the bottom. Stevenson is back on victory road after beating Nate Diaz last June. Stevenson changed his training up and went to work with Greg Jackson in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Florian also made some adjustments.

“Everything needed work in my game. I don’t think I was training smart, I wasn’t training scientifically. I’ve been training like an animal since then, you know, every part of my game has improved. People are going to see that I’m going to beat him skill-for-skill, round-by-round, I’m going to take him apart and you know I may finish him in the first round.”

Breen doesn’t see much of a chance for Florian to pull out a submission win here, however. With that said, it’s clear that Penn is not underestimating Florian.

“No matter what I think about Kenny personally, I really do I like his style, I think he judges distance very well, he’s got nice kicks, good jiu-jitsu, if he wants to take someone down he can. I think he’s a student of the game and he’s a true mixed martial artist. He thinks he’s going to run circles around me and that’s just not the case, you know. I’m not really the kind of guy that goes out there and make a game plan, I just go out and fight but I have a lot of confidence in what I’m going to do on August 8th.”

There will be a lot of pressure on Penn going into this fight as he tries to recover from his late January loss. Plus, Penn’s now considered an ‘elder statesman’ by younger MMA fighters.

“The UFC Lightweight division is not thin in any way and I got to prove that these old guys, these 30 year old guys can compete.”

Breen sees Penn getting a submission on Florian if he can beat up him up early on, get his back, and get a choke on. That’s easier said that done, however. In setting up the Florian/Penn match, Florian did a post-fight promo where he complimented Penn but said that he had to ‘kill the master’ and win the Lightweight title.

“He said he wants to kill the master, huh?” said an incredulous Penn. “He came here with friends, I mean, he came to hang out with me in Hilo, you know, I didn’t know he wanted to kill me but you know maybe I should have poisoned his food, I don’t know.”

Florian is a very tough challenger for Penn to face, but the champion sees Florian as the first of many opponents that he can get a win against on the road back to… getting a re-match with St. Pierre.

“I’m going to stand tall and we’ll see how the future goes, you know, I’m not looking past Kenny Florian in any way but my game plan is to beat Kenny Florian, beat the next guy, and you know if GSP is still around you know, let’s see, what goes around comes around.”

Florian knows that Penn will come out firing, considering how much is at stake in terms of defining Penn’s legacy in UFC after such a crushing loss.

“I think BJ is going to be motivated after his last loss with Georges St. Pierre. I think he’s going to be training harder than ever, I think he’s going to be at his best, I think he’s going to realize that he does have weaknesses in his game and that he needs to improve on those things.”

Florian sees this fight as a landmark opportunity to not only become the Lightweight champion but also cement his place in UFC history.

“It’s an opportunity for me to achieve greatness. I’m just going to give it 100% in that fight, go out and get the job done. BJ has shown to be a beast at 155, but I’m going to kill that beast.”