Kenny Florian
From OTMWiki
Kenny Florian is a mixed martial artist with a background in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He is best known for his appearance on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter reality show where he lost the middleweight final to Diego Sanchez.
He was born in Westwood, Massachusetts on May 26 1976 to immigrant parents from South America. As a child, he excelled in many sports including soccer, tennis, and the martial arts. In high school and college, he focused mainly on soccer and put the martial arts aside. He played soccer at Boston College, and earned Big-East academic all-star status. He graduated with a degree in Communications.
After college, his interests turned towards mixed martial arts, and he earned a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from Roberto Maia, a fourth-degree black belt under Carlos Gracie Jr.
Kenny has traveled to Brazil often to train, and on one such occasion was hiking a mountain in Rio de Janeiro when he slipped off a rock to a nearly fatal fall. Kenny tells that this experience showed him how fleeting life can be, and at this point decided to abandon his day job to concentrate on what made him most happy, which was mixed martial arts.
Kenny has a MMA record of 6-2. His most recent fight was against Canadian TKO World Champion Sam Stout during the season finale of The Ultimate Fighter 3 on June 24, 2006. The fight was the main event of the live Spike TV broadcast, and Kenny beat Stout in under two minutes of the first round via Rear naked choke.
