Issue 092
September 2012
All the head-turning information every mma fan needs to know
FORMER UFC TITLE CONTENDER KENNY FLORIAN RETIRES FROM MIXED MARTIAL ARTS
UFC broadcaster Kenny Florian has retired from mixed martial arts competition. A lingering back injury has prevented the former UFC featherweight, lightweight and welterweight and middleweight from full-intensity training and forced 36-year-old 14-6 competitor to hang up his gloves.
Florian, who recently took up color commentary duties for the UFC’s lower key cards, said: “[The decision] has been several months. It’s been very, very hard. Your identity becomes what you do and it’s been tough.”
Florian appeared on the first series of The Ultimate Fighter as a middleweight, fighting Diego Sanchez in the final, losing by TKO in round one. In his six-year UFC career, Florian fought for the lightweight title against Sean Sherk and then BJ Penn, and the featherweight title against José Aldo at UFC 136. The October bout would turn out to be his last Octagon appearance.
NEXT ULTIMATE FIGHTER SERIES TO RETURN TO TAPED FORMAT
Long-running UFC reality series The Ultimate Fighter will drop its new live format after one season, UFC president Dana White has confirmed. After 14 seasons on Spike TV, the UFC reworked the TUF format for the 15th series, the first with new TV partners Fox, where the tournament fights were shown live every Friday night on FX. However, low ratings, which dipped to around 850,000 viewers by the season’s final episodes, appear to have forced UFC officials to rethink the set-up. White confirmed the return to the taped format to Yahoo! Sports, and said that FX was happy with the ratings on what is typically a poor ratings slot in Friday evenings.
WHAT'S HOT
KENNY FLORIAN
Three cheers for the finish-obsessed fighter
THE OLYMPICS
We’ve never been so excited for something that’s not orbited by ring girls
BELLATOR
Anyone else getting pumped for Pat Curran, Michael Chandler, ‘King Mo’ and co?
WHAT'S NOT
Long hair, do care
The sadness we felt at not seeing Clay Guida’s flowing locks during his bout with Gray Maynarrd was painful to say the least
INJURIES
We like fights, not fight cancellations
GImmicks Drought
Yeah Roy Nelson has his bloated belly, but why no.gimmick matches? Tables, ladders, chairs...
Votes to select walkout music for the TUF 15 finalists via online music platform Spotify saw four times as many submissions as any other Spotify-based promotion.
60
Exact percentage of fights Kenny Florian finished in his mixed martial arts career.
