At UFC 131 this past weekend, Kenny Florian showed a lot of grit and determination to come back and win a fight against Diego Nunes after losing the first round.
A round that saw Nunes drop Florian with a punch and also take him down. Nunes was able to take Florian down again in the second round, but wasn’t really able to do any damage after either takedown.
One of the major reasons why Florian dropped to the featherweight division was because he felt he got bullied by larger fighters with wrestling skills as a lightweight.
What does it tell you when someone who isn’t known for their wrestling skills(Nunes) is able to take Florian down twice in a three round fight? Florian won the Nunes fight on conditioning and determination. He imposed his will on Nunes in the second round which seemed to take a lot out of Nunes, but Nunes was still able to drop Florian with a punch at the very end of the third round and was possibly seconds away from finishing him. Could Florian impose his will on the likes of Jose Aldo and/or Chad Mendes, the #1 and #3 ranked featherweights in the world?
Probably not.
Aldo will have the size advantage and the power advantage, and probably the speed advantage in a potential showdown with Florian. It’s doubtful that Florian would be able to take Aldo down and inflict damage the way he did against Nunes. What if Florian were to face Chad Mendes? He would be facing someone that could probably take him down at will and keep him there without getting tired the same way Sean Sherk did way back in 2006.
Different weight class, same problems he faced 5 years ago.