Florian vs. Stevenson winner at UFC 91 guaranteed a title shot
UFC president Dana White added some juice to Saturday’s UFC 91 undercard when he announced during a pre-fight press conference in Las Vegas on Thursday that the winner of a lightweight bout between Kenny Florian and Joe Stevenson will earn a future shot at the UFC lightweight title.
Our friends at MMAjunkie.com broke the news late yesterday.
UFC 91 will air live on pay-per-view from the MGM Grand Garden Arena starting at 10 p.m. ET and will feature Randy Couture defending his UFC heavyweight title vs. 2000 NCAA heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar.
For Florian, he will essentially be defending a title shot he already earned following his a unanimous decision victory over Roger Huerta this past August at UFC 89. The win improved Florian’s streak to five consecutive victories since having suffered his last loss to Sean Sherk for the then-vacant lightweight title at UFC 64.
Stevenson is now in a position where he can expedite a second opportunity to vie for the lightweight title after having lost to B.J. Penn for the vacant belt as recently as UFC 80 this past January.
Sam Caplan is the President of Combat Sports Media, LLC, the parent company of FiveOuncesOfPain.com. CSM is a B-2-B outsource solution in the MMA industry and provides PR, web management, and other consulting services to MMA companies. Clients of CSM include the Combat Sports Championships and Showtime.
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Given the UFC’s history of promising title shots then forgetting they ever said that after the fight, does this really need to be a headline on this site? Two words… Fabricio Werdum.
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I am taking Kenny by TKO
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Kenny will out game plan Stevenson. Surely the fighting god’s won’t punish Kenny for taking this fight instead of waiting on Penn. Personally, I don’t care to see Penn v. Stevenson II. Although, Stevenson’s guillotine is a thing of beauty.
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Dana will still find a way to take the title shot away from Florian if he wins (I think he will). He’s dangled that carrot for 3 straight fights now.
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How many times does Florian have to defend his title shot? He has defended his title shot more than Penn has defended the title. If he wins (this is the year of the upset) he has to wait even longer. Penn’s next fight will probably be the for the WW title. Penn should be defending the title instead of going for another one. I am tired of paying for BS title fights so the UFC can generate more revenue. I would rather pay to see the undercard fights. Atleast most of those fighters are hungry and not greedy. Sorry for the incoherent ranting, too much coffee.
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I think Stevenson is going to beat Florian. People are counting Stevenson out for no reason, I think that’s a complete oversight.
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i think they are counting him out because KFlo seems to get better every fight we see. I for one expect even a better KFlo this fight than v. Huerta.
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We’ll see, I think Stevenson has the potential in any fight to be far more dangerous than Kenny does. I understand Kenny being the favorite, however I just don’t see the fight as being such a landslide.
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By no means do I see a landslide victory, Big Daddy is a tough tough fighter and is a threat to win any fight he’s in. I just think KFlo has proven since the Sherk fight that he shows up for every fight now, which makes him very dangerous and I see his game as a bit more well rounded than Joe’s. KFlo via dec.
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I think if KenFlo gets the win he definitely deserves the title shot. But, because he so recently fought for the title, if Stevenson wins, I think he should have to fight Sherk.
To me the fight is a toss up, but something makes me think that Stevenson will win.
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Ok,
Kenny is beyond deserving of a title shot..
But, i’m suprised Joe would be getting one after only 2 wins since his title fight..
I mean there’s a few more deserving people *Ahem Nate Diaz *Ahem
but.. it’s whatever..
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I don’t think Nate Diaz is anywhere near championship material – yet. As far as I’m concerned, he is way behind Guida, Griffin, Fisher and a whole host of other fighters with more impressive resumes.
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Florian is gonna FINISH this kid…You’ll see them sharp elbows against his face all 3 rounds.No Offense to Stevenson or his fans.
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