It’s been 13 years since former UFC star Kenny Florian has gotten back to his roots — competing in a jiu-jitsu tournament. Well, the time has come and he will step back on the mats on April 9th and 10th.
“I haven’t competed in a jiu-jitsu tournament or a submission wrestling tournament in 13 years,” Florian told Brendan Schaub on the Fighter and the Kid podcast. “It’s an IBJJF tournament, it’s called the New York Spring Open.”
The 39-year-old should be in the Masters 2 division, but to get more matches and compete at a bit of a higher level, he decided to step in there against the 30-35 year olds in the Masters 1 division.
“I’m going with older guys — it’s gonna be 30-35 year olds; Masters 1, even though I should be in Masters 2. I want to get more mat time. It’s all gi, I may jump into no-gi.”
One would think that with a name like Kenny Florian the pressure would be on. The former Ultimate Fighter has competed inside the Octagon 17 times and fought for a title on three different occasions. This journey back to BJJ is just going to be “fun.”
“There definitely is pressure, but for me at the end of the day I don’t even care. I just want to go out there, I’m just gonna wrestle a bunch of blank faces and just go for it. If I worry about that, now I see it differently, so it’s just gonna be fun.”
The Massachusetts native has been training four to five times a week, so he figured he’d get back in there.
“I miss competing and I’ve been training so what the hell.”
The full list of entrants (subject to change) for Florian’s division is as follows thanks to FloGrappling:
BLACK / Master 1 / Male / Middle
Nakapan Phungephorn – BETA Academy
Kenneth Alan Florian – Florian Martial Arts Center
Fletcher Stephen Linton Jr. – Maxercise Phila
Brent Richard Insco – Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu
Maurício Croccia de Paula – Ryan Gracie Team
Filipe Braga Costa – Soul Fighters BJJ
Kevin MacMullen – TAC Team BJJ
Thiago Libardi Santos – Team Link
Patrick John Walsh – Yamasaki Academy
