Penn and Florian could give UFC a dilemma - Zelaznik

[Dan_Hardy_]

Marshall Zelaznik has confessed BJ Penn could well be forced into the welterweight division if he and Kenny Florian are successful at UFC 118.

 

Zelaznik, the UFC UK president, cast his eye over the state of the lightweight division during a recent interview with ESPN.co.uk. August's UFC 118 card features something of a 155lb tournament, with Kenny Florian and Gray Maynard fighting for the right to become No. 1 contender, before Penn attempts to reclaim his title against Frankie Edgar.

 

A win for Edgar would make matters simple, with Florian or Maynard earning the title shot. A victory for Penn and Maynard would also hand the Prodigy a new challenge, having never beaten Maynard before. However, triumphs for Penn and Florian would set up a rematch of their clash 12 months ago, when the Prodigy dominated Florian, and Zelaznik admits that scenario might not prove so straight-forward.

 

"Penn and Florian only recently happened, and it was a pretty overpowering performance from BJ," he told ESPN.co.uk.

 

"Depending on the BJ v Frankie fight, if BJ takes a narrow victory there is the potential for a trilogy between them.

 

"If Frankie were to win, it's very easy to say the winner of Florian v Maynard fights for the championship.

 

"But if BJ wins and Florian wins, then it puts pressure on the match-making. That then puts the possibility of BJ stepping up a weight class back on the table."

 

http://www.espn.co.uk/ufc/sport/story/39825.html

[MysticKJ]

if Penn and KenFlo win, then they should fight each other...y would they force Penn to WW? it's not his fault he destroyed KenFlo the first time...if KenFlo can't win the belt maybe he should move to WW...

[BAMfreddrick]

ya i dnt think they have the right or ability to force penn up in weight classes. besides theres still ppl at lw for penn to thrash if he gets the belt back: maynard, gsot, miller, lots of contenders left for him.

[Furiousmat]

if Penn and KenFlo win' date=' then they should fight each other...y would they force Penn to WW? it's not his fault he destroyed KenFlo the first time...if KenFlo can't win the belt maybe he should move to WW...[/quote']

 

i agree with this I mean.. GSP is tearing his division and now starts to fight the same guys.. Kos, then Fitch. I mean.. why talk about forcing BJ to move up and not GSP. GSP completly overwhelmed Kos in their first fight. What if BJ goes up. GSP ripped him apart last time. I think if that happens and they think Florian isn't ready they should just cancel the title shot opportunity and wait for a new contender. Problem is the LW division kinda sucks asses right now.

[ShadowOverYou]

if Penn and KenFlo win' date=' then they should fight each other...y would they force Penn to WW? it's not his fault he destroyed KenFlo the first time...if KenFlo can't win the belt maybe he should move to WW...[/quote']

 

couldnt have said it better myself

[Junglebird]

Penn Florian 2 could be very marketable

 

If Florian wins impressively against Maynard:

 

Thats 3 huge wins for Ken Flo, one would be against the man who beat Frankie (Maynard)

Whilst BJ Dominated Sanchez, he came up short against Edgar. So depending on his 2nd performance would lead to the type of hype put out.

 

"Penn lost the first fight in a razor thin decision, but came back and destroyed Edgar in the Rematch" If he crushes Edgar. If its a close fight again.... "Penn had trouble winning his belt back against a guy who lost the a guy to Kenflo Crushed and Finished"

 

etc.

 

The UFC will find a way to Hype almost any fight.... I mean FACK, they got GSP/Kos 2 to worry about. Wtf? But I will bet my house (I dont own a house) That when Kos/GSP2 rolls around we all will be tight in our jeans to see it.

[SpiderProdigy]

Kenny has been improving in my eyes, he completely dismantled Guida and Gomi, if he beats Maynard he should get the shot and i don't see why Penn/Florian II would need to force anyone to WW, thats just foolish.

[silentson]

Bj is not a ww fighter either, people forget this because of all of the high profile ww fights he has been in but he is a very small ww.

[acdoubleu]

Florian had a horrible game plan for that first fight. He refused to engage Bj standing most of the fight and instead spent almost the entire fight trying for unsuccessful take downs. He isn't a great wrestler and is very well rounded standing so it didn't make any sense to me. Maybe he and his trainers thought he would get out boxed, which he likely would have, but if he employed a varied standing attack I think he would have had more success then by going for the same take down against the fence over and over. Since that fight his boxing has tightened up quite a bit and I think he would stand a better chance in the rematch. Bj is probably still a bad match up for him as they are similar (good striker, good bjj) but Bj is just a little better at everything. I would still love to see it more than Bj going up in weight.

[BlackChip]

They're not forcing Alves. Don't think they would force BJ