MMA Sports: Congratulations, very impressive win against Joe Lauzon, how did you feel about the fight?
Kenny: It felt pretty good, you know I made a couple of mistakes on the wrestling part of it, but overall I thought it was good and I expected him to come hard just like he did in the first round, and I expected him to defend like he did as well.

MMA Sports: Very fast paced fight, how did you feel about your conditioning?
Kenny: I felt great, every fight is never an issue whether it is at high altitude or not, I always take on sports with very good cardio and good lungs, and of course I had to put in a lot of work to maximize that potential. I knew I was ready to go at that pace for 25 minutes like he did.

MMA Sports: You had him in big trouble in the second round, were you surprised that he was taking that much punishment?
Kenny: Yeah. You know what, he was tough and he didn’t want to quit at that point, but he wasn’t going to get out and he was definitely under a lot of pressure for a long period of time. That’s probably why the referee stopped it, when he saw that he wasn’t going to get up.

MMA Sports: You overcame an injury, how did you overcome that coming into the fight?
Kenny: I have no idea to be honest, just that I feel lucky that I was able to recover like I did and I don’t know how but I thank god and I’m just thankful that I had an opportunity to compete.

MMA Sports: Did it affect you in the fight at all?
Kenny: No, I don’t want to use that as an excuse at all you know, I knew what I had going into the fight and competing was more important to me than anything else, whether I was going to win or lose that was the most important thing to me.

MMA Sports: He’s a fast paced fighter; we see that in all his fights, how was the training coming into the fight?
Kenny: A little bit differently you know, we just always expect a fast paced fight from everybody that’s what we prepare for, but certainly we had guys who mimic Joe Lauzon’s pace to the best that we could and we definitely tried to re-enact that in spurring and had guys who would just go all out for two and a half minutes and just get fresh guys every two and a half minutes coming as fast and make sure that they were keeping that pace up and if they weren’t able to keep that pace up for two and a half minutes than another fresh guy will go in. Either go against two or four guys within a 5 minute period, with fresh guys, and we did it, whatever we could do to push myself and we had world class jiu-jitsu guys that we were training with so we were definitely well prepared.

MMA Sports: Your record shows that you don’t go to a decision very often, is that something you always look for?
Kenny: Definitely, I don’t fight for the judges I fight definitely to finish the fight. That’s always my mentality and all my wins have come before three rounds and that’s always been my goal.

MMA Sports: Let’s talk Roger Huerta, you asked for Roger Huerta in the post fight interview after you Lauzon fight.
Kenny: You know I have a lot of respect for Roger and what he has accomplished in the division, I think he is you know, a very exciting fighter. He is a fighter who wants to come forward and those are the kind of guys I want to fight. I believe him and I are the number 1 and number 2 contender right now in the division and a fight between both of us would establish without a doubt who the number 1 contender is. And me wanting to fight him has nothing to do with me disrespecting him, I just, if anything I have a lot of respect for him and consider him one of the top fighters in the world. And that’s why I want to fight and I actually like Roger and I think he is a great kid. I think it will be a great fight for both of our careers.

MMA Sports: What are your predictions on the night?
Kenny: You know what, I think it is going to be a war, I think it is going to be a battle, for all 15 minutes. But there’s no doubt in my mind that I’m going to finish that fight before 15 minutes is up.

MMA Sports: So you don’t think it’s going to be a judge’s decision?
Kenny: No I don’t think so, but I’m preparing it to go that way, but in my mind there’s only one way that I’m going to win and that’s by finishing Roger Huerta.

MMA Sports: Do you think he has fought anyone of your caliber?
Kenny: I think his fought some very tough guys, I don’t think his fought anyone like me.

MMA Sports: Do you see any weaknesses in him that you will be able to exploit?
Kenny: I think at right now at this point in Roger’s career I do think he has some weaknesses, I believe every fighter has weaknesses and it’s going to be up to me and my coaches to exploit those weaknesses in training and during the fight.

MMA Sports: How much have you improved since your fight with Sean Sherk?
Kenny: I think there’s no comparison. I don’t think that Kenny Florian would last 10 minutes with the current Kenny Florian. With everything from the way that I train, my mentality, my confidence, my skills are vastly different. My goal has always been to defeat that last Kenny Florian like the Kenny Florian that just fought Joe Lauzon and I’m definitely going to be a much different fighter. A much better fighter this time round in August.

MMA Sports: What would you do different this time round against Sean Sherk?
Kenny: You know I think basically wrestle. My wrestling I think was atrocious, that was the main thing. I don’t think I had the strength, even half of the strength that I have now. I think my wrestling, my striking, my jiu-jitsu is 10 times better and basically I would try to keep the fight on my terms. And I would try to be standing up and if we do get to the ground I will try to get on top of Sean Sherk.

MMA Sports: So what do you think the outcome would be?
Kenny: Once again I believe that I would submit him or TKO.

MMA Sports: Would you like to fight BJ?
Kenny: Absolutely, I consider BJ an unbelievable fighter. He’s a legend in the sport and you know I think to be a legend, you’ve got to beat a legend. And if you want to leave legacy, which I want to do, those are the kind of guys you need to fight and beat.

MMA Sports: So what do you think you’d bring to the table that B.J. hasn’t seen given he has fought almost everybody?
Kenny: Yeah I know definitely B.J. is a great fighter, but again I honestly believe that I’m statistically I think I can pose the most amount of punches from B.J. And I think we would have an unbelievable fight. I wish I could call myself and put myself in this chance to watch the fight if we ever fought you know (laughs). I think it would be an unbelievable fight and it would be one fight that I’d have to pressure him every second of every round and just keep wearing him down and continue with that pressure and walk away with the win.

MMA Sports: You were in the first Ultimate fighter season, how much did that help your MMA career?
Kenny: I mean that’s the reason I’m here today, you know, that’s what started it all. That’s why I’m here in the UFC and originally I didn’t even want to become a fighter. I just wanted Brazilian jiu-jitsu and wanted to compete in something different and that was MMA. And ultimately it kind of opened up some box inside me that definitely got this passion for fighting and made me realize that this is really what I wanted to do. This is really what moves me and what drives me every single day when I wake up.

MMA Sports: You fight in the lightweight division now; you fought in middleweight in The Ultimate Fighter season, that’s a steep jump, what made you want to do that?
Kenny: Basically I was crazy (laughs) I didn’t know any better, that’s the excuse I can give you. Now they said we want you on the show, but would you fight at 185 and I weigh 168 and I don’t know if that’s possible. But basically it took a lot of bad nutrition to get there (laughs). I had no idea to, about nutrition, about gaining weight. I just ate cookies and whatever I had wide around the house to bulk up and everyone else was cutting down from like 205 pounds to 185.
I was trying to bulk up to just even 170-175 was difficult for me. It was definitely a huge challenge, but it was one that really drove me and pushed me to new levels. It was definitely an eye opening experience.

MMA Sports: When do you think that a title shot is in reach?
Kenny: Maybe after this next fight, maybe after this fight against Roger Huerta they will see me as the number 1 contender. I’m content if I need to fight one more time or two more times or ten more times. It doesn’t matter as long as they keep giving me the top guys you know, I would be happy.

MMA Sports: Finally, do you have any last words?
Kenny: I just want to thank all the fans for their support and hope that they keep watching and definitely look for some big time fireworks on August 9. I think we are going to have a tremendous fight.