Kenny Florian made his 145-pound debut at UFC 131: "Dos Santos vs. Carwin" back on June 11 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Also making its debut in "Hollywood North" were his patented "Hellbows," the razor-sharp elbow strikes that left a trail of leaky skulls throughout the lightweight division, most notably against Sean Sherk at UFC 64 and Joe Lauzon at UFC Fight Night 13.
Diego Nunes joined that prestigious list in a unanimous decision loss to "KenFlo" earlier this month, enduring (among other things) a few shots to the dome courtesy of some Bostonian elbow grease.
Following the contest, coach Andre Pederneiras asked to have the offensive strikes "reanalyzed" to determine whether or not they were in fact legal.
That didn't sit well with Florian, who tells Fightlinker that Nunes might want to do some reanalyzing of his own:
"I saw the quote and I think something got crossed up in translation but it was obviously how I was throwing them (the elbows). This is actually something I ask every ref before a fight. What does he consider a legal elbow and what is back of the head. Big John (who was the referee in that fight) is the standard for refereeing and what other referees try to be and we literally went over this for 5 to 10 min in the dressing room before the fight for what he considers legal or not. He is the best in the business and he would have said something if he saw something that was illegal during the fight. Often times, if a fighter moves his head after they have been hit straight on, they turn their head. This puts their head in danger, so they are putting themselves into danger by moving their own head. I don’t know if they are making excuses for the loss and I hope they aren’t. I know that Diego was holding the fence half a dozen times during the fight and I know for a fact that is illegal as he was warned numerous times during the fight. As a fighter does it make you a little upset when you hear things like that? That they are trying to pump their guy up or take something away from your win? Guys want to make themselves feel better and sometimes it can be hard and sometimes you search for those things to make you feel better. When I look back at my losses, each one the other fighters was better than night and they beat me. We both go through the same rules, the same camp, the same injuries and it’s up to the guys who get into the cage to fight and make it happen."
The rules state that a fighter cannot strike an opponent to the back of the head, nor are they allowed to strike downward using the point of their elbow.
Did Florian do either at UFC 131?
The most recent notable offense that led to a disqualification inside the Octagon was Jon Jones "loss" to Matt Hamill at The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 10 Finale in December 2009 after "Bones" delivered multiple crushing "12-to-6" elbows to "The Hammer's" face.
But did Florian do anything of the sort? Does Pederneiras have a legitimate beef here? Or is this just sour grapes?
Sound off, Maniacs.