DellaGrotte paves KenFlo's way

Kenny Florian studied communications and pre-law while he was a soccer player at Boston College. He was trained to be inquisitive, to think for himself, to look below the surface, to ask why and how.

In most aspects of his life, Florian instinctively does what he was trained to do.

But when it comes to mixed martial arts, Florian's mindset is completely the opposite.

His faith in trainer Mark DellaGrotte is so complete that he acts upon DellaGrotte's instructions without even thinking.

"The level of trust between us is so extraordinary, it's difficult to explain," said Florian, one of the UFC's top lightweights who will meet Joe Lauzon tonight at the Broomfield Events Center in suburban Denver in the main event of Ultimate Fight Night 13. "I know a lot of people may not understand, but I have complete faith and trust in Mark."

One of those who understands is Marcus Davis, one of Florian's teammates at DellaGrotte's Sityodtong USA camp in Somerville, Mass. A former pro boxer, Davis has worked with some of the most renowned coaches in MMA.

But the first time he fought for DellaGrotte, he received instructions he didn't have confidence in.

Davis was getting ready to fight Forrest Petz. He felt he could use his hand speed and his boxing skills to stay on the outside and peck away at Petz. Petz was strong and liked to attack and Davis felt he was quicker and could neutralize him from a distance.

DellaGrotte disagreed.

"I was a veteran and I had been around a lot of good coaches even at that point," Davis said. "I didn't really believe in his plan, but I said to myself, 'You know, give this guy a chance. Do what he says.' It turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life."

DellaGrotte's game plan of bullying the bully turned out to be ingenious and led Davis to a critical victory in his career.

Davis said his faith in DellaGrotte is so complete that he'll never even think twice before doing what DellaGrotte advises.

"He's such a big part of the success of the guys on that team," said Davis, who has won 12 consecutive fights. "Me and Kenny, look at what he's done with us. Take a guy like Patrick Coté. He had had a rough career until he got with Mark and couldn't seem to get over the hump. Now, he's with Mark and he's like a completely different fighter.

"Mark, honestly, is a one in a billion coach. He's such a great, great coach. I worked with Pat Miletich before. He was my hero in this sport. I've been around some great boxing coaches. But Mark is, by far, the greatest coach I've ever been around."

DellaGrotte is almost embarrassed to hear such talk. Humility, he says, is one of the traits he values most, and he said it's difficult to credit a trainer for so much of a fighter's success.

He's learned as much from Florian, he offers, as Florian has from him. When they met, Florian was a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu with little else to offer as a professional fighter.

He was working for a financial services company in Boston, serving as an interpreter.

DellaGrotte helped him become a threat as a Muay Thai fighter, diversifying his game enough that Florian soon became regarded as one of the elite lightweights in the world.

He says he's indebted to DellaGrotte for opening a new world to him. DellaGrotte made numerous trips to Thailand to study under the legendary Thai coach, Kru Yodtong.

He slept on mats with rats walking on him and ate bugs. But he learned the craft of Muay Thai the way few foreigners ever have.

DellaGrotte passed that knowledge along to Florian, the difference in a career as a tough guy with a big heart and a potential champion with six-figure earning potential.

"If you get onto a plane, you want to believe that the pilot has had thousands of miles of flying and isn't a trainee taking classes on how to fly," Florian said. "As a fighter, you want a trainer you feel you can trust and who has been there, who knows how you'll feel and who knows how to motivate you and teach you new and better ways of doing things.

"He's seen it. He's smelled it. He's tasted it. He's so open-minded in his training, because he's a student of the game, too. He's always laughing and smiling when he's working with you, because he has such passion for what he's doing, but he's the kind of guy who insists on precision and technique."

DellaGrotte said the trust is essential for the fighter to unlock his potential. He said he's never once seen Florian question one of his teachings, even though he's tested Florian numerous times.

DellaGrotte said most fighters wind up losing when they think they have the sport figured out. Florian, he said, has a zeal for knowledge that knows no bounds.

"There are a lot of guys who get to a high level and they think they know more than you do and they have it figured out, but those guys are just defeating themselves," DellaGrotte said. "With Kenny, I'll show him something silly, just to test him, but he never questions a thing. He won't say a word. He accepts what I say and trusts what I tell him to be true. That's why you see him constantly getting better. He's at a very high level now, but he's willing to learn at any time. Guys like him are the ones who really can do something in this sport."

Florian may get another crack at the UFC title should he get past Lauzon, so the bout Wednesday night carries extra significance.

Florian lost a unanimous decision in his first crack at the UFC title, when he was beaten by Sean Sherk at UFC 64 on Oct. 14, 2006.

He's only recently been able to look at a tape of the entire fight.

"It made me sick to see that," said Florian, who has submitted three straight opponents since the loss. "A lot of people saw the fight and come up to me and slap me on the back and tell me what a great fight it was. I think, 'God, I looked awful.'

"I saw all the things I did wrong. I wasn't healthy and I was not doing what I should have been doing as a professional athlete to be there. I wasn't training as a pro athlete should."

Soon after, he hired a full-time strength and conditioning coach. He modified his diet – not just in training camp, but made it a part of his life – and has hired a series of specialist coaches.

He says that as a result, he's 10 times better today than when he fought Sherk. But at the core of it all is DellaGrotte.

"So much of what I have and so much of what I've become is because of him," Florian said. "He's a brother, he's family to me. I don't know what I'd do or who I'd be without him."