HUERTA-FLORIAN WINNER IN LINE FOR UFC TITLE SHOT

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HUERTA-FLORIAN WINNER IN LINE FOR UFC TITLE SHOT
Thursday, May 15, 2008 - by Ken Pishna - MMAWeekly.com

It was recently confirmed that Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight contenders Roger Huerta and Kenny Florian will face each other in August at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn. UFC president Dana White on Thursday said that the winner of that bout at UFC 87 is likely to be next in line for the winner of next Saturday’s lightweight title bout between current champion B.J. Penn and former titleholder Sean Sherk.

During a pre-fight media call for UFC 84, a question arose as to whether or not the winner of the lightweight title next week would move up to challenge Georges St. Pierre in a dream bout of sorts. White said that it was highly unlikely and a premature move for either Penn or Sherk.

“I like to see guys clean out a division and there be no doubt who is the best 155-pounder, 170, 185-pounder, etc. You find out who the best is because these guys clean out a division,” commented White.

That said, regardless of which fighter walks out of the Octagon with the belt on May 24, he doesn’t believe that Penn or Sherk would have “cleaned out the division” at that point, citing Huerta and Florian.

“I think the winner (between Penn and Sherk)... there's another fight between Roger Huerta and Kenny Florian, I think the winner of that fight will fight the winner of this fight and let's say it's B.J. or Sean (who wins that match-up), I would consider that cleaning out the division,” stated the UFC president. “Then I would sit down and talk to them about where they wanted to go from there.”

Florian, currently ranked as the No. 10 lightweight in the world by MMAWeekly.com, fought Sherk once before for the title and came up short, losing a five-round decision. Since then, at UFC 64 in late 2006, he has knocked off all comers – four in a row – except for Huerta. His only other UFC loss was to Diego Sanchez in the finale of the inaugural season of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series.

Having fought six times in the Octagon, Huerta has never lost under the UFC banner. In fact, he has only one loss on his professional record, that being to current International Fight League lightweight champion Ryan Schultz, which was several years ago, early on in Huerta’s career.