UFC 131 Fight Card: The Team Behind the 'New' Kenny Florian

As we head into UFC 131 which features Kenny Florian's featherweight debut against Diego Nunes, we've discussed Florian's unusual journey from 185lbs (middleweight) in his UFC debut at 145lbs. Now thanks to Jonathan Snowden at SBNation, we have a little more information on exactly how he's transforming his body.

He's brought in Jonathan Chaimberg, of the Adrenaline Performance Center in Montreal as his strength and conditioning coach:

"He's the guy in charge of making sure I'm in top physical form for my fights," Florian said. "He's also the guy responsible for making sure I'm making improvements. That I'm getting stronger, that I'm getting faster, that I'm getting more flexible. And that my work load capacity is better for every single camp. That's one thing Jonathan Chaimberg has been great -making me stronger in places where I wasn't strong before. I've become a much, much better athlete since hooking up with him."
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"Everybody is different. I'm not a classical coach who has everyone do the same things," Chaimberg said. "Kenny's main focus now is strength. Up until this camp he wasn't someone who would wow you in the gym. He wasn't that physically strong - great technique and great skills, but not very powerful. Against some guys, he could get away with it. Against Gray Maynard, who is a great wrestler and also very strong, it's a tough match-up. So we focused on getting Kenny supremely strong and powerful for this fight. Putting on a lot of good muscle. His body is completely different. He's put on a lot of solid muscle. His strength is at a place where I would be impressed even if he was fighting at 155. At 145 it's unreal."

Florian has also brought in dietitian George Lockhart :

"(Florian) and Lockhart hit it off immediately. "He agreed that 145 was very possible. I always want to investigate everything I do, so I asked him "how?" and "why?" I'm pretty knowledgeable about nutrition and the things he was saying weren't just B.S. This was a guy who was extremely knowledgeable and knew what he was doing."

We'll find out Saturday how successful Florian's transformation has been.