Kenny Florian gives his understanding of why he is no longer on UFC broadcasts

Kenny Florian is once again thriving in a commentary role and proving there are other places to do so outside of the UFC.

Florian, a longtime competitor, analyst and color commentator for the UFC has moved on to the PFL, where he offers his expertise, alongside fellow former competitors Sean O’Connell and Randy Couture.

In terms of his departure from the UFC, there really hasn’t been a clear answer as to why Florian is no longer part of the broadcast team, even to Florian himself.

“My understanding — and this is what’s been told to me from people inside the company — I guess I said no to being a coach... I was asked to coach on, I think, The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America, one of the early ones back in the day,” Florian told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “I wasn’t able to do it. It was travel and all of that stuff, and I was doing UFC Tonight, I was doing commentary work, and I just had a lot of stuff going on at home, so I just wasn’t able to really do it.

“It just didn’t make sense, and because I said no, I kind of slowly started being removed from stuff. That’s my understanding. That’s what’s been told to me — not directly, but by people within the company who are close to the source. But I guess that’s how it went down. So I stopped doing that, and last year I started doing stuff for the PFL, which has been awesome. It’s been great to call fights, be in that energy, and be right up close to the cage again and that’s been a lot of fun.”

The PFL will return for their 2022 season in April — where Florian will resume his color commentator role — while also adding their new Challenger Series show that gives up and coming prospects the opportunity to compete for a roster spot for the upcoming season, and the $1 million prize.

Florian is happy to have a new role within the sport and has no regrets about parting ways with the UFC.

“I think if someone called me directly and was like, ‘Hey, please, can you just do this,’ I probably would’ve done it,” Florian explained. “I’ve always done my best to keep the people who are employing me as happy as possible. I don’t have any [regrets]. I try not to look back on things, and things happen for the best and I’m pretty happy where I am right now. Things are good.”