Two days before their headlining bout at UFC Fight Night 21, Kenny Florian shared his thoughts on his opponent, former Pride Lightweight Champion, Takanori Gomi.

On Gomi’s motivation behind finally signing with the UFC:

“From what I hear, it seems like it’s his last run. When you get a guy like that who says things like that, he’s a dangerous guy. He wants to make one last run at getting a belt in a major organization. He feels this is the toughest organization in the world, which it is, and he’s going out there for blood.”

On what he expects from Gomi:

“I’m sure he’s going to be coming out hard, and try to make a name for himself right off the bat in this organization. I can’t have that.”

While many people in the MMA community believe that Gomi’s best days are behind him, Florian refuses to let himself drift into that mindset. In fact, Florian believes that Gomi should show him respect or it’s going to be a quick finish.

“You’ve got to respect your opponent’s skills, but I think the key is respecting their skills, but disrespecting their strategy. That’s the main thing. I’m not going to go out there and let him beat me. I’m not going to go out there and let him punch me in the face. I’m going out there to beat him and whatever it takes to beat him, I’m going to go out there and do.”

“I don’t mean this in a cocky way, but he’s going to have to respect me a lot more. I’m not sure he really knows what he’s dealing with. I’m not sure if he’s been following the UFC, or following my career or whatever, and he definitely doesn’t know what I’ve been up to in the last few months, but I feel like if he doesn’t come with his ‘A’ game, and if he feels like he’s the senior guy, or that he’s the legend, and he doesn’t respect me, I think he’ll be out of there pretty quick.”

(source: MMA Weekly)