Kenny Florian will face UFC newcomer Alvin Robinson this Saturday, July 7th at UFC 73: Stacked which will be held at ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California. Florian, the well-rounded mixed martial artist best known for his appearance on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter reality show, is eager to get back in the cage and work his way back up to a title shot. Kenny took some time to talk to BuddyTV about his career and his upcoming fight against Alvin.

Read the full interview transcript and listen to the mp3 audio below.

This is Tom Michel from BuddyTV and I'm here with MMA fighter Kenny Florian. Kenny, thanks for taking the time to talk to us today. I want to start off by just getting a sense for how your life has changed since being on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter reality TV show. I'd like to know what significant changes have occurred in your life since that, and also I want to get a sense for what it’s like fighting in the UFC in these huge events?

Sure, It’s been just a complete different lifestyle, you know. Before I was on The Ultimate Fighter, I was kind of just a regular martial artist just competing in MMA every once in awhile, and now I’m a full time MMA professional fighter. So it’s changed pretty drastically and it changes for almost every fight as well. Every time I get a little more professional, a little bit more savvy about how to train, how to go about just the whole lifestyle and try to improve my lifestyle, improve the way that I train everyday. And then obviously the whole factor of people recognizing me and stuff like that, and its a little more visible now, public, spend a little more time traveling now and doing other things, so its all been a welcome change though.

Are you pretty much a celebrity in your hometown?

Yeah, you know I always get stopped driving or going to the airport or walking around. People definitely are into the sport over here, and those who are really into it definitely make it known and definitely like to stop and talk. So, it’s always cool, especially being home. I don’t mind it at all. Definitely due to the guys that are going to be with me all the time, so…

Great. You have the reputation of being one of the most prepared fighters in the UFC and it has been really exciting watching your skills develop and following your progress. What do you think are your keys to success, what can you attribute to your developments over the last 3-4 years?

You know, a lot people talk about the progress I've made, I think in some ways I found myself in a difficult situation early in my career. I was on The Ultimate Fighter after only a few fights so I think there was only one way to go, I think it was up at that point. I was definitely very, very new to the game and I think it just comes down to treating yourself and training and acting like a professional athlete and making sure your prepared year round and I've had my share of injuries and I certainly wasn't always training as well as I could have, you know with injuries and things like that I shied away from lifting weights and getting my body stronger. Now I've done that, I've hired a full time strength and conditioning coach so it’s been a little progress. You know little things, a little bit at a time. But I think the main thing is just staying in shape year round and really just trying to work on weaknesses, which a lot of fighters get comfortable with, especially a lot of veteran fighters. They like doing what they’re good at and I constantly try to look at what I’m not good at and try to improve those areas constantly, so I think that the key just being humble and training hard and really being honest with yourself and looking at your weaknesses and addressing them, you know.

Can you attribute your development to any one coach or mentor? Is there one person the you could potentially single out as having the biggest impact on you as a mixed martial artist?

You know I guess everyone definitely has had their share, everyone that I’ve trained with, really from the beginner to the professional fighter has an impact for sure. My theory is try to train with everybody and learn from everyone, and steal from everybody and really try to learn from every one. I guess if there’s one person that sticks out, I guess it’s my brother Keith because he’s been with me since the beginning. Since we first started doing karate when we were kids and when we started Brazilian Jujitsu, and in our teens he was with me all the way and we're all rough in my parent’s basement beating each other up every day. I guess it’s probably my brother because he’s been with me since the beginning and really I don’t thinks there’s anything more competitive than two brothers going at it. He’s definitely I guess one of my mentors that really sticks out.

I can attest to that, I had a brother that used to take on me a lot, made me toughen up as a kid myself. Maybe you can shed some additional light on what it means to be a world-class fighter. I know you’re very skilled in a lot of disciplines including Brazilian Jujitsu. What belts or titles or ranks do you currently hold and how did you get those?

I have many different grappling titles and Brazilian Jujitsu championships that I’ve won over a career of fighting. World Championships, Pan-American Championships, U.S. Grappling Championships, stiff like that. I've got a lot of medals over the years. It’s been very different competing in Brazilian Jujitsu and making that transition over to mixed martial arts. I’m a black belt in Brazilian Jujitsu, that’s where I started and really before The Ultimate Fighter, I really only had maybe a month of Muay Thai, or striking experience, so since then I’ve gone to Thailand and trained in Muay Thai. I’ve learned from the best fighters in the world over there. I’m training in Muay Thai a lot, I’ve been training now for a few years, I’ve trained in boxing for a few years, trained wrestling with some great wrestlers pretty recently and just trying to train in anything and everything that’s effective. Muay Thai, boxing, wrestling and Brazilian Jujitsu of course. And then there’s the other aspect of strength and conditioning which I’ve been really trying to work very hard on as well.

Is there one fight that stands out in your mind as being one that you’re most proud of, and alternatively least proud of?

Yeah. Let’s see, I’m so picky there’s nothing that really stands out as far as like a great performance that I’m really proud of. I guess I just try to look ahead, I try to erase good performances bad performances, I just try to erase out of my head and just look forward. But for some reason it’s easier to pick out a bad performance than it is a good one, I guess the Diego Sanchez finale that is just, in my opinion, just a piss poor performance to be perfectly blunt. I think mentally I just wasn’t prepared. I just felt like a deer in the headlights, I didn’t even get a chance to even show anything, because of, I don’t know, but my body just froze up and it kinda hit me all at the same time that I was out there in the octagon, and that was it. By the time I kind of woke up during the fight it was really too late, I was cut, Diego was mounted on top of me and pounding down at me and that was pretty much it. The referee came in and stopped the fight by the time I was awake and realized I was in a fight. But that fight really was one that I really was bitter about, but in the end it made me a better fighter and I guess one performance that was good was the Sam Stout fight just because it seemed that everything went perfectly. I mean everything went exactly the way it should have been. There was no mistakes made on my part, it was juts a good clean fight and it was a good opponent. So it was just, I guess that one kind of sticks out. But I still am, I’m still picky on myself.

Cool. Why don't you tell us a little bout your upcoming fight with, who many people consider, little known Alvin Robinson at UFC 73. How are you preparing for the fight and how do you see this fight playing out?

Yeah you know, Alvin Robinson, its kind of a tough situation for me, he's a tough fighter, not a lot of people know about him. But he’s definitely a tremendous talent especially when it comes to the ground game, very solid striker and very good wrestler, he’s good all the way around and a very dangerous opponent and he only has one loss to his record. He’s beat some tough guys, I think it’s gonna be a tough, tough fight. I think it’s gonna be tougher than my last fight and I’m ready for anything. I don’t where this fights really gonna go, I assume it will go to the ground definitely at some point us both being good on the ground, I’m sure we’ll hit the ground at some point. You know, it’s gonna come down to who makes the first mistake, in this fight I’m just gonna try to drag him into deep water and see who sinks first. I always try to make it a battle of wills, I’m gonna try to break his will, go as hard as I can, be aggressive and see if he breaks. I’m in great shape for this fight I’ve been training immediately after the last fight that I had with Mishima. I’ve been training, so I’ve been getting better in all different aspects and I’ll be ready for this one, and I’m looking forward to this, I really am.

Fantastic. Not that you’re looking at all past this fight, I know you’re not, but where do you see the future for Kenny Florian after this fight? Who do you envision fighting next, or who do you want to take?

Yeah you know, I definitely want to fight, not that Alvin Robinson isn't a big name or anything like that, but he's not a well-known name. I'd like to fight one of the bigger names in my division and try to work my way up to a shot at the title again. That’s my goal, I want to fight the best guys and hopefully that will happen, we’ll see what happens as far as what the UFC puts in front of me, but I want to fight another tough fighter and continue to improve, continue to fight the tough guys and continue to work my way back up to another title shot, that’s the goal. Get the title, be the best in the world and continue doing it, you know keep improving.

I’m sure your fans will be eagerly waiting to see how your career takes shape from here, I just want to again thank you for your time today Kenny, and from all of us at BuddyTV we wish you nothing but continued good luck and much success on July 7th and beyond.

Thanks so much, I appreciate it, anytime.

(Interview conducted by Tom Michel)

Be sure to check out our upcoming interview with Anderson Silva and our other recent UFC 73 Interviews with Tito Ortiz, Rashad Evans, Nate Marquardt.