Why UFC Isn't Creating Superstars Anymore | Kenny Florian | DSH #2090

**Kenny Florian** (0:00)
Dana has gone on record as to saying that like, hey, when once a fighter starts making a lot of money, like they don't have that same kind of oomph in their training. They don't dedicate themselves the way they can. And big money has killed this sport.

**Sean Kelly** (0:12)
But it's like, do you agree with that?

**Kenny Florian** (0:13)
The last month and a half of my camp against BJ was like the worst training I've ever had. Like I just didn't have anything. Like guys that I would play with in sparring were like beating me. And I'm like, what is going on? Obviously it comes down to the motivation of the individual at the end of the day and what are they fighting for? Are they fighting for money? Are they fighting for respect? Are they fighting for legacy?

**Sean Kelly** (0:41)
Okay guys, we got Kenny here at the Bitcoin Conference. He's speaking here, meeting for the first time. Thanks for coming on, man.

**Kenny Florian** (0:47)
Thanks for having me, man. Yeah.

**Sean Kelly** (0:49)
How long you been in crypto for?

**Kenny Florian** (0:50)
Let's see. I've been in Bitcoin since 2016 Wow. Pretty early. Been at it a little bit, yeah.
And it's been great to see kind of the evolution of everything. And yeah, it's changed a lot since then as well. And I wasn't even one of the early, early ones, but I'm glad I got in when I did.

**Sean Kelly** (1:09)
2016 is kind of that first wave, I feel like, right?

**Kenny Florian** (1:11)
Yeah, maybe second, second-ish maybe. Yeah, it started 2009 It was kind of unleashed into the wild. So I probably maybe, yeah, class of 2016, probably, yeah, maybe second generation.

**Sean Kelly** (1:25)
Were you fighting at that time?

**Kenny Florian** (1:26)
I was not, no. So I retired in, let's see, 2011 So that's, gosh, it feels like a very long time ago. And it was, but yeah.

**Sean Kelly** (1:36)
2011, so five years and then you found out about it.

**Kenny Florian** (1:38)
Now athletes are getting paid in Bitcoin. Yeah, I know. I wish I found out about it in 2011 That'd be nice. I certainly heard about it before then, but I disregarded it and I thought I was like, yeah, no, there's no way that's gonna work or, you know.

**Sean Kelly** (1:51)
What sold you over ultimately?

**Kenny Florian** (1:52)
You know, I think really obviously educating myself over time. I eventually bought some, bought a little bit.

**Sean Kelly** (2:06)
And back then you had, it was sketchy, right?

**Kenny Florian** (2:08)
It was harder to do it too. And I remember like I had money tied up in real estate and stuff like that. I was always trying to invest thinking about the future. So whatever money I had left over, I was trying to put it in other things.
Had heard of Bitcoin, didn't really delve too much into it. I was living in Los Angeles at the time. I had a buddy who was like, dude, you really like this. There's this thing called Bitcoin. It just went down to like 70 bucks. You should buy it. And I dragged my feet, you know, didn't really learn about it until later on.
And then 2016, I bought some other crypto as well. Like did like half Bitcoin and half something else. And then I maybe checked it like a few weeks later. And I was like, I didn't buy that much. And I was like, oh, no, it went up. It went up a lot. Whoa, that's crazy.
And I think I bought a lot. I think not a lot, but I bought more at that point and then kind of set goals over time of how much I wanted to accrue. And then that number just kind of got bigger over time. And I would always get nervous because I would buy inevitably when it was going high and I was like, yeah, cool, I'm going to buy some more. And like, oh my gosh, it went down a bunch. So it was obviously a roller coaster ride, like a lot of Bitcoiners have experienced. And just kept educating myself more and more, whether it's listening to podcasts and watching a bunch of videos on YouTube and kind of learning about it. And I think as a fighter, you're kind of always managing risk. And I think a lot of what we do in the world, no matter what realm you're in, it comes down to like navigating the world. And that can be tricky and that can be tough and that can be scary sometimes. So as a fighter, I think with my background, like I'm always thinking of ways of like, all right, how can I be hurt? Who has leverage over me? What are the kind of risks that I pose? And of course, valuing your time. And I busted my ass to be a professional fighter and to be as successful as I could. And how do I preserve that? How do I have assets that are gonna go up in relation to inflation or what's going on in the world? And how do I insulate and protect my family, my future, things like that? So I guess I kind of saw it in that lens. And whoever was able to kind of communicate that in varying ways, educated me a lot and helped me a lot. So it just gave me that much more confidence and conviction in what I was doing, I guess.