The son of Peruvian immigrants, Kenny Florian has watched with pride as Latin America has embraced mixed martial arts. The 35-year-old will challenge Jose Aldo for the featherweight championship in the co-main event at UFC 136 “Edgar vs. Maynard 3” on Saturday at the Toyota Center in Houston. During a pre-fight teleconference, Florian discussed MMA’s impact on those who live south of the border:

“Being in Brazil and having been in Peru and having been in Mexico many times, I’m very, very impressed at how the communities there, how the people there, have been responding to the sport. They love it. Any country that sees this sport will fall in love with it. It’s a dynamic and exciting sport. You never know what’s going to happen, and it keeps people on the edge of their seats. It’s a matter of just really educating the public wherever you go. Certainly, the Latin community ... we respect fighters, we love the fight game, we’ve been around in the combat sports game for a long time. Mixed martial arts really provides excitement. We just need to be getting out there and educating them on how we train, how hard we train, who we are -- all those things.”