NEXT WEEK, THE UFC heads to China to stage an event there for the first time and with a little bit of time on our hands, we can have a look at one of the headliners of that show, Rich Franklin.
He is due to face Cung Le at UFC Macao on 10th November in what could be a last-chance run at a possible title shot or the beginning of the end of one of the UFCs most endearing fighters.
Franklin is part of an ever dwindling number of the “old guard” still fighting who rose to prominence with the likes of Matt Hughes and Chuck Liddell just as the sport began to really find its feet and grow in popularity.
The early days
One of the reasons why Rich ‘Ace’ Franklin has been a constant favourite with MMA fans was his route into the sport. He was always a fan of martial arts but back in the days before FOX TV deals, there wasn’t a decent wage to be made fighting.
He worked his way through a college degree and had actually accepted a job as a teacher before deciding to go into full-time training as a Mixed Martial Artist.
The recent Hollywood film, “Here Comes the Boom” starring long-time UFC fan Kevin James, harbours echoes of this as it is about a teacher who turns to fighting in order to raise cash to help his school. Franklin has a short cameo in the movie.
‘Ace’ was remembered in the early days of the Zuffa/UFC era as a down to earth hard worker and somebody who finished fights, which was a valuable commodity in a sport looking to get noticed. His UFC career started with first round KO of Evan Tanner at UFC 42 and he continued that trend of finishing fights by submitting or knocking out five out of next six opponents, winning the UFC middleweight belt en route.
Silva snapped the run
Franklin looked to be on the verge of a dominant spell that would last for years. He possessed one-punch power that proved to be devastating but was also comfortable finishing fights with kicks and knees or submissions.
He then ran into Anderson Silva at UFC 64, who humbled Franklin with relentless knees in the first round and took the middleweight belt from the American and has held it ever since. Franklin bounced back from that devastating loss and earned another shot at Silva after winning back-to-back fights against Jason MacDonald and Yushin Okami.
‘Ace’ was renowned for being an intelligent fighter and knew going into the second fight against Silva he had to avoid the deadly Mauy Thai clinch that lead to his demise in their first bout. Despite this, Franklin was unable to escape the clutches of an Anderson Silva at the peak of his powers and succumbed to another defeat that eventually led him to move up a weight division and fight at light heavyweight.
YouTube Credit: Anderson Silva
Franklin fought the best of the best
After making the move to light heavyweight, Franklin seemed to be the UFC’s go-to man for creating great headline events. He fought the likes of Wanderlei Silva and Dan Henderson before becoming the man who retired Chuck Liddell even though he sustained a broken fore-arm during the fight.
That injury signalled a tough few years for Franklin, who underwent a number of serious operations and at one point spent over a year and a half out of the sport.
He failed to sparkle on his return against Forrest Griffin at UFC 126 but recreated a war in his second fight with Wanderlei Silva in which he claimed another unanimous decision victory over the Brazilian and all eyes will be on Macau next week to see if he still has what it takes to compete at the top end of the UFC.
YouTube Credit: 39SakurabaKazushi
