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Rich Franklin Is Small, Possibly Overlooking Matt Hamill

Danny Acosta has a nice (if not slightly fluffy) piece on Rich Franklin up over at Sherdog.  It covers the familiar teacher to fighter story but also touches a bit on the move back to the Light Heavyweight division and also features a rather curious quote from Franklin:

“This is definitely a tough test to see if this weight class is going to be a good fit for me or not,” Franklin says. “I’m in the process of trying to gain weight, and that’s not all going to come in this one fight. It’s going to take me several months to continue to put weight back on to be one of the bigger competitors again at 205 pounds. I know on the spectrum of things I’m going to be smaller. I think the next couple months of my career is definitely going to answer that question.”

In Hamill (4-1), Franklin sees a perfect way to re-enter the fray.

“Well, I’ll say this,” he says. “Matt’s not one of the top 10 205-pound fighters.”

The article goes on to say that Franklin doesn't plan on coasting in the fight.  But I still think that if Franklin thinks it is going to take him time to get to the point of being a real 205'er then he may need to focus a bit more on Hamill who is a big, strong 205 pounds.  I consider this a fight that Franklin should certainly win but something about the idea that he sees this fight as something of an easy entry into the shark filled waters at light heavy has me a little bit worried.

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I picked Franklin

but I won’t be surprised at all if Hammill sends him back to 185.

by Kid Nate on Sep 5, 2008 10:35 AM EDT   0 recs

He is not overlooking Hammil persay....

Rich Franklin brought in Matt Hammil to wrestle with in his training camps for Evan Tanner and Nate Quarry. Rich was also intrumental in getting Hamill on the Ultimate fighter. They have trained together before, and although Hamill has gotten much better, I believe Franklin knows exactly what he is getting into on Saturday night and is quite confident he can handle Hamill. As much as I like Hamill, I think Franklin handles him easily. After all this time, people still don’t realize just how good Rich Franklin is. Its a shame, two losses to the best fighter in the world and apparently he isn’t an elite fighter anymore.

by Nick Travaglini on Sep 5, 2008 10:51 AM EDT   0 recs

It is tough for a great fighter to get overshadowed,

but any fighter needs to be able to sell themselves as something special. If he’s never going to beat A. Silva, then there’s not much for him to do except take the silver medal, which is not intriguing for the fans. We’d rather get excited about a new guy’s potential (however slight) to dethrone the invincible champ.

I really like Franklin as a fighter, btw.

There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

by misterjonez on Sep 5, 2008 11:35 AM EDT to parent up   0 recs

I think Franklin...

IS a very good fighter. He is not any sort of gateway guy or B-level or anything of that nature. But I still think that he has to be careful with this fight. As I said…I think he wins this fight. But, being that he isn’t yet “205 big” and Hamill IS. He needs to make sure he has his head on straight.

Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.

by Brent Brookhouse on Sep 5, 2008 12:09 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

There isn't much heat

But I wonder if it really matters. Liddell vs. Rashad is the sort of matchup thats geared toward the casual fan much more than the hardcore fan, and when we say theres little heat, what we mean is that the hardcore online fanbase isn’t talking about the fight that much. If the UFC loses 100,000 buys from the hardcores, and picks up 100,000 from the casuals who want to see Liddell fight a TUF winner, it evens out, regardless of the lack of heat.

I really want to see the buys for this show.

by Michaelthebox on Sep 5, 2008 12:22 PM EDT   0 recs

And this is totally the wrong thread. How did that happen?

by Michaelthebox on Sep 5, 2008 12:28 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

magic

Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.

by Brent Brookhouse on Sep 5, 2008 3:11 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

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