What's Next for Rich Franklin?

by Michael Rome on Sep 8, 2008 1:38 AM EDT in News

Everybody is rightly focusing on Chuck Liddell, but UFC 88 also featured Rich Franklin's dismantling of Matt Hamill. Rich took Hamill apart, beating him from almost every position, and unloading the kind of accurate combinations we haven't seen out of him in a long time.

Kid Nate argued that Rich should stay at 185, and while I appreciate his view, I just can't agree. The difference between the Rich we saw last night and the Rich we saw against Lutter was motivation. He looked excited to be fighting, excited to be embarking on a new path. He now has a lot of interesting options in front of him, including fights against the winner of Jardine/Vera, Shogun, Chuck, and others. Battling to cement his spot as the number two middleweight in the world just isn't enough to excite Rich Franklin, and I can't blame him.

People underestimate the importance of motivation in fighting. If you can't get excited about your next fight, the performance will show it. Look how different Chuck looked against Wanderlei Silva compared to the way he looked against Rashad Evans and Keith Jardine. I refuse to believe that it is completely unrelated to a lack of excitement on Chuck's end about the fights with Greg Jackson's guys. Similarly, BJ Penn needs to fight GSP to keep himself motivated. I have no doubt that if he spent a year fighting the Kenny Florians and Mac Danzigs of the world, he would eventually lose due to a lack of motivation. I cannot begrudge fighters for taking the path that keeps them interested in their own careers.

Personally, I'd like to see Franklin fight the returning Shogun in December. It's a big fight for both men, and I see no reason to feed either of them an easy fight at this point. If Franklin wins, he will find himself a fight or two away from a title shot. If Shogun wins, he's right back in the mix of things as well.

Really, when you look at the top contenders at 205, the only one I think Franklin would really have a nightmare of a time beating is Quinton Jackson. Can anyone really say Franklin doesn't have a chance against Forrest Griffin or Rashad Evans? Frankly I'd bet on him against either of the two.

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Motivation is right.

Franklin doesn’t want to be a 185 lb gate keeper. At 185, he can beat most, if not everyone (minus Silva of course), so there’s no point in having him eliminate potential contenders, especially since no one would pay to see him get his ass handed to him for a third time by Silva. He looked really good last night. He seemed to have a lot of energy, and, as lame as this is gonna sound, a spring to his step. I know he said he initially didn’t like the idea of going back up to 205, but after a win like that, he’s gotta feel really good about things.

by pud333 on Sep 8, 2008 2:08 AM EDT 0 recs

agreed. It was great to see him have fun and wave to the crowd before the 2nd and 3rd rounds started. I found myself liking him when before I used to think he had the personality of a piece of wood.

"No one makes me bleed my own blood."

by monkeyfightclub! on Sep 8, 2008 10:35 AM EDT up 0 recs

Franklin at 205 is great...

Unless Anderson Silva moves up to 205 as well. And of all of the potential opponents you mentioned above, you failed to mention Machida, who I believe would pose a similar problem as Silva.

by nitro on Sep 8, 2008 3:18 AM EDT 0 recs

Franklin versus Machida 2

Make it happen. Would Franklin fight on one month’s notice? I don’t know. But he didn’t take any damage outside of that cut above the eye.

Let them fight at UFC 91 or 92 to decide who will fight the winner of Rashad/Forrest.

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Sir Winston Churchill

by FlyByKnight on Sep 8, 2008 3:41 AM EDT 0 recs

He’s not going to want that fight. His face was worse than anyone, and he refused the same time turnaround in June. I have heard they are considering offering it to Henderson though, which would be very interesting.

The winner of Wand/Rampage (rumored in November) will get the Rashad/Forrest winner.

by Michael Rome on Sep 8, 2008 3:49 AM EDT up 0 recs

I beg to differ. I’d want to fight the guy that handed me my first loss with a brutal knockout. If Henderson fights Machida, that would be interesting. However, Machida’s style would pose a ton of problems for Henderson. This would be the one fight where we would probably see Henderson actually want to use his Greco-Roman clinch and wrestling to get this fight to the ground against Machida. I doubt Henderson can offer very much to Machida on the stand-up aspect of things. Machida’s strike and move style is difficult for anyone at 205. Especially a guy like Henderson. Guys like Henderson, Rampage, Liddell, and Ortiz would have problems with it or already did have problems with it. He’s too quick and agile for those guys but against guys like Rashad and Forrest, he’d have a tougher time.

In a way, I was hoping for Forrest and Machida to finally fight after not having their UFC 70 fight go down thanks to Forrest’s injury.

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Sir Winston Churchill

by FlyByKnight on Sep 8, 2008 4:11 AM EDT up 0 recs

You’re not looking at it the way fighters are. They see a boring opponent that offers very little upside if they win outside of a boost in online rankings, and a high chance of a boring defeat.

by Michael Rome on Sep 8, 2008 4:22 AM EDT up 0 recs

If someone guy brutalized you and gave you your first loss, would you not want revenge?

I totally understand where you are coming from, but Machida is the higher ranked of the two at 205. I think Machida and Franklin would put on a very exciting fight, much like their first battle which was actually quite the slugfest.

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Sir Winston Churchill

by FlyByKnight on Sep 8, 2008 4:25 AM EDT up 0 recs

Oops

Meant to say “if some guy” but added “one” after “some” for some reason I cannot explain. My bad on that.

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." - Sir Winston Churchill

by FlyByKnight on Sep 8, 2008 4:28 AM EDT up 0 recs

I would agree, except for the “revenge” factor. Every fighter I know would be all over a chance to redeem himself against one of the only two guys to hand him a loss. I don’t think Franklin will be ready or want to take it on short notice, but I don’t think there’s any way he’s going to look at it as a possibly boring opponent with very little upside — the upside is the chance to take a huge leap up the 205 rankings (Machida is, boring or not, on the cusp of getting a title shot) and, more importantly, the chance to avenge a loss to the only guy besides Silva to beat him. That’s pretty big upside to a fighter.

by Kierkegaard on Sep 8, 2008 11:48 AM EDT up 0 recs

I agree with you, if we see Franklin get a rematch with Machida – that would be just the boost Franklin needs. I think we’d see a whole new Franklin too. He has a lot to prove and will prove.

Make it happen – Joe Silva.

"My job is a decision-making job, and as a result, I make a lot of decisions." --George W. Bush, The Decider, Lancaster, Pa., Oct. 3, 2007

by lovingmma25 on Sep 8, 2008 12:01 PM EDT up 0 recs

Franklin vs. Machida 1

Was an action-packed ass kicking, and there is a high chance a rematch would yield the same results because Rich is still a slower striker who Lyoto can easily tee off on with counter left hands. The idea that every Lyoto fight has a high chance of being boring is a total misconception; when he fights unskilled strikers and wrestlers who are spooked by his game, sometimes he has trouble getting them to do anything, but versus anyone resembling a striker there are usually a lot of emphatic takedowns/leg sweeps and dragon punches to the face

by smoogy on Sep 8, 2008 1:21 PM EDT up 0 recs

Anyone resembling a kickboxer I should say

by smoogy on Sep 8, 2008 1:22 PM EDT up 0 recs

Rematch!

Franklin machida 2 needs to happen..I don’t think franklin will be ready by UFC 89 especially not for machida..thiago machida is the fight I was most excited about!..any ideas on who could replace thiago??

by DeMo Spinning back fist on Sep 8, 2008 4:01 AM EDT 0 recs

Mostly agree

I agree that he needs to stay at LHW and that he’d definitely be one of the better guys, but no way in hell would I bet on him against Forrest. What Rich did to Hamill is what Forrest does to much better and more dangerous strikers.

by Forrest_Fire on Sep 8, 2008 9:40 AM EDT 0 recs

Why Not Shogun vs Machida

and Franklin vs Liddell? UFC lost their super-draw Forrest vs Liddell matchup, but I’d be more excited to see Franklin and Chuck go at it.

by BNeL21 on Sep 8, 2008 12:06 PM EDT 0 recs

Franklin by Liver Shot

Franklin set that up nicely going to the head which lead to the excellent use of the Left foot/shin to the floating rib area that immediately crumpled Hamill. One of Franklin’s cornermen/trainers made specific mention to the liver-shot targeting of Franklin during the countdown show. The only way that Franklin -Griffin would happen is if Rich wins his next fight and Forrest loses against Evans. I would rather Franklin him drop down again and fight(smash) Bisping.

by Kel on Sep 8, 2008 2:11 PM EDT 0 recs

Franklin has gotten somewhat of a “bad rap” on his abilities, due to the Anderson beatings. Franklin is a good athlete, a very good striker and underrated grappler. I think he can give anyone (except that Silva guy, lol) a good fight and win many of them. I definitely think the more compelling fights for him are at 205.

"The bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin'"

by BJJDenver on Sep 8, 2008 3:09 PM EDT 0 recs

Go back to MW for now

Am I the only one who doesn’t think he’s established himself as the #2 MW under Silva? His only win against a top 10 MW was barely edging Okami out and he was dominated in the third round of that fight. IMO he still has to beat Henderson and/or Marquardt before people can start saying “He’s stuck at #2”. He’s not stuck at #2, he’s just never gonna be #1.

by Forrest_Fire on Sep 11, 2008 3:32 PM EDT 0 recs