Ow.

Yeah, I think ow covers it. Rich Franklin is a great dude and a hell of a fighter, but let's look at his last five fights:

• KTFO'd by Vitor.
• KTFO'd the ghost of Chuck Liddell
• Napped on by Broken Forrest
• Damn near KTFO'd by the ghost of Wanderlei Silva before managing to salvage a decision win (To be fair, even the ghost of Wanderlei can still hit like a sumbitch, and when he does indeed die, I fully expect at least six people to be knocked out by his coffin at the funeral. Just remember, folks: If you hear Sandstorm, it's a safe assumption that somebody is about to lose consciousness.)
• KTFO'd by Cung Le, the world's third 40-year-old prospect, behind Herschel Walker and James Toney

I admire Rich greatly and feel that the UFC would be in dire straights without loyal company men like Rich Franklin, but I can't help but feel that it's time for him to hang it up before he becomes regularly mentioned in the same sentence as Chuck Liddell and Gary Goodridge.

While Le is far from without power, he's hardly known for his iron fists (Well, other than that damn movie... somebody, please please FUCKING PLEEEEEASE tell me that my friend's wrong and that it's a good movie, because that trailer looked awesomer than Minowaman pulling a Final Atomic Buster on Tim Sylvia off the Grand Canyon FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WHY DO I NOT HAVE A JOB MATCHMAKING FOR ONE FC OR SUPA FITE LEEG) and is primarily known for his crazy repertoire of kicks. So to see him pull some one-punch shizz against an arguable Hall of Fame candidate implies that either, at 40 years of age, Cung Le's striking has drastically improved (not bloody likely) or, at 38 years of age, Rich Franklin's chin is going the way of Limp Bizkit (a lot more likely).

Before and after the fight, Franklin showed the kind of charisma, wit, and knowledge of the fight game that a good commentator demands, and that Kenny "Hi-C" Florian has been found to lack. Give Kenny a night off, let Rich take his place, and I think the broadcast dynamic would be vastly improved.

BONUS MINI-ARTICLE: MOTHERFUCKERS, UFC 154 IS GOING TO KICK SO MUCH FUCKING ASS

Predictions:

• GSP fucking OBLITERATES Condit. I mean, demolishes him so fucking badly that I have to start writing How I Could Just Kill a Man Part 2.
• Hendricks wins, but primarily because of Kampmann's absolutely fucking abysmal fight IQ. Dude could lose a split decision to a goddamn flyweight and beat a top 5 heavyweight in the same damn night.
• Francis Carmont fucking obliterates Tom Lawlor, and I'm promptly a sad panda. Also, Carmont speaking French sounds like a duck, I swear to fucking God.
• Costa gonna punch some dudes. If you don't know this much by now you ain't paying attention. Dude's a legit prospect despite looking like an Arab Steve Buscemi.
• Oh Jesus, I'm not touching Hominick-Garza with a stick. Hominick should kill him but he can't seem to get his head in the game anymore.
• Cote-Sakara is going to suuuuuck.
• I suspect Griggs misses weight.
• FotN: GSP - Condit
• KotN: Philpoop
• SotN: Bocek-RdA winner.
• Ando's talk about taking 2013 off is an absolute crock of shit, GSP-Silva is announced after the show.