Rich Franklin defeated Wanderlei Silva by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46)

Company man Rich Franklin survived a major scare at the end of the second round to take a decision win over Wanderlei Silva in the main event of UFC 147. He never really had Silva in much trouble, but just worked a solid gameplan on the outside and used solid fight IQ to take the bout on all three cards. The bout ended with a major firefight, which was pretty awesome to watch.

Silva landed a nice overhand right while Franklin was looking to throw a kick early in the first. Franklin was able to establish his straight left early in exchange. Silva landed a headkick, but ate two punches after Franklin caught his leg. Franklin's boxing looked solid as usual and he got the best of Silva over the course of the first round. Silva landed another head kick but Franklin was right there to stick a jab in his face.

Silva looked for the head kick multiple times early in the second round but couldn't connect. Franklin connected with a right that opened up a cut on Silva's nose. Silva came forward and caught Franklin with a huge flurry of shots late in the round, and was seconds away from getting a stoppage when the round ended. Franklin looked good to go in the third though, and the round looked a lot more like the first. Franklin landed a bunch of body kicks and Silva didn't really land anything appreciable at all. Franklin used a bodylock to get a takedown with 40 seconds to go and followed it up with some nice GnP to secure the round in his favor.

The fourth was pretty uneventful for the first half of the round, with neither fighter gaining much of an advantage. Silva landed a massive shot to the cup that led to an extended break, but Franklin was able to continue. He finished out the round in control. The fifth round was pretty uneventful as well until the last 20 seconds, but Franklin did enough to take it as well.

SBN coverage of UFC 147