Rich Franklin to Remain at Light Heavyweight
Rich Franklin
Despite dropping to 195-pounds for a catchweight showdown with Wanderlei Silva at UFC 99, former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin will remain at light heavyweight due to his recent training with current middleweight title-holder Anderson Silva.
“I’ll say this much,” Franklin told the Dayton Daily News. “With training with Anderson out here in L.A. and him being the champ at 185, it really makes me feel like I don’t have a place at 185 pounds anymore. I don’t see myself going to back to 185.”
Franklin recorded victories in seven of his nine bouts at 185-pounds since returning to the UFC in 2005, but two losses to Anderson Silva sent him packing for 205. “Ace” made his light heavyweight debut last September, defeating Matt Hamill via third-round TKO, but suffered a setback in his most-recent fight, dropping a split decision to Dan Henderson in January.
[HT: MMAjunkie]
Tags: Anderson Silva, Rich Franklin
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Smart move Rich. I dont think that he’ll beat Anderson, but is still better then anyone else at 185. That has to be frustrating. Ill bet when Anderson started fighting at LHW he was thinking “CRAP”. I think that he will do well at 205, and i can’t wait to see him fight some more top tier opponents… not taking anything away from Hammill or Hendo, but he’s not getting any younger, and there are quite a few more interesting fights for him in that division.
you think he would beat marquardt? that would be a good fight but one we will unfortunately never see. I also thought that he won the fight against hendo, but he wasnt interested in coaching so a split decision loss to keep him at 205 isnt so bad.
I dont know that he would be nate but i def. think he could beat him and make for a great fight. I do think other than Silva he is the top contender at 185 though. At 205 i just dont know if he can handle the likes of Rampage and the gang. I would like to see him fight a Jardine or Vera type foe to see what hes got. I personally see Vera and Jardine as the lowest of the 205 contenders so if he gets through them i say bring on the Griffens, Machidas, Rampages.
Im pulling for franklin in this one ive always liked the guy. if he wins i hope he fights the loser of machida evans, or luis cane.
I’m personally pulling for Wanderlei but I really like Rich, and training with Anderson probably is a bit of hell, but if he wants to fight soely at 205 than so be it.. I wouldn’t mind seeing Lyoto v Rich II if ever possible… I can’t wait for UFC 99 the Silva v Franklin fight should be a damn good one..
I like Rich Franklin. It’s a good mover for him to stay at 205 because what’s the point of going back to 185 where he has no future. At 205 he can fight bigger names and better competition overall and possiblit work his way to a title shot if he can put a few wins together.
nate marquardt could take franklin….
And Franklin could take Marquardt. All depends on the night. Thanks for the stunningly shallow insight.
thank you for yours as well dbiz
I thought it was already expected that Rich would stay at 205, I guess he confirmed it now.
I think there are more lucrative fights at 205, that division is stacked. I would like to see rich take on 5 guys and they are: shogun, evans, forrest, thiago silva, and rampage. I think he can hang with shogun and evans, rich and forrest would be a good fight, and a fight with thiago will prove if thiago can hang with the big dogs at 205. I would like to see rampage-rich I think they are about even in every category except ko power. rampage has the advantage there.
At 205, Rich “Ace” Franklin can ressurrect his carrer. Lets say he beats Wanderlei Silva, if he beats Silva he’ll problably get the the winner of Jardine-Thiago SIlva or another contender which would put him right up there. He certainly has the skill and talent to go up against the best at 205. But i honestly feel he needs to really put Wanderlei away to “make a statement” and show he can still bang.
He’s a lot better than what he showed in the Henderson fight. He just needs to be a bit more agressive because he usually has better cardio than his opponents and as we’ve seen before, Wanderlei gets reckless and careless when fighters push the pace on him(Cro-cop, Rampage).
I think that he was winning the Hendo fight until he got poked…
i actually think he won the fight period. cause besides the first round dan didnt do anything besides get a takedown and lay on franklin, and the third was all Rich.
good point dude.
If franklin wants to continue competing and fighting “the best”, he’s got to show he deserves to compete at that level and put silva away. If the fight goes to a decision, it will not only make these fighters look bad, but they will prove nothing. I like rich, but he’s on the same highway matt hughes is driving to to get to the serra fight. I’d like to see wanderlei win. A win can justify his moving down to mw and justify him competing against “contenders” @ mw and that’s something i would love to see.
What do you think Dbiz?
well im not dbiz but ill give ya my 2 cents
i believe rich is still relevent he realy hasnt had any bad showings besides his silva fights, he dismantled hamill something nobodys been able to do, and had a close three round war with a man that just over a year ago pushed rampage to his limits, ill agree that rich isnt getting any younger but hes still got some good fights left in him, and with a couple big wins could get a title shot. time will tell
carls
the dbiz thing was a joke. He’s a big fan of my comments
Franklin without question is better off staying @ 205. That’s seriously a no brainer dudes. I want to see vera beat hamill and fight franklin.
that would be a good match
Rich “ace” Franklin: I know it must still eat him up inside when he’s training with Anderson Silva and remember the good old days when he was champion. I personally think he needs more “killer instinct” if you wiil. He needs to become more “bad”, meaning just be more of a mean motherfu*ker in the octagon dude.
I say this because i’m an “ace” fan and i want to see him succeed at 205 and leave behind a great legacy which he is very capable of doing, but i feel he lacks that competitive edge he needs. Guys at 205 will mess you up worse than Silva did.
My point is that Franklin really needs to step up his game to a whole new level period.
My sentiments exactly. Is he saying that there’s less challenge in the LHW division, or is he just winding down his career with new scenery?
I dont necessarily think that he believes that theres less challenge at 205, but more or less that his ultimate goal is to become the champ (much like any other fighter) and theres probably no way in hell that we will see silva vs franklin III. I know that he wouldnt turn that fight down, but who honestly would want to see that fight?(I would still buy it but we all know how that will turn out!) Other then Silva theres noone else for him to fight at 185 (maybe Nate) so i think that its a good career move for him to explore other options as a fighter.
I see your point on that.
To me he had that mean streak developing ex. Evan Tanner, Ken shamrock, Nate Quary, but I do believe A. Silva knocked it out of him!! {Twice}
Having suffered a broken nose, then having it rebroken tends to slow your aggression just a little bit. It makes you tentative.
I honestly like Rich and I believe he is far from Hughes and Liddel or Wandy etc.
Franklin/Forrest good fight.
Franklin/Shogun good fight.
Franklin/Jardine/Vera good fight.
Franklin Rematch Machida AWESOME FIGHT!!!
i dont think machida evans 2 would be any different than the first one but id like to see it anyways.
*Machida Franklin* sorry
Yeah, I’m with you on that Carls, the Machida – Franklin 2 thing that is. There are still other interesting match ups for Franklin at 205 though.
Here’s a question…why didn’t Franklin drop down in weight?
Too big. He was one of the biggest guys at MW. Saying Franklin should drop down to WW is like saying Forrest Griffin should drop to MW, not gonna happen.
That’s too bad. It’s tough to gauge how big a guy really is in the octogon. Sometimes I’ll forget some of the smaller guys are only 155 and Joe Rogan will interview the winner and I’ll laugh. Rogan towers over them. I gues it’s the illusion of the two smaller guys next to eacher other. They looked all ripped and huge to me…then it turns out they’re much smaller.
To me, sometimes the guys at 155 look tiny, and I have to remind myself 1. they’re actually 160-170 (Diego and Sherk may be even bigger), and 2. They’re bigger than I am so they’re really not *that* small.
I get what you’re saying though because you really only have the other guy, and maybe the ref to compare to sometimes, and they will both weigh-in at whatever weight, but their may actually be a ten pound difference, or more. Like Hendo v. Rampage, Rampage was probably actually 215 or more, while Hendo was probably only 203-ish. Or Forrest v. Rashad, Forrest was probably 220 or more, and Rashad was around 203-ish.
the UFC should implement a pre-octagon weigh in, seperate from the weigh in the day before the fight. then we could all enjoy the fight rather than hear Rogan talk about how much he “thinks a dude weighs right now”.
tibau is a good example of a guy who is way to big to be a 155er, i dont know how he does it.
I find it odd that Rashad only weighs about 203 when he fought TUF at HW. Instead of losing permanent weight, I would have thought he’d cut weight for weigh ins (once again for the record, I am against day before weigh ins/cutting weight). But he does look rather smaller than his opponents.
Back on the Franklin note, although it’s traditional for guys to drop down in weight to lighten the competition, Franklin’s huge (so is A Silva for that matter), and it’s nice to see him fighting at his proper weight. I guess there are a ton of interesting fights for Rich at LHW, more than MW (who’s in MW anyways?!?!?!). Machida/Franklin 2 would be SICK! Franklin/anyone LHW would be great for that matter.
Diego drops about 15 pounds the night before/day of weigh ins(heard it from the man himself), which is outrageous for a LW.
Bring back Murillo Bustamante!!!!!
eldiablo,
A lot of guys have gone on TUF in higher weight classes than they normally fight just to get on the show and get the contract – Diego beat KenFlo at MW to win TUF1 and now both fight at LW, Bisping has dropped down, Pointon moved up to get get back on the show after losing during season three, Danzig won at WW, Jardine and Evans were both on as HWs (so was Seth “Kimbo Killer” Petruzelli, who now fights at LHW) Joe Stephenson won as a WW, Gurgel was also on that season. Heck Rob Browning normally fights at 135 and was on this season trying to get in as a 155. I bet some of the guys from last season, like Rolli Delgado were actually 145s. Anyways, the point is there is a long list of guys that have competed on TUF above their actual weight class just for the opportunity to be on TUF.
Then you have Guida not named Clay who is a natural HW that tried (and failed) to compete at LHW.
dont forget about swick fighting at light heavy on season 1.