Lightweights Tyson Griffin and Hermes Franca have agreed to square off at UFC 103 on September 19 in Dallas, Texas.
According to MMA Weekly, bout agreements are expected to be signed soon for the 155-pound contest.
A winner of 6 of his 8 UFC bouts, Griffin (13-2) rebounded from an October loss to Sean Sherk with a unanimous decision victory over Rafael dos Anjos at UFC Fight Night 18 in April. Griffin, who was won five “Fight of the Night” bonuses in less than 3 years in the UFC, holds previous wins over Urijah Faber, Clay Guida, Marcus Aurelio, Gleison Tibau, and Thiago Tavares among others.
Following eight-straight victories, Franca (19-7) challenged Sherk for the lightweight title in July 2007, but suffered a unanimous decision defeat and was then suspended for a year after testing positive for steroids. After suffering a loss to Frankie Edgar in his return last July, Franca bounced back with a win over Aurelio last October. He had been scheduled to fight Joe Lauzon in February but was forced out of the contest with a knee injury.
UFC 103, which has not yet been officially announced, is also rumored to include Josh Koscheck vs. Frank Trigg and Efrain Escudero vs. Cole Miller.
[Pictured: Tyson Griffin]
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Although Griffin has 5 fight of the night awards, he has gone to a decision in 7 of his 8 UFC fights. This one will be no different, unfortunately.
Both Griffin and Franca need to develop their ability to finish fights. I think part of this comes down to them being in a light class and not having KO power, but that’s not an excuse and they need to start getting stoppages.
Based on the matchup this one seems bound to go to decision unfortunately, though both have put on exciting performances at least.
I think that Tyson Griffin does have knockout power,just not one punch knockout power. I think it’s his tecnique and the way he throws his punches that kinda take some of his punching power away. If he threw more straight punches and changed his foot work a bit i feel he’ll reach his full punching power potential.
Hermes Franca also has the ability to submit guys,but he hasn’t lately.
But i agree, both Griffin and Franca need to finish more fights because although Griffin has had several “fight of the night” awards, he has yet to finish a guy in the octagon(correct me if i’m wrong) and he’s fallen into that “guy who can’t finish a fight” category”
They both have there backs against the wall so i hope they come to finish eachother which could make for another exciting fight fromm both guys.
Just cause i like to bug you Marvel, Griffon finished David Lee by rear naked choke. It was his first fight against that skinny british guy. Although it would be nice to see him get a nice KO, i doubt its going to happen over a tough guy like Franca. Both these guys are coming off wins so i dont think they realy have their backs to the wall, but a loss could realy hurt either fighter so i guess we’il see.
carls, that’s a cool new avatar, it’s Optimus Prime right?
The one and only.
Another person who automatically assumes a decision is a bad thing. That’s so cute.
Look, decisions are not necessarily bad. I dont’ remember which PPV it was, but we saw the whole card, just about all first round stoppages, and it was over around midnight. And I felt ripped off because I didn’t really get to see anything.
Sure, the mouth breathers with the attention span of a gnat’s…anatomy loved it because they didn’t actually have to sit and watch anything. I rather enjoy watching a fight strategy evolve. I don’t mind some decisions (especially of those of the non-lay and pray variety).
But the point stands, quick fights do NOT equal good fights.
Great post dbiz. Im tired how the first thing people say about Griffin is how he goes to a decision, or any fighter for that. Like its not like Griffon just drags his a$$ around the ring and tries to LNP. The guy goes to war every time. His fights with Sherk, Edgar, and Guida are all awesome, and even his last one was good. Franca before his last few fight was putting guys away like crazy and thats what got him his title shot against sherk. With that said Griffon by UD
Many of the best fights in UFC history have gone the distance.
exactly
I never thought of myself as either a mouth-breather nor possessing the attention span of a gnat’s whatever just because I like to see 2 fighters decide the issue inside the cage, and not have it decided for them at the judges table, but you’re entitled to your opinion and I respect that.
Your point is well-taken, made here and in other posts, but the counter-point is that decisions are not necessarily a good thing either, when you consider the “skill” level of someone like Cecil Peoples.
I agree that some of the best fights in UFC history have gone the distance [Griffin-Bonner], but I think that the majority of fans if polled would like to see things settled by either KO, submission, or ref stoppage. I’m not necessarily saying that I want every fight to end with a flash KO or some freak submission, and I agree with dbiz when he says that quick fights do not equal good fights, although I’m sure someone somewhere out there will be able to list examples of good quick fights, but I prefer things to be settled without so much “interpretation” from outside sources.
And if we’re talking about PPV cost value, I rate it by how much fun I had watching the card, not how long I spent watching the card.
As to the fight itself, I think we may get a surprise, and a Tyson win by submission…
good point dbiz.
I’d rather see subs and ko’s/tko’s because most fights that go the distance ARe the more boring fights. Sometimes styles stale mate eachother so we see no action, sometimes there’s a guy who’s just running the whole fight, sometimes both guys just suck ass and can’t finish a fight and sometimes even the more exciting fights that go to a decision aren’t that exciting.
When we have finishes, we get to see a variety of subs and some kool knockouts. We get to see what kinds of strengths the fighters have because they have finished a fight. Who would have though Pual Thiago was going to tko kos? Who would have thought that aldo was going to go for a flying knee and end swanson in 8 seconds?
Subs and ko’s any day of the week for me
jcohl
In his 27 fight career Franca has never been submitted, he has a black belt, owns gyms where he teaches BBJ,and Griffin isnt exactly a submission expert. Although anything can happen, Im just wondering what your basing your prediction off of.
Looks like a battle of the t-rexes.
These two have way too many skills to let it go to decision, i hope it ends with a KO by Tyson but if Sherk couldnt finish Franca in 5 rounds I doubt Griffin will…..another decision by Griffin, I will be there live to see this.
even tho they go to decision, they still put on a fight wont be like the hughes serra fight, tyson works, but i am afraid these 2 are too evenly matched, but tyson has also had alot of time off so maybe hes improved his stand up, am excited to see him back in the octagon
yeah i also think tyson and hermes always come out to fight even though they hardly ever finish a fight. This will be just another one of those back and forth fights with no decisive winner. Just the judges scoring the bout. Nothing special. I don’t think either guy is capable of finishing the other based on their styles of fighting. i’ve got tyson by ud.
decent fight… but i want more big names on this dallas card. as it will be my first ufc event to go to..
Im going for Hermes Franca on this one