Image courtesy of Rich Franklin’s Facebook Page
After a long, solid MMA career, Rich Franklin will be hanging up the gloves at the end of his next fight. One of the best middleweights to ever grace the Octagon, Franklin will leave behind a legacy of both success and some failure. He lived up to his nickname (Ace) and was one of the first fighters to truly embrace the term ‘mixed martial artist’.
With his teacher-to-fighter story, Franklin was able to connect with the average Joe. He never played the villain. As far as his skills go, he was a well-rounded fighter who could finish the fight on the feet or on the ground. With a 29-7 record, he had 15 stoppages by KO and 10 by submission.
Franklin is currently ranked sixth on the UFC list for significant strikes landed (856) and knockdowns landed (10). He was the champion for 497 days until he lost to Anderson Silva.
Though he may not have been the dominant champion that MMA fans are used to seeing today, he was still a big part of the UFC’s upcoming. Franklin first step foot inside the Octagon in 2003. His opponent was the well-known Evan Tanner. Franklin stopped him in the first round. Five months later, Franklin took care of Edwin Dewees in the first round at UFC 44. Nearly a year later, he submitted Jorge Rivera.
Franklin’s coming-out party took place at the event that would change the UFC forever. In the Ultimate Fighter 1 Finale, he took on “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” Ken Shamrock. At the time, Franklin was still relatively unknown to most people. After the fight, that all changed.
After being caught in some trouble early, Franklin went on to finish Shamrock in the opening frame. After that, his career really took off. He went on to defeat Tanner in his next outing to take the UFC middleweight crown. Franklin looked unstoppable in his next two fights, defeating Nate Quarry and David Loiseau with ease. Then came the coming-out party for Silva as Franklin lost his title in the first round to the Spider.
He would go on to win his next two fights against Jason MacDonald and Yushin Okami, but fall short in his second title bid against Silva. From that point on, Franklin’s career was in limbo.
He won his next two fights after Silva/Franklin II against Matt Hamill and Travis Lutter. That would be the last time Franklin won two fights in a row. Following the Hamill fight, Franklin lost to Dan Henderson, beat Wanderlei Silva, lost to Vitor Belfort, defeated Chuck Liddell with a broken arm, lost to Forrest Griffin, defeated the Axe Murderer again and then lost to Cung Le.
Though the latter part of his career was filled with setbacks, Franklin will forever be known as the fighter who put the middleweight division on the map. He will be remembered as the Ace.
Anthony Cloud is a MMA Writer for Rant Sports. Follow him on Google or like him on Facebook.
