Rich Franklin
From FightWiki
 |
Name | Rich Franklin |
| Nickname | Ace | |
| Association | Team Extreme / Team Jorge Gurgel | |
| Weight Class | Middleweight (185 lbs.) / Light Heavyweight (205 lbs.) | |
| Height | 6' 1" (185 cm) | |
| Style | Freestyle | |
| Birth Date | October 5, 1974 | |
| Fighting Out Of | Cincinnati, Ohio | |
| Country | USA | |
| Rich Franklin Pictures | http://www.richfranklin.com/ |
Rich "Ace" Franklin is an American mixed martial artist who currently competes as a Light Heavyweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He previously fought as a Middleweight and was the former UFC Middleweight Champion, losing his title to Anderson Silva.
Contents |
Professional Record
| Record | 26 - 5 - 0 (Win – Loss – Draw) (1 NC) |
| Wins | 14 (T)KOs 9 Submissions 3 Decisions |
| Losses | 4 (T)KOs 0 Submissions 1 Decisions |
| Result | Opponent | Method | Event Title | Date | Round | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | Chuck Liddell | KO (Punch) | UFC 115: Liddell vs. Franklin | 6/12/2010 | 1 | 4:55 | Light Heavyweight bout; Won Knockout of the Night Honors |
| Loss | Vitor Belfort | TKO (Punches) | UFC 103: Franklin vs. Belfort | 9/19/2009 | 1 | 3:02 | Catchweight bout (195 lbs.) |
| Win | Wanderlei Silva | Decision (Unanimous) | UFC 99: The Comeback | 6/13/2009 | 3 | 5:00 | Catchweight bout (195 lbs.) |
| Loss | Dan Henderson | Decision (Split) | UFC 93: Franklin vs. Henderson | 1/17/2009 | 3 | 5:00 | Light Heavyweight bout; Winner would go on to be USA coach for TUF 9 |
| Win | Matt Hamill | TKO (Kick to the Body) | UFC 88: Breakthrough | 9/06/2008 | 3 | 0:39 | Return to UFC Light Heavyweight division |
| Win | Travis Lutter | TKO (Punches) | UFC 83: Serra vs. St. Pierre II | 4/19/2008 | 2 | 3:01 | |
| Loss | Anderson Silva | TKO (Knees) | UFC 77: Hostile Territory | 10/20/2007 | 2 | 1:07 | For UFC Middleweight Championship |
| Win | Yushin Okami | Decision (Unanimous) | UFC 72: Victory | 6/16/2007 | 3 | 5:00 | Became #1 contender in UFC Middleweight Division |
| Win | Jason MacDonald | TKO (Corner Stoppage) | UFC 68: Uprising | 3/03/2007 | 2 | 5:00 | |
| Loss | Anderson Silva | KO (Knee) | UFC 64: Unstoppable | 10/14/2006 | 1 | 2:59 | Lost UFC Middleweight Championship |
| Win | David Loiseau | Decision (Unanimous) | UFC 58: USA vs. Canada | 3/04/2006 | 5 | 5:00 | Defended UFC Middleweight Championship |
| Win | Nate Quarry | KO (Punch) | UFC 56: Full Force | 11/19/2005 | 1 | 2:34 | Defended UFC Middleweight Championship |
| Win | Evan Tanner | TKO (Doctor Stoppage) | UFC 53: Heavy Hitters | 6/04/2005 | 4 | 3:25 | Won UFC Middleweight Championship |
| Win | Ken Shamrock | TKO (Punches) | The Ultimate Fighter 1 Finale | 4/09/2005 | 1 | 2:42 | |
| Win | Curtis Stout | Submission (Punches) | SB 38: SuperBrawl 38 | 12/12/2004 | 2 | 1:28 | |
| Win | Jorge Rivera | Submission (Armbar) | UFC 50: The War of '04 | 10/22/2004 | 3 | 4:28 | UFC Middleweight debut |
| Win | Ralph Dilon | Submission (Kimura) | AFC: Alaska Fighting Championship | 7/14/2004 | 1 | N/A | |
| Win | Leo Sylvest | Submission (Strikes) | SB 35: SuperBrawl 35 | 4/16/2004 | 1 | 1:13 | |
| Loss | Lyoto Machida | TKO (Head Kick and Punches) | Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003: Inoki Festival | 12/31/2003 | 2 | 1:03 | |
| Win | Edwin Dewees | TKO (Punches and Knees) | UFC 44: Undisputed | 9/26/2003 | 1 | 3:35 | Light Heavyweight bout |
| Win | Roberto Ramirez | KO (Punch) | Battleground 1: War Cry | 7/19/2003 | 1 | 0:10 | |
| Win | Evan Tanner | TKO (Punches) | UFC 42: Sudden Impact | 4/25/2003 | 1 | 2:40 | Light Heavyweight bout |
| Win | Antony Rea | TKO (Punches) | UCC Hawaii: Eruption in Hawaii | 9/17/2002 | 1 | 2:46 | |
| Win | Yan Pellerin | Submission (Armbar) | UCC 10: Battle for the Belts 2002 | 6/15/2002 | 1 | 3:23 | |
| Win | Marvin Eastman | Submission (Armbar) | WFA 1: World Fighting Alliance 1 | 11/03/2001 | 1 | 1:02 | |
| Win | Dennis Reed | Submission (Punches) | EC: Extreme Challenge Trials | 8/25/2001 | 1 | 1:38 | |
| Win | Chris Seifert | Submission (Punches) | EC 41: Extreme Challenge 41 | 7/13/2001 | 2 | 1:45 | |
| Win | Travis Fulton | TKO (Broken Hand) | Rings UAA: Battle of Champions | 3/17/2001 | 1 | 5:00 | |
| NC | Aaron Brink | No Contest (Accidental Injury) | IFC WC 11: Warriors Challenge 11 | 1/13/2001 | 1 | N/A | For IFC Light Heavyweight United States Championship. |
| Win | Dennis Reed | Submission (Armbar) | EC 35: Extreme Challenge 35 | 6/29/2000 | 1 | 1:56 | |
| Win | Gary Myers | KO (Head Kick) | WEF 9: World Class | 5/13/2000 | 3 | 0:59 | |
| Win | Rob Smith | TKO (Punches) | EC 31: Extreme Challenge 31 | 3/24/2000 | 1 | 2:30 | |
Biography
Prior to becoming a full time MMA fighter, Franklin was a math teacher at Oak Hills High School in Cincinnati. He has a master's degree in education and a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Cincinnati.
Rich Franklin and American fighter President Jeff Adler created The Keep It In The Ring Foundation to advocate non-violence and build character in youth. This is done through after school sports, martial arts, and life skills programs. They help young people learn about life so they can respect it.
Martial Arts Background
According to Franklin, he first learned submission fighting from instructional video tapes. He has been associated with and trained with Meat Truck Inc., and currently trains at facilities run by Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Jorge Gurgel, (New Generation Martial Arts); Neal Rowe, a Muay Thai instructor (Sacan Martial Arts); and Rob Radford, a boxing instructor (Boxing 4 Fitness). Franklin is currently ranked as a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Jorge Gurgel. Since losing his title to Anderson Silva, Franklin has started training under Matt "The Wizard" Hume.
Mixed Martial Arts Career
Franklin had a record of 17 wins and 1 loss before his fight for the title, which he won. His sole loss was against Lyoto Machida by TKO in the second round. In the run up to the title match, he defeated such well-respected fighters as Evan Tanner, Jorge Rivera, Edwin Dewees, Ken Shamrock, Jason MacDonald, and David Loiseau. Before his fight with Shamrock, Franklin signed an unusually long 8-fight contract with the UFC. In 2005, he defeated Evan Tanner for a second time at UFC 53 to win the UFC Middleweight Championship. His victory led to his being a coach (along with welterweight champion Matt Hughes) on The Ultimate Fighter 2.
On November 19, 2005 at UFC 56, Franklin defended his title against Nate Quarry, a competitor from season 1 of The Ultimate Fighter. Franklin won the fight via knockout in the first round. On March 4, 2006, at UFC 58, Franklin defeated David Loiseau in a unanimous five round decision to retain his title. Franklin broke his left hand early on in the second round. The injury required surgery, including a metal plate and screws, and Franklin was out of action for seven months.
Franklin lost his title on his return fight after being defeated by Brazilian Anderson Silva in the main event of UFC 64 on October 14, 2006. The fight was stopped at 2:49 of the first round after Franklin received a knee to the face. On October 19, 2006 Franklin underwent surgery due to the nasal fracture he received in his fight against Silva.
At UFC 68 on March 3, 2007, Franklin defeated Jason MacDonald by TKO due to MacDonald's corner throwing in the towel in the break between rounds two and three. Franklin had mounted MacDonald in the closing seconds of the second round, causing significant injury and swelling around MacDonald's left eye. MacDonald's corner advised ending the fight, and Franklin was declared the winner. After the fight Franklin called Anderson Silva to the Octagon, and said that he and Dana White had agreed to a fight for the title in Franklin's hometown, Cincinnati.
On June 16, 2007 at UFC 72 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Franklin defeated top middleweight contender Yushin Okami to be announced the official number one contender for Anderson Silva's middleweight championship. The bout was only Franklin's second overall fight that went the full distance (due to being a non-title fight, it was three rounds). All three judges scored the bout 29-28 in favor of Franklin.
On October 20, 2007, Franklin faced Anderson Silva in a rematch for the middleweight championship, losing by TKO (Strikes) in the second round. Franklin recently signed a new 6 fight contract with the UFC.
Franklin defeated Travis Lutter via TKO (Strikes) at 3:01 of Round 2 at UFC 83 on April 19, 2008. This was despite Lutter locking in a tight armbar. Franklin exhibited a high level armbar submission escape, made even more impressive because Lutter is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt.
On September 6, 2008 at UFC 88, Franklin made his return to the light heavyweight division by defeating Matt Hamill by TKO with a kick to the liver.
Franklin fought against former PRIDE Fighting Championships 183 lb. and 205 lb. champion Dan Henderson at UFC 93 on January 17, 2009 in Dublin, Ireland. He lost the fight in a controversial split decision and the winner, Dan Henderson, will be the coach of the American Team on The Ultimate Fighter 9, with Michael Bisping coaching the opposing Team UK. Franklin was in the unique position of being the first person to main event a UFC show in Northern Ireland at UFC 72 and the first person to main event a UFC show in the Republic of Ireland.
On March 3, 2009, the UFC confirmed the reported catchweight (195 lb) bout between Franklin and Wanderlei Silva. It took place at UFC 99: The Comeback in Cologne, Germany, on June 13, 2009. Franklin defeated Silva via unanimous decision, also winning the Fight of the Night Honors.
It was then announced shortly after his defeat of Silva that he would meet Dan Henderson in a re-match at UFC 103. Dana White quickly acknowledged that fans were not interested in seeing a re-match so soon, as there was a large outcry from the MMA community, so the fight never materialized. As it would end up, with the fall of Affliction, the UFC re-signed former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Vitor Belfort, and the two were scheduled to fight at UFC 103 instead, and it was named UFC 103: Franklin vs. Belfort. The fight took place at a Catchweight of 195 lbs., at the same weight as Franklin's last fight with Wanderlei Silva. Unfortunately for Franklin, Belfort ended the fight at 3:02 of the first round with punches, handing Franklin his second loss in three fights.
Only days after Randy Couture defeated Mark Coleman at UFC 109: Relentless, it was rumored that Couture would return to action, and Franklin would be his opponent. The fight never materialized, as Tito Ortiz was forced out of his fight with Chuck Liddell as well as his coaching stint on The Ultimate Fighter 11, and Franklin was his replacement as both coach and opponent. The bout against Chuck Liddell took place on June 12, 2010 at UFC 115: Liddell vs. Franklin.
Liddell looked every bit his vintage self in the early going. Stalking Franklin around the cage, Liddell got the best of several early exchanges. Liddell showed a few new tricks with a rare takedown, but he didn't remain on the floor long. Instead, he returned to the feet where a pair of right hands left Franklin wobbly. The former middleweight champ returned fire with a few lefts, but Liddell's power advantage was adding up. With time ticking down, Liddell closed in again, and an elbow in tight left Franklin again a bit woozy. As Liddell rushed in to finish the job, Franklin uncorked a short right to the chin that left his opponent on his back. Referee Herb Dean gave Liddell every chance to recover, but the bout could have been waved off immediately. Franklin followed to the floor and forced the stoppage at the 4:55 mark, earning the win by KO (Punch) in the first round and the Knockout of the Night Honors. It was learned shortly after the fight that Franklin had actually broken his left ulna when blocking a kick from Liddell early in the fight.
Ranks and Titles
- IFC Light Heavyweight champion
- Former UFC Middleweight champion
- Coach on season 2 of the hit Spike TV show The Ultimate Fighter
Back to Fighters list.
