How good was Richard “Math-Ace” Franklin?

Rich was the toughest guy in the division before Silva showed up. He held his own after. He is underrated now. I think he would be in the top 10-15 at MW. His main problem was that he wasn't fast, or especially skilled in any one area. He was a big guy for the division, until Silva. Rich thought the muay thai plum would be his "sweet spot" in the fight. He miscalculated. Badly. I will never forget the look of terror on Rich's face when he realized he couldn't escape Silva's technique. It was fucking wild. I can only imagine that Silva was on more roids than Rich at that point, because he had to have had massive hand and arm strength to control Rich like that with the plum. Rich mainly gets underrated because Silva destroyed him so thoroughly, with basically the same techniques. He never raped someone's face like that again. It was like in the movie, Aliens, where those fucking monsters eat their faces. Like, intense.
 
I wasnt a big fan. He was average. I was never like "oh boy rich franklin! cant wait!"

He gets overrated way too much. Basically a striker and not that great of one.
 
hes always underrated. people over look the fact that rich was hard to grapple. take someone like bisping for example, his take down defense is great for a striker but hes weak sauce on the mat. rich has never been exploited or exposed like that.
 
He was very good for his era but was completely outclassed by Anderson Silva. He's in the same class as Chuck and Matt Hughes. Pioneers of the sport in the early days, but the game quickly passed them by.
 
eddymotto said:
I feel like Rich being a math teacher is treated as if he won a Nobel or something.

In the real world, being a high school math teacher would not make me assume that somebody was particularly smart.

All respect to Rich and all the math teachers out there but that job does not mean you are a genius.

fun fact - one of my math teachers in high school was an ex-NASA PhD. He was really smart. For sure Rich would beat him in a fight though
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When people talk about how it's impressive that he was a math teacher they're not talking about his intelligence. They're talking about how that makes his fighting career even more impressive because that wasn't his original career path like it was for most UFC fighters.

I've met him a couple times, he came in my gym (Limitless BJJ) to teach a class once. He really is a super nice, down to earth guy. It's kinda crazy how many young people from Cincinnati, who are into MMA, have no idea who he is. The young guy I was partnered up with was dumbfounded when he found out he fought Chuck Liddel.
 
He was actually a pretty good fighter. He made some other people look stupid even though obviously 185 was exceptionally lost for talent back then.

Anderson was a really terrible matchup for him because his best work was as the stronger striker. He was pretty good everywhere, had good power, and was pretty perfectly sized for 185. But if you were tanking his attributes as a fighter, he was a 6.5 across the board (on a modern scale) and Anderson was closed to a ten striker at that point. I remember before the matchup thinking Andy was a lock because Rich had beaten up all these dudes standing and Anderson was so much better.
 
My favorite Rich Franklin moment was when he said Anderson wouldn’t be able to bully him in the clinch. The ‘holy shit’ stare he gave when Anderson got ahold of his neck was fucking hilarious.
 
Rich Franklin was a very good mixed martial artist. He finished his career with a 29-7 record and was at one time the UFC middle weight champion and defended his belt against top fighters at the time. However Silva, who is the greatest middleweight of all time in my opinion, was far too skilled for Franklin as he was just too fast. Franklin has very good success against grapplers.
 
Very good. And sadly very underrated, his losses to AS really hurt him because of how badly he got mauled. He fought Dan Henderson to a very close decision (I personally had him winning even though I picked Dan) and that was his only other loss at mw up until the very end of his career when he lost to Cung Le. Stopped Matt Hamil and Chuck Liddell at lhw, lost a decision to Forrest, beat Wand twice at 195 and lost to Vitor.

Had it not been for AS I think Franklin would have been in the mw title picture for a long time, probably would have had epic wars with Henderson and Belfort for the belt. But he’ll always be overshadowed by Silva.
 
Rich was the fuckin' UFC MW champ until one of the GOATS came along. He fought Anderson Silva twice and was a super class act in defeat.

He beat Wanderlie Silva twice, Liddell, Hamill, Lutter, Okami, Jason "the athlete" McDonald, Evan Tanner (twice), Nate Quarry, Ken Shamrock, Jorge Rivera, Marvin "Beastman" Eastman, and even Travis Fulton in a retro karmic victory.

It is only after the passing of many years that a division is remembered as "weak" and even then it is often revisionist history based on people (let's call them sherdoggers) buying into the hype train of the month, and discrediting older fighters that couldn't possibly be as good as their latest man crush.

Put some respect in the man's name Newbs. Ace fought 'em all. These guys were fucking killers in their day and Rich won gold. He is also such a nice guy that he would probably help tutor some of you dumb fuck haters. Goodnight.

Much respect Rich Franklin.
 
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HavokHarmon said:
Very good. And sadly very underrated, his losses to AS really hurt him because of how badly he got mauled. He fought Dan Henderson to a very close decision (I personally had him winning even though I picked Dan) and that was his only other loss at mw up until the very end of his career when he lost to Cung Le. Stopped Matt Hamil and Chuck Liddell at lhw, lost a decision to Forrest, beat Wand twice at 195 and lost to Vitor.

Had it not been for AS I think Franklin would have been in the mw title picture for a long time, probably would have had epic wars with Henderson and Belfort for the belt. But he’ll always be overshadowed by Silva.
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I don't agree he is underrated. Actually the opposite in these boards, where you often see him mentioned as a top5MW of all-time, or even #2, which is nonsense. I mean, he probably is underrated by some noobs that just underrate everyone from a previous era but that's another story.

He was definitely one of the best in his weight range back in the day but he was once the top dog at 185 also because it's a fact that UFC wasnt willing to throw money to top talent in order to compete in that division, as they were in Rich Franklin, who was a great posterboy for them.

Dont you think that, apart from Hendo and Belfort, Machida was not perfectly able to make 185 and beat Rich, as he actually did beat him in the past? Machida didnt use to walk around heavier than Rich.

Don't you think Lindland's wrestling prowess would pose a serious threat to Rich in his prime?

Don't you think Paulo Filho would have been a terrible matchup back when Rich was defending his UFC tittle vs the likes of Quarry or Loiseau, who were getting paid per fight like not even half than what Filho was making in Pride?

Rich's fight with Okami was extremely close btw. A draw in that fight would have been a reasonable score.

As I said, a great from his era but I'd not say he is exactly underrated, more like the opposite, especially by American fans
 
He was the "Bisping" of his time.

Solid, Drug Free, Professional and very good. Gets beaten by the GOATS, but holds off a decent number of foes.
 
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He was well rounded, and one of the first guys that took strength and conditioning to an elite level, and he was fucking huge. Always was chinny though, didn't take much to rock him, and he didn't handle adversity very well.
 
pankrat said:
I don't agree he is underrated. Actually the opposite in these boards, where you often see him mentioned as a top5MW of all-time, or even #2, which is nonsense. I mean, he probably is underrated by some noobs that just underrate everyone from a previous era but that's another story.

He was definitely one of the best in his weight range back in the day but he was once the top dog at 185 also because it's a fact that UFC wasnt willing to throw money to top talent in order to compete in that division, as they were in Rich Franklin, who was a great posterboy for them.

Dont you think that, apart from Hendo and Belfort, Machida was not perfectly able to make 185 and beat Rich, as he actually did beat him in the past? Machida didnt use to walk around heavier than Rich.

Don't you think Lindland's wrestling prowess would pose a serious threat to Rich in his prime?

Don't you think Paulo Filho would have been a terrible matchup back when Rich was defending his UFC tittle vs the likes of Quarry or Loiseau, who were getting paid per fight like not even half than what Filho was making in Pride?

Rich's fight with Okami was extremely close btw. A draw in that fight would have been a reasonable score.

As I said, a great from his era but I'd not say he is exactly underrated, more like the opposite, especially by American fans
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I was trying to give you the benefit of the doubt, then you said Paulo Filho would be a terrible matchup for rich. Paulo Filho is like fucking 5'7" and juiced to shit, Rich would have smashed him.
 
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