Myth: Rich Franklin was a better MW than Chael Sonnen

Feel free to answer my question above.

No thanks. If you don't think that anyone who's made it to that level of mixed martial arts and fought for world titles are elite, world-class fighters, I don't really care to explain why you're ridiculous.
 
Yep. Rich Franklin was the man when MW was weak
 
At the time Franklin was on top of the MW division Sonnen was beating guys like Tim Williams, Trevor Prangley, and Tim Credeur while losing to Babalu and Horn (for the third time). It's not like Sonnen was beating world beaters while Rich was on top of the "weak" MW division. He was around, and had been around pretty much the same amount of time as Rich. He simply wasn't even good enough to be in the UFC's "weak" MW division at that time.

Frankly, looking at just their MW careers, they're pretty comparable. They're best wins at MW are Okami (considering the version of Filho that Sonnen beat). The fact that Rich won and defended the title gives him the edge. You can say the MW division was weak at the time, but, as I said, Sonnen wasn't even good enough for it at that time. Plus, Sonnen's performances against Filho and Silva in his first fight against each show how difficult it is to win a title. There are certain fighters who are champions. Rich was one. Sonnen, thus far, was not.
 
Lol bringing record into this? Chael has better quality of (MW)wins over the years even if he doesn't have a pretty record. Cept for maybe Wand who holds a win over two of Chael's good wins.

Okami, Stann, Bisping, Marquardt > Wand x2, Loiseau, Rivera, Lutter, Tanner

Chael may not be the better LHW but he has beat more MW's that are better than Travis Lutter and David freakin Loiseau

Interesting how you included Okami for Sonnen but not for Franklin.
 
There is a ton of inaccuracy in here.

It is fact that Rich was a champion and a pretty good one. It is also fact that Chael never officially won the title. (He's actually a 2 division champ, but, for the sake of argument). Rich's competition was actually really solid for the time period and he racked up some good wins. Chael has fought better and beaten better opponents, imo.

A lot of people would give Rich the edge due to holding the belt. That's fine.

I give the edge to Sonnen despite not holding on to the gold. I also believe Chael wins a head to head match.
 
Also, if you look at that thread listing everybody's top 10 wins Franklin is nowhere to be found. He had like 3 or less top 10 wins his entire career.
 
Who gives a flying fuck? Rich was entertaining and has some seriously kick ass ko highlights. Pay some respect to the guy, he goes way back in the sport and helped with the UFC's rise to the top.
 
Interesting how you included Okami for Sonnen but not for Franklin.

I forgot,what can I say, still Yushin is arguably Franklins best win at MW. Same for Sonnen I guess but he did do a lot better against Andy then Rich ever did.
 
Louiseau, Rivera and Quarry were top ten or near to the top 10 at the time, Tanner was top 10, some considered him even #1 at the time, Okami obviously, Chuck, Hamill, Wand (X2). Rich has been top 10 at both LHW and MW before, he's proven to be elite

he also, by the way, has an excellent skillset even if his record is a bit underwhelming, he's easily one of the most well-rounded fighters out there, great striking, solid BJJ etc...

So do you honestly think Loiseau, Rivera (9-3 at the time) and Quarry (who's shot was recently listed by sherdog as one of the most underserving ever) were elite/world class fighters? :icon_lol:

I told you fighters in prime only. Do you think Wanderlei and Chuck were in their primes when Franklin defeated them?

Oh boy, someone's grasping for straws...
 
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Yeah Chael is/was better than Rich imo. He definitely would have been champ back then

Look at how Forrest Griffin beat Rich with top control. Sure it wasn't prime Rich, but still. Chael would have out grappled him definitely

Yeah your argument would hold water EXCEPT HE WAS AROUND BACK THEN! People need to get their heads out of their asses.
 
You left out Shamrock. Put all three of them at their prime and Chael takes both of them.
 
Yeah your argument would hold water EXCEPT HE WAS AROUND BACK THEN! People need to get their heads out of their asses.

I was thinking we were talking about current Chael. Give me a break, jerk :(
 
Well, they both lost to Forrest Griffen.

Forrest is a better MW than both of them by most of the examples people have used. Hammil, Shogun, Liddell, etc. are great wins but they weren't at MW so they're invalid in regards to this argument
 
No thanks. If you don't think that anyone who's made it to that level of mixed martial arts and fought for world titles are elite, world-class fighters, I don't really care to explain why you're ridiculous.

He fought for the belt after defeating a 41 year old Ken Shamrock, he defeated Tanner for the belt defended it against mid-low tiers. At that time he had already fought Machida. He was destroyed.

He did good at MW at the time because it was a terrible division with no talent. His greatest wins are not his title fights but fights against out of prime legends like Wanderlei and Chuck, and to make it worse he still struggled with both guys.
 
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To be fair, though, being the Champion of that weight class at that time period was pretty much on the same footing as fighting for the WEC Middleweight Championship in 2008
 
Chael would beat Rich Frankin on any day.

Yea, but when you rank MW Goats, you compare their achievements and Rich (as a strong UFC champ) is far more decorated than Chael.

So even if prime Chael beats prime Rich, that matters less than what each accomplished during their careers.
 
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