"Franklin" makes me think you're talking about Rich Franklin, but since you go on to talk about "Shamrock," I'm assuming you're referring to Frank Shamrock. In any event...
...this is confusing me more because I don't know which TJ would have any connection to either a "Franklin" or a "Shamrock"...
...but here you're clearly talking about Frank Shamrock. If you don't mind, I'll try to add some context. First, Frank had zero experience in anything before he ended up in the Lion's Den under Ken Shamrock's tutelage. It speaks to his freak athleticism and his passion for martial arts that he took to it so quickly. He's always been incredibly strong and explosive, and right away he developed fantastic and powerful TDs. He was hitting monster double legs on Bas right from the jump, which makes his career-ending slam on Igor Zinoviev less surprising. He also very quickly developed an excellent submission game and tapped tons of amazing catch wrestlers in Pancrase. Later, once he started training with Maurice Smith and Tsuyoshi Kosaka, he also developed a great guard game and great striking. He wasn't just well-rounded, he was able to do everything - punches, kicks, knees, shots, throws, GNP, submissions from the top, submissions from the bottom, sweeps - at an extremely high level. The version of Frank Shamrock that ran roughshod over the UFC would be competitive against anyone that's ever fought at 185, and even undersized at 200 lbs would give plenty of LHWs fits.
As for the specific fights you mentioned: He beat Bas Rutten in his very first fight, which is an extraordinary accomplishment. And their next two fights were very closely contested and tons of fun. As for Tito, he didn't get "dominated" in any universe. That's the MMA version of Ali/Foreman: Frank was never not in control, and his game plan of making Tito work and out-cardioing him was brilliant and effective.
