Rich Ace Franklin

[tasticles]

Massively underrated. The Liddell KO was crazy, outside of Silva he could hang with the best of them

He doesn't get a fair shake because who was hanging with Silva at his peak? 0. He was already past his prime even in the chael fight.

 

[pankrat]

solid top 5 and one of my personal fav fighters of all time.

Jaja

 

[Deleted member 504083]

Machida had a harder time with BJ Penn than he did with a prime Rich Franklin.

 

[this is my new account]

Wait, wait, wait... weidman pre injury. Is the GOAT?

Sorry brother but that's just a bad take

I watched it with my own eyes. Before he fought rockhold. That version was the best MW we have seen.

I dont expect you to agree. We all see things differently.

 

[pankrat]

Solid all-around with great conditioning but vastly overrated by yankees who swallow propaganda

 

[Sensee]

lol


Though it's more like thats the amount of respect Rich had. He didnt have the flashiest personality but its clear that all the headliners looked at him as a credible opponent.


A lot of times people try to discredit Rich Franklin because he was a Math teacher, which is one of the strangest criticisms I've seen of a fighter.

He taught at where my daughter went to school. He was always good to the city and a class act. One of my favorites.

 

[fedorthegoat777]

Yea you’ll get some pushback on this. I gave up trying to stan for Ace. It boils down to something like “weak era blah blah blah”.

He was top dog right around the TUF era, so I may be romanticizing his reign a bit. He was the total package. Great amabassador for the sport. A handsome school teacher. My girl at the time thought he was hot. Remember the Xyience commercials? Some hot chick calling him “Mr. franklin” lol. The trademarked pink and brown.

I was stunned when Silva dismantled him. People forget that Rich worked his way to a TS rematch. Sure, he got destroyed again, but it must have taken serious balls to rematch Anderson after getting his face changed like that.

He has to be there up there, though. Izzy and Andy are #1 and #2, but there’s a discussion to be had after that. I think it comes down to Ace and Hendo for #3.

Agree with all that.
Hendo is above Ace, no question.

 

[Deleted member 609094]

never liked the pink and brown combo tbh

My ex does

 

[fractal]

Aaah Rich Franklin. Loved watching him fight. Very technical and very well rounded for his era (even for now). Remember his rolling out of the Lutter armbar, and wanting to do that at BJJ. He also trained by himself, without a big team, for a quite a large part of his career.

If Rich came into MMA today, he would absolutely be in the top 5, probably even champion.

 

[fractal]

Top 5 MW ? Are you mad?

I think you have to compare how he fared against his competition. The only guy that beat him in his prime was Silva. Even the later losses were to championship level fighters.

If Rich came into MMA today, with all the facilities and support available, he would no doubt be a current top 5.

 

[TR1]

Filthy casual statement

Is it? What are his top wins before Anderson showed up?

He had a lot of decent mid tier and un-ranked wins. The only "top guys" even relative to the era he beat are Okami and Tanner.

I don't think thats being unfair to rich.

 

[TR1]

Yeah after Rich put mileage on them boys softened them up a bit if you know what i'm saying..

Softened them up with what, his face?

 

[BowserJr]

I don't hate Silva. Dunno where your getting that from.


But Chris gets stupid hate for whuppin on him very so profuciously the way he did

Ok dude. I'm on here telling people all the time that Weidman would smash most of the MW today.

DDP would be the toughest for sure but prime Izzy, Sean, Borz etc would all lose to Weidman.

The clash of strengths, weaknesses and styles is usually what dictates the fights and a matchup between Rich and Chris wpuld not be a cake walk for either. That's all I'm saying. That does not = hate on Weidman

 

[jitzmonkey]

I've often wondered how long he would have stayed champion, if not for Anderson coming to the UFC...
Maybe when Sonnen hit his hot streak and was on TRT, maybe he could have beaten him.
Otherwise, maybe TRTitor.
Rockhold and teh Chris.

TRT-tor is the MW GOAT.

Franklin was strong AF.

You’re right, it would’ve been interesting to see him against Chael.
I don’t remember how good his TDD and get back up defense was.

 

[HHJ]

Ok dude. I'm on here telling people all the time that Weidman would smash most of the MW today.

DDP would be the toughest for sure but prime Izzy, Sean, Borz etc would all lose to Weidman.

The clash of strengths, weaknesses and styles is usually what dictates the fights and a matchup between Rich and Chris wpuld not be a cake walk for either. That's all I'm saying. That does not = hate on Weidman

All the MW of today > Franklin

 

[HHJ]

Is it? What are his top wins before Anderson showed up?

He had a lot of decent mid tier and un-ranked wins. The only "top guys" even relative to the era he beat are Okami and Tanner.

I don't think thats being unfair to rich.

Agreed.

People really have such a fondness for him they rank him way too high

 

[pankrat]

Yea you’ll get some pushback on this. I gave up trying to stan for Ace. It boils down to something like “weak era blah blah blah”.

He was top dog right around the TUF era, so I may be romanticizing his reign a bit. He was the total package. Great amabassador for the sport. A handsome school teacher. My girl at the time thought he was hot. Remember the Xyience commercials? Some hot chick calling him “Mr. franklin” lol. The trademarked pink and brown.

I was stunned when Silva dismantled him. People forget that Rich worked his way to a TS rematch. Sure, he got destroyed again, but it must have taken serious balls to rematch Anderson after getting his face changed like that.

He has to be there up there, though. Izzy and Andy are #1 and #2, but there’s a discussion to be had after that. I think it comes down to Ace and Hendo for #3.

Educate yourself.
Rich is 8-3 at MW best wins Tanner and Okami in a close dec.
He got dismantled by the best guys his size of his generation he fought in Silva, Belfort and Machida. Also Hendo.

He has no remote case to be top5 all-time at MW since a long time

 

[Pequeño Corey]

Educate yourself.
Rich is 8-3 at MW best wins Tanner and Okami in a close dec.
He got dismantled by the best guys his size of his generation he fought in Silva, Belfort and Machida. Also Hendo.

He has no remote case to be top5 all-time at MW since a long time

Who’s your top 5?

 

[BowserJr]

All the MW of today > Franklin

Oh you're one of those that think that every single newer generation dighter is better than the previous while ignoring the speed and technique on display.

Sorry but nearly all the top 10 at MW and higher are worse than 1 or more different generations from before

 

[NoStoneUnturned]

Rich was tough... like when Okami had his arm bent all to hell and rich was like, nah...