What did Rich Franklin do so fundamentally bad against Anderson Silva?

[Paolo Delutis]

He needed to wrestle...and not just from the clinch, but from distance as well...

Even if the takedown wasnt successful,it would change the position and remove the clinch knee as a weapon..

That said ..Rich wasnt a wrestler , he was a good grappler ..but he wasnt a wrestler his style was based on his ability to be well rounded and his conditioning...boxing heavy standup as well made him susceptible to the 8 Limbs on Muay thai..

Rich was no slouch and anyone hating on him because of what Andy did to him...r just losers lol .. there's no shame to losing to a prime Silva...the guy did things we've never seen so effective before
.

 

[DoctorTaco]

He could have also went for a body lock

He certainly was trying but when Silva locked in the forearm frame it kept Franklin from closing in.

Most obviously you can throw punches yourself when in the thai clinch

You can, but generally speaking training punches for knees in the clinch isn’t worth it the exchange rate. Pesos for dollars

@Bullitt68 Kevin Ross and Gaston Bolanos were both at one time among the best Muay Thai fighters in the west. World champs, competitive fights against Thais, and generally good dudes. However they do have a little bit of that Muay Thai superiority complex you occasionally see from guys at that level

 

[NoSmilez]

He certainly was trying but when Silva locked in the forearm frame it kept Franklin from closing in.

Franklin didn't try to swim and he tried to punch in the clinch. It is almost always a losing battle when you do that. He could have went for the body lock even with frame when they were close. Franklin just didn't push off with his own frame when Silva kept the frame long or moved his own hips towards Silva. There were other stuff Franklin did in that fight that wasn't best practice. He threw knees with no control of the opponent's arms or head while the opponent had control of his head or arm.

Edit: I rewatched some of the fight. He did try to swim from over Silva's arm but Silva blocked some of it with his frame. Franklin could have gone a different direction from underneath in between the frame. I don't think Franklin is completely clueless to the MT clinch. He did try something but he got countered and didn't have another way to try to get out. I honestly think he freaked out when he got kneed hard so he started throwing punches in the clinch.

 

[DoctorTaco]

I honestly think he freaked out when he got kneed hard so he started throwing punches in the clinch.

Absolutely agree

 

[Snoowpy]

It was at a time where most American standup was either incomplete boxing or some sloppy form of kickboxing where the only ruleset they had is to ban low kicks somehow so the whole game changed. (Steven Wonderboy Thompson type style). Muay Thai Technique was rare still. Not much on Youtube past rudimentary instructionals when these fighters were making a come up. I'm thinking loads of Americans just blasted pads and Boxed + Wrestled a lot at that point. Now Rich was pretty complete for his time. But that also means being a Jack of All Trades in a time where great Technique wasn't all that prevalent.

 

[Belaya Smert]

Shoud’ve had his nose amputated prior to both fights.

Same with Rory.

 

[RichardHarrow]

Took a knee during the clinch