For a lot of ‘I’m the biggest’ UFC fans, the closest thing they’ll experience to MMA combat is opening an anonymous Twitter account (with a contrived yet snarky name of course), so that they can hurl some slur at a fighter from thousands of miles away. Pretty badass….For other, more grounded and evolved humans, they understand that it takes serious balls to even step in the Octagon, much less win a fight, and thus, have a ton of respect for anyone that throws down in the cage or ring.
Why the lecture? Well, Rich Franklin recently did an interview with the Springfield News-Sun, where the former middleweight champ served up a little reminder about the kind of fighting spirit many fighters have. At a time when Jon Jones is dismantling everyone who is put in front of him, including a certain legend named “Shogun” Rua, Franklin has apparently been wondering how he might do against the emerging superstar. (Thanks to MMA Mania for the heads up)
“You see guys like that, and you’re like, ‘They’re bigger than me, and they’re stronger than me,’ but I’m a fighter, and there’s a part of me that still wants to fight them and see how I’d do,”
Wow; now that’s an effin fighter (to steal Dana White’s thunder). Not sure if at this point in Franklin’s storied career that would be such a good idea, but hell, ya never know right? Franklin also stated in the interview that he knew Jones was going to “be a stud” after the first time he saw him fight, adding “He’s got an 84-inch reach, and he’s 6-foot-4. It’s just crazy.” Yeah, we’re with you on this one champ.