Cung Le came into his UFC on Fuel 6 fight with an injured foot, but it didn’t matter. The former Strikeforce Middleweight champ was able to stop former UFC Middleweight champion Rich Franklin in just over two minutes. The end came so suddenly that many fans needed to do a double take after a little feeling-out process to begin the fight.
What Fans Will Remember About This Fight
Obviously, fans will remember the shocking end to the fight. Franklin is very durable, and many expected Le to win early with Franklin picking up steam as the fight went on. Instead, Le landed a solid punch that crumpled Franklin to the mat.
What We Learned About Rich Franklin
Unfortunately, we didn’t learn much from Franklin in this contest. I guess, if you wanted to, you could say that his chin is failing him as he ages, but when you consider that Franklin has only been finished by Vitor Belfort and Anderson Silva inside the Octagon, that idea doesn’t sound as concrete.
Instead, I’m just going to chalk this up to Le landing a perfect shot on Franklin. I’m concerned about how Franklin went completely out and face-planted on the canvas, but it’s not like we had high expectations for him moving forward—even if he had won.
What We Learned About Cung Le
Le shocked the world by dropping the very tough Franklin inside the first round. Even more impressive was that Le did so with a punch and not his powerful kicks.
Le won’t be making a title run at this point in his career, but he can still be placed in some entertaining bouts against other veterans. I would’ve liked to see how Le’s chin handled being hit, but luckily for him, he didn’t have to worry about that.
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