It is the inevitable life of a fighter. The hard work, rise to fame and inevitable decline back into mediocrity. At times, it is painful to watch our favorite fighters go from an intimidating icon to somebody who looks like each fight could be the…
It is the inevitable life of a fighter. The hard work, rise to fame and inevitable decline back into mediocrity.
At times, it is painful to watch our favorite fighters go from an intimidating icon to somebody who looks like each fight could be their last.
The fighter’s name can only carry them for so long until fans begin to look at their career objectively and see that the end of the road is near.
Star power is something fighters obtain during their career, which leads one to becoming a bigger draw at the gate, higher TV ratings, and more pay-per-view buys. This star power also creates a dedicated fanbase, which eventually brings new fans to the UFC.
Here are 10 fighters who have lost that star power.
(Don’t play that shit around Senator Harry Reid. This is the man who *invented* invisible lat syndrome.)
As the editor of an MMA website, I’m constantly bombarded with images of tattooed skinheads engaged in gay foreplay. And yet, there are times when I’m faced with an image that even makes me uncomfortable. Check out 25 of the most chillingly awkward MMA photos in the gallery after the jump, laugh nervously, then avert your eyes in shame…
As the editor of an MMA website, I’m constantly bombarded with images of tattooed skinheads engaged in gay foreplay. And yet, there are times when I’m faced with an image that even makes me uncomfortable. Check out 25 of the most chillingly awkward MMA photos in the gallery after the jump, laugh nervously, then avert your eyes in shame…
After a contract dispute kept him outside of the Octagon for nearly a year, long-time light-heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz would make his return to the UFC at UFC 44. In his absence, Randy Couture defeated Chuck Liddell to become the interim light-hea…
After a contract dispute kept him outside of the Octagon for nearly a year, long-time light-heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz would make his return to the UFC at UFC 44. In his absence, Randy Couture defeated Chuck Liddell to become the interim light-heavyweight champion. With two champions, there was controversy as to which man was the best in the world.
UFC 44: “Undisputed” was an aptly-titled event. The main contest was about bragging rights and removing all questions. When the night was over, Randy Couture would no longer be an interim champion. He would be the Undisputed champion of the world.
Unfortunately, due to a lack of intricate backstory or history between opponents, not all MMA events are given such fitting names. Commonly, promoters will use alliteration to make the name catchier, like Victory in Vegas or Battle on the Boardwalk. While it may not be the most clever promotional tactic, it is acceptable.
This is a list at some of the unacceptable, unoriginal and unfitting names that fight promoters have slapped onto their events. Some of them are laughable, while some are just plain sad.
Rich Franklin has never been a light heavyweight. Before he signed with the UFC, he did well fighting at 205 lbs., but that was before the modern era of extreme weight-cutting began. After jumping from 185 lbs. up to 214 lbs., he finally settled d…
Rich Franklin has never been a light heavyweight. Before he signed with the UFC, he did well fighting at 205 lbs., but that was before the modern era of extreme weight-cutting began.
After jumping from 185 lbs. up to 214 lbs., he finally settled down in the middleweight division and it wasn’t long before he had a UFC title at that weight and people were wondering whether he might not be the best pound-for-pound fighter.
Then along came Anderson Silva, who beat Franklin not once, but twice. There is no shame in losing to Silva; everyone does it, but the UFC decided that they didn’t want a fighter who could not challenge their champ again sticking around at 185 lbs. where he might put a premature end to the title run of potential challengers.
Franklin didn’t want to move up in weight; he had no problem getting down to 185 lbs and no desire to start fighting much bigger men so late in his career. But he is a company man and a long-term UFC servant and he did what he was told.
At first it seemed like the right move, as he stopped former friend and training partner Matt Hamill with a hard kick to the body in the third round of their fight and was a bit unlucky not to have been awarded the decision after going three rounds with Dan Henderson.
Next stop was at 195 lbs, where Franklin defeated Wanderlei Silva in a Fight of the Night performance but was then blown away by the resurgent Vitor Belfort. After that, it was back to 205 lbs. to knock out Chuck Liddell before being outmuscled by Forrest Griffin, a fighter who used to compete at heavyweight.
An injury to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira put paid to Franklin’s appearance at UFC 133 and another injury, this time to Franklin himself, has ruled him out of action since then. After fighting 18 times for the UFC, the 37-year-old deserved a break and he has been given one with a return to middleweight to fight Cung Le.
Le’s status as the former Strikeforce middleweight champion and movie star makes him very high profile, but he is 39 years old and has only fought once in the last two years and looked very short of stamina in the loss to Wanderlei Silva.
Le is not exactly a bum, but on recent evidence he isn’t one of the better fighters in the UFC’s 185-lb. division. Aspiring middleweights will be queuing up to become famous for being the fighter who retired Cung Le.
He looked on course to beat Wanderlei Silva and is still a threat, but one a fighter of Franklin’s experience should deal with comfortably. Who knows how many fights Franklin has in him or how long he can keep going, but he deserves to be able to compete at his natural weight and be given high-profile fights that he has a good chance of winning.
There are no easy fights in the UFC, but Cung Le might just be one of the weaker opponents out there and if anyone has earned the right to a winnable fight, it’s Rich Franklin.
Oh, Rich Franklin. You’re such an optimist, and I love that about you.Franklin told MMAjunkie’s Steven Marrocco that he’d like to make another run at the middleweight title currently held by Anderson Silva:”The great Cinderella story would be for me to…
Oh, Rich Franklin. You’re such an optimist, and I love that about you.
“The great Cinderella story would be for me to drop to 185 and make a run for the title,” he said. “I can’t say I haven’t thought about that. But I don’t want to put the carriage before the horse. I have a tough opponent in front of me, and I really need to focus on that fight first and get some momentum going.”
That would be quite the Cinderella story, to be sure. But much like Cinderella, it’s also impossible.
The UFC will never again match Franklin up with Silva. It just won’t happen. The two losses Franklin suffered to Silva weren’t just one-sided—they were complete and total destruction.
Franklin left the middleweight division and moved back to light heavyweight because the UFC wasn’t going to give him a third shot at Silva, and rightly so. Silva made Franklin look like he was a rank amateur. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course. Silva was on the verge of becoming the best fighter in the world—a title he still holds to this day.
Franklin has advanced in age. He’s no longer the fighter he once was. Putting him in the cage with Silva would be an awful idea on just about every level. Franklin is better off beating Cung Le this summer—as he no doubt will do—and then moving back to light heavyweight to finish his career.
While Rich Franklin is getting ready for UFC 148, his mind may be far, far in the future. In an interview with MMAWeekly Radio, Franklin spoke about his good recovery from a shoulder injury and his workout in preparation for the upcoming middleweight f…
While Rich Franklin is getting ready for UFC 148, his mind may be far, far in the future.
In an interview with MMAWeekly Radio, Franklin spoke about his good recovery from a shoulder injury and his workout in preparation for the upcoming middleweight fight against Cung Le. Not only does he feel good about the fight, but the move back down to middleweight seems to be a welcome change, especially after a history of moving between middleweight and light heavyweight.
“You don’t really have a home,” Franklin says. “Your body is constantly having to adjust to different weights, so this should help stabilize things for me. Hopefully, this is where I’ll finish my career.”
To Franklin, that career still includes a run for the middleweight title:
That would be my Cinderella story. It would be great. I had one chance at that and fighting in my hometown and all that kind of stuff to regain my title, swing and a miss, strike one. I moved up to 205 and never really quite put things together at 205, swing and a miss, strike two. So hopefully this would be the way to end it.
While Franklin’s title fight won’t happen anytime soon, UFC 148 is likely to be a similar rallying point for a few of the biggest names in UFC who are returning from losses, including the light heavyweight winner between Forrest Griffin and Tito Ortiz. The same may be said for Franklin’s opponent, Cung Le, who is coming off of his November ’11 loss to Wanderlei Silva.
Perhaps the greater question beyond a simple victory in this fight, the one that will determine Franklin’s potential route to a middleweight title fight, is whether or not the UFC will be interested in investing in it. According to Franklin, the organization proved once already that they had little interest in keeping him at 185. But given his work at 205, as hard to decipher as it may be (he has won 3-of-6 light heavyweight fights since his middleweight victory over Travis Lutter in 2008), a move to a more comfortable weight is promising.
Moreover, a rematch against Anderson Silva could prove interesting, especially with the implicit understanding that Franklin has Silva penciled in as part of that title run. It’s hard to argue that Franklin can win a rematch, but if Franklin’s performance from now on is satisfactory enough, more than a few fans may favorably receive the bout.
Regardless, this makes the upcoming Franklin vs. Le fight that much more important. It’ll likely be a good stand-up match between the strikers, regardless of the victor. But if it proves to be an exciting victory for Franklin, his Cinderella story may happen yet.
