Comments on: UFC 88: Pondering Rich Franklin’s future at light heavyweight and other post-show thoughts

By: Batman

Batman — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:53:42 +0000

Great fight, yes Hamill lost but he didn’t look bad, franklin looked bad.

By: ko ko b ware

ko ko b ware — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:44:25 +0000

I’ll admit Kim looked a lot worse than I thought, but to say Matt Brown won that fight just goes to show how poor North Americans read the game these days and only understand how to score a punch. I used to think Caplan knew his stuff, but man, for him to say Brown got robbed, come on brother, I thought you understood that MMA is more than just being an aggresive striker who barely connects. You’ve been brain washed Sam.

By: Kelvin

Kelvin — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:08:31 +0000

No way in hell Matt Brown won that fight.

By: Voridor

Voridor — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:29:46 +0000

Grape Knee High: Are you kidding about the Cecil round one? Where did you read that he gave him round one? Cecil Peoples needs to be stopped people. This should be sufficient for MMA and the UFC to push Cecil Peoples out of judging and into the history books as a madman. Let me remind everyone that he gave Hughes round one. I don’t even like Penn, but anyone could see that Penn dominated round one.

By: Kung Foo

Kung Foo — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:34:04 +0000

Keep the face smothering move. Would hardly consider it, unsportsmanlike to use it. This is a fight we are talking about after all. Got plenty of rules as it is, and its not too hard to defend against this.

As to Kim/Brown,I gave Kim 1 & 3, and Brown 2. Was a good fight though, and like Grape Knee High said, how in the world Cecil gave Brown Rd 1 is beyond me, I can see maybe 3 but not 1. Cecil definitely needs another line of work.

By: Crazycanuck

Crazycanuck — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:30:33 +0000

Totally disagree with the Matt Brown comment in the article – kim won that fight hands down.

By: platypus

platypus — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:24:22 +0000

wrong dong, the dongbar is done by dong sik yoon, ex pride fighter that got KOd by saku but subbed melvin manhoef. the ufc’s dong hyun kim never had an armbar win in mma and is more a gnper, mostly goes for wins by tko.

By: Grape Knee High

Grape Knee High — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:18:38 +0000

Sam, are you sure you think Cecil Peoples got it right in the Kim/Brown fight?

Because Peoples got his 29-28 score in favor of Brown, amazingly, by giving Brown the first round.

All three judges gave Brown the second round and Kim the third round.

By: RustyNailz

RustyNailz — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:18:42 +0000

I don’t see how you can say Matt Brown was robbed. I think the fight could have gone either way, but it wasn’t clear cut, therefore no one was robbed.

By: Syd O

Syd O — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:47:42 +0000

I would say I’m not completely thrilled with Rich at 205 but I think he’d do alright when he got his weight in line. I still would rather see a franklin/hendo or franklin/marquardt bout. Unfortunately if franklin won either of those it’d be bad for the ufc and if he lost it’d tarnish his still decent rep as one of the best ’85′ers of all time.

I think Franklin’s got his eyes on the future. Take the money matches at 205 where he has a bail out excuse if he loses. Then try to pawn that owen wilson nose off onto the big screen.

By: Voridor

Voridor — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:51:22 +0000

One more thing, Sherk/Franca, Cecil scored 49-46 when everone else had 50-45. Lets hear him explain what round Franca won without someone jamming a pen into his eye.

By: Voridor

Voridor — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:44:08 +0000

Cecil Peoples should be ashamed of himself and the UFC has to make a movement to remove this man from judging. Lets look at the past…
Sherk/Florian- Watch Kennys face at the decision (50-48 IMPOSSIBLE)
Hamil/Bisbing-Matt was robbed via Cecil.
Lets not forget the famous Penn/Hughes fight. That fight alone should prove the man is insane and unfit for judging. HE GAVE HUGHES THE FIRST ROUND which is totally f*cking insane. Anyone that can look anyone in the eye and say that Hughes won round one because he is “prison strong”. Look it up MMA supporters and lets not let this man ruin this sport. Cecil and Sam should be ashamed of themselfs for ruining the sport with insane observations. If you asked 100 people who won that Brown fight, 90-95 would say Dong. The other 5-10 are either too stupid or ignorant. We as fans and fighters have to put our foot down to these people and say “NO”.

By: Voridor

Voridor — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:35:32 +0000

Anyone who thinks Matt Brown was “robbed” should not be writing anything about MMA. All this Cecil Peoples nonsense is actually getting to me. I was at a fight party and a room of fighters all agreed Brown won round two. Brown clearly lost the fight. I can honestly tell everyone in this world that if I hear anyone tell me face to face that Brown should have won…I will fight them. The gods honest truth…Cecil Peoples should be forced out of this sport, he is a disgrace. I don’t know Sam Caplan and Cecil Peoples, but God have mercy on their souls. We need to come down on people like Sam and Cecil and let them know that this sport will not be ruined by insanity and shit judging. I know I’m going overboard, but I’ve had enough.

By: HexRei

HexRei — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 08:23:36 +0000

LiuLang on September 7th, 2008 3:35 pm

Round 1 and 3 went to Kim, I don’t see all the controversy. A couple take downs plus a strong finish with elbows probably sealed the deal in the third.

Totally agreed. I think anyone who thinks Brown was robbed just has a little striker’s bias going on.

By: Rich S.

Rich S. — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 07:25:06 +0000

to ViciousUppercut:

REALLY???
REALLY?
wow..

did you see how tight that choke was?
it’s nothing short of a miracle that Matt didn’t tap, and furthermore that he even got out of it..

and as for Kim not throwing a “SINGLE PUNCH” in the 1st.. that’s just.. dumb..

you’re review of the fight just sounds really biased to me..
you have some sort of mancrush on Matt Brown?

everything you said about Kim was minimal..
and everything you said about Brown was exaggerated..

By: ViciousUppercut

ViciousUppercut — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 06:09:03 +0000

I think Brown should have won the decision. How can anybody have scored the first round for Dong. He did nothing but jump on Brown’s back and hold on like a leech, never coming close to submitting Brown, and didn’t land not ONE SINGLE PUNCH, while Brown escaped every sub attempt easily and then came back in the last 1:30 and landed many good strong punches and won a close 1st round. Brown wins the 2nd easy, and Dong wins the 3rd. Every submission attempt was stuffed. It’s not like Dong got any big takedowns. So he Took his back, so what, HE ESCAPED. Why score the 1st for Dong ? What did he do? It’s FIGHTING, not grab-ass

in my opinion.

By: Mike A

Mike A — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 04:52:04 +0000

Franklin looked dominant to me

By: Joey

Joey — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 04:35:19 +0000

I can see the Brown fight going to Kim, I don’t think it was a robbery, it was a little iffy but not blatantly wrong.

By: JC

JC — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 04:06:29 +0000

Sam, I don’t see how you can say that Rich Franklin taking a fight with a fighter the caliber of Thialgo Silva would make him a gatekeeper. If he beats a Thialgo Silva, he’s automatically in the convo of who should get fights with the first group of LHW fighters you mentioned (wandi, rampage, lyoto, etc.). I think a lot of people are truly underestimating Franklin’s ability to suceed at LHW. He made Matt Hamill quit. Hamill may not have been at the top of his game last night, but for someone like Hamill to drop to the mat and quit says something to me. A fight against Hendo makes no sense at any weight class from a business perspective. The UFC needs for both fighters to continue winning, especially since there are so many fans out there that still don’t comprehend how good Hendo really is. Either let Franklin jump in the cage with a Keith Jardine or another of the top of the second tier LHW fighters to earn a chance at one of the top tier fighters like Iceman or Wandi or Rua or let him roll back to 185 and go head to head with Marquardt (who also won’t get a shot at Anderson Silva again anytime soon).

By: warcry

warcry — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 03:28:49 +0000

Rich’s days are numbered.