UFC 103 bout with Dan Henderson makes sense to Rich Franklin
There were more than a few fans of the sport that were left scratching their heads when a rematch between Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson was announced as the headliner for UFC 103.
According to Franklin, the bout makes more sense than initially meets the eye.
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Franklin for an exclusive interview which was featured in Extreme Fighter Magazine, and the former UFC champ made it quite clear that he still felt as if he had some serious unfinished business with Henderson left over from there back and forth brawl in January of 2009.
When asked whether or not he believed he had done enough to be awarded with the decision in his UFC 93 headlining bout with Hendo, Franklin wore his heart on his sleeve, “I do believe that I did. It’s difficult for me to accept losing a fight when really, I never ended up getting hit flush at any point in that fight where I was like “Wow”, not even when we were on the ground. The only time that he mounted any kind of damage on the ground was midway through the first round when he had me against the cage, but still, nothing really landed. Even when he had me against the cage, he couldn’t land a punch to my head so he had to resort to kneeing me in the back of the leg, and I stood up from there. From that point on, I just don’t feel that offensively he did a whole lot in that fight, and I did.
“I was very effective on the feet if you look at the punch stats. I don’t think that the judges took the amount of body shots and body kicks I was landing into consideration. At the end of the fight there was more damage inflicted on him than there was on me. He was able to take me down a couple times, but I was able to get back up. Even when I didn’t get back up he wasn’t able to advance out of my guard or improve position.
“The only damage he really did to me was from the headbutts and the eye poke.”
Even when the conversation turned to other topics, the bad taste left in his mouth from the controversial loss at the hands of Henderson had a way of spilling over.
It truly seemed like Franklin had a desire to fight Henderson for the second time more than anyone he had ever wanted to face before.
“The first fight with Anderson is a good example, and this will tie in; In the first fight with Anderson I had some things going on in my life and I wasn’t really zeroed in on that fight the way I should be, and with a fighter like Anderson, that’s not going to work,” explained Rich when asked whether or not he would like to avenge his loss to Lyoto Machida in the future. “So after the first fight there was a desire to fight him again, but the second time he just legitimately beat me. Well, he legitimately beat me both times, but even if I wanted to fabricate some excuse, I just couldn’t. The same thing goes for Lyoto. He’s a great fighter, and he beat me. I can put my head down on my pillow at night and say, ‘These are the fights that I’ve lost.’ If I don’t fight them again I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.
“However, you take a fight like the Henderson loss, where I really, truly feel like I won that fight, then that’s the one that I would definitely like to fight again.”
As we all know, Franklin has recently been granted his wish. Now it’s up to him what he does with it.
One thing is for certain though, Rich will have redemption on his mind when he climbs into the Octagon this September.
Extreme Fighter Magazine is authorized and sold in America’s leading supermarkets, drug stores, convenience stores, bookstores and mass merchandisers retailers nationwide, including Wal-Mart®, Target®, Borders®, Barnes & Noble®, CVS®, Kroger®, and many others.
Cory Brady is the managing editor of FiveOuncesOfPain.com.
| All posts by Cory Brady
Bad Monkey
Rich S.
windstorm
….. and to Rich Franklin only.
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Same fight. Same ending. Less meaningful.
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At least there’s one person. Seems like it’s Zuffa rewarding Rich for being a company man by giving him a fight to avenge a loss that bugged him.
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Different ending this time. Franklin by dec.
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I think Rich will open up a lot more this fight. He has already felt some of Dan’s power and knows he can handle it. If Rich pushes the pace for the first two rounds he should be able to get a tko rd 3. I think it will be a shock for Henderson to go from Bisping baack to Franklin, the level of talent is so much higher.
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fanoftna33
“I think Rich will open up a lot more this fight. He has already felt some of Dan’s power and knows he can handle it. If Rich pushes the pace for the first two rounds he should be able to get a tko rd 3. I think it will be a shock for Henderson to go from Bisping baack to Franklin, the level of talent is so much higher.”
I assume you’re a Rich Franklin mark because Henderson never connected with a clean shot on Rich like he did Bisping, Wanderlei, Chonan, and Renzo. If he does Rich will be out and Dan isn’t going to be shocked by the level of talent he has fought top notch talent the majority of his career.
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I want to agree with edub but I actually think Hendo will step up his game even further, and grind out a clearer decision.
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ps. This site needs some new writers. This is not a criticism of this article, because there’s not much to criticize, or of Cory Brady – but I thought I’d voice my concerns here for lack of a better place.
Where are the opinion pieces? Back in the day I’d say we used to get at least 2-3 a week, and I’d say now 1 if we’re lucky. I understand Captain Caplan may be busy but I’m sure there are plenty of other MMA enthusiasts out there articulate enough to write a decent article; anything to stimulate a debate. A solid grasp of the English language, knowledge of MMA, opinions based on this knowledge and a willingness to write a piece – surely you could find some? Get on this shit!
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I’m with shotokai. Henderson is going to be extremely confident going back into this one. Coming off of that devastating KO on Bisping and plus the fact that he already beat Franklin spells trouble for Franklin. Hendo by a one sided decision. 3 full rounds of GNP.
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and one last thing, whats with the p4p top readers list?! haha, nice touch. Although I am a little offended im only eighth and I read every single article on this site. I hadn’t heard of Patrickk before this week so I’m presuming its actually based on comments made
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I think it’s based on number of posts. Patrickk was posting on every old topic he could find. It’s quantity over quality.
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Yeah I know, shame. The only posts are I ever really pay attention to are those made by you, edub, plague angel, metalmulisha, sergio and mu_shin. Hows that for a p4p quality list.
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Awww, I’m touched, shotokai!
BFFs!!!
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Haha, after that, I take it back.
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Yeah, that kind of crossed the line to creepy.
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Haha, you guys are jerks!
Anyway, back to the topic at hand… I fear Hendo will get too One-Punch-KO Happy in this rematch thanks to his demolition of Bisping.
Franklin will come in wanting to win, Hendo will come in wanting a KO.
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This fight will end with me taking a nap in the end of round two. This will go to a decision or Franklin will be unconscious, pick your poison. I will pick a nap however.
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I agree Sergio. I think hell come in liking that stand up a little too much against Ace and get picked apart.( I know I said that against Bisping but Franklin is not Bisping.)
My main concern is the infatuation Franklin has had with the body kicks since the Matt Hamill fight. They land an aweful lot and I believe they do a good amount of damage. However, they open up an avenue for takedowns and judges seem to score takedowns higher than the kicks.
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Sergio- I just kidding! It’s really nice to be able to talk to other people who are smart in MMA, not the retards that watch UFC Unleashed every now and then who think they know MMA. Just the other day at work one of my coworkers informed me that Rampage and Kimbo Slice were fighting in Dallas. All I could do was smile and nod and think to myself “What a dumbass”.
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Shit, man, the stories I could tell you.
This was back around ‘96… I had been watching MMA for a few months at that point and was talking to this guy in class about it. Here’s how the conversation went:
Me: Yeah, so it’s totally real, not like WWF at all. It’s cool.
Him: Oh yeah, I saw one where this dude pressed the guy up against the cage and it snapped and that shit stabbed in the head and he fuckin’ died!
Me: Oh… must’ve… missed that one…
Come to think of it, I replied the same way when a co-worker asked me if I saw “the one where The Rock fought and kicked everyone’s ass.”
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I am wiping the tears from my eyes I am laughing so hard. That is hilarious!
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I guess I’m in the minority, because I want to see the re-match. The first was close and Henderson got the win because of the takedowns, I guess. You have to score it somehow, but I remember wishing they could go a few more rounds so one of them had a decisive win. They ran out of time before they ran out of fight.
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Mike I had it for Hendo too, but I just wondered what wouldve happend if Franklin didnt get poked in the eye. He was really catching Hendo in that timespan before the poke.
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edub, I agree with you there. He was landing some shots and working his combos when Hendo gave him the eye poke.
I personally want to see a rematch and think it will be interesting. I think Franklin will pick him apart if he doesn’t get headbutted and eye-poked.
Hendo is going to come in to the fight too aggressive and open himself up for some shots. If Franklin can avoid the takedowns he will win by decision. I don’t think either will TKO each other.
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IMO if Dan’s smart he’ll just keep taking Rich down and beating on him to grind out a decision, because if he spends the whole fight just trying to land that one big bomb like he did in his Misaki rematch he’ll lose a decision.
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“The only damage he really did to me was from the headbutts and the eye poke.”
After watching the fight for the 3rd time, I feel that what Rich Franklin said is true.
That bout is so hard to call…so let’s talk striking, grappling, aggression, and octagon control.
Striking goes to Franklin
Grappling goes to Henderson
Aggression goes to Henderson
Octagon Control goes to Henderson
Franklin did have a lot of kicks. But he didn’t control the octagon, Henderson took him down more (which racks up points for octagon control), and on the feet he was backing up most of the time.
So there you have it…Henderson by split decision.
Next fight will be Henderson by knockout.
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Sounds good. hendo and trigg on teh same card = fun after party.
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My theory is that this is just a placeholder event. If the UFC signs Belfort, and/or Tito, they will have Franklin and Hendo signed and ready to go.
OK, that’s really more of a wish than a theory, as I have zero interest in Franklin Hendo II…
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i thought that rich had the fight but every one has their own opinion. I dont see how nfranklin will be able to ko/tko hendo when guys like wande,rampage,or A.silva werent able to. Still i can see Rich picking hendo apart with the standup en route to a u.d.
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Yeah, and most of the time U.D = Boring. Hopefully though, this fight doesn’t happen, and we get Ortiz & Belfort back in the Octagon
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I wish the judges in the ufc were more like the judges over in Japan, where they judge the fight as a whole, and wrestlers have to work a lot harder, not just lay on top of you for 15 min. I bet if the Hughes vs Serra fight was judged in Japan Serra takes it.
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I did this on purpose.
I picked the oldest and most irrelevant post I could find to see if you would follow me. IT WORKED!
You have #1 for tonight. You win, LOL
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I am very much looking forward to this one..
I’ll mix things up a littlebit but let me say..
first – the question “how much do they want to finish?”
ever since I had to live through Anderson Silva’s last two fights I am just happy as soon as bouts are anounced involving guys who you can expect to go for decisive wins..
even if they go to decision in the end you are not left with a bad taste..
In this sense I really enjoyed Rich’s last few fights due to his willingness to push the pace.. and he seems to be fired up for this one.. so yes, I think its going to be a good one..
second – “do we need the hype?”
the comparison might not be an ideal one, but e.g. I enjoyed rich’s figth at ufc 99 a lot more than the highly anticipated Mir vs Lesnar fight – which endet up being a school yard type mauling of Mir..
sure it was the right strategy by Brock, but it just had a strange “low quality” feeling about it.. nothing I could truly value..
efficient – but not a great display off MMA
I expect to see lot more of deep MMA in the Rich vs Dan fight.. so yes, again I think its simply going to be a good one..
regardless of tha fact that its not hyped in any way..
-that said, I hope anderson silva puts on a good show with f.g. and things are back to normal..
please show us some more of that “egerness to fight” in combination with great skills that makes to UFC so enjoyable
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I dont think you can have a bad fight if Forrest Griffen is in it. The fact that he is fighting one of the best in the world will make him truly step up that night.
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Gotta disagree with Anferny.
When a man dominates a world class opponent it has to be a great display of mma IMO. No matter what goes on in the fight if one fighter is skilled or powerful enough to negate the others skillset it is impressive to me.
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Well said edub. Any time you take the fight to the other fighters strong poing and win thats very impressive.
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@ edub & fan
You are of course correct – in I way (and reflecting on what I tried to point out) I would like to tell you why I think we are all correct.
I do not intend to make this some sort of philosophical question, but we might try to differ between “emotinally” and “rationally” impressed by a performce.
Rationally I think Brock did a great job, had the right game plan and just as you mentioned did a great job in a place we supposed Mir would dominate – on the ground.
Emotionally I just watched a huge guy laying on top of the other one who seemd quite helpless.. and in the end the guy on the bottom had to give up.
So yes, it is great that Brock was capable of nullifying Mirs ground game – but it seemd like he was only capable of doing so by being a lot bigger.
In reality, I it was his wrestling and great control that gave him the win, so when evaluated in this (probalby correct) sense it was a in impressig performace.
Emotionally it was nothing that made me jump off my seat.
Dont get me wrong, I value wrestling as a key technique as displayed by e.g. GSP, Tito, Randy or Matt H. – but – and that is what I was trying to point out – it just FELT a lot diffrent in this fight.
So in order to get back to the topic at present – even though this fight is not hyped or as highly anticipated as some othere were, I am sure well get some great – high quality – mma from Rich and Hendo.
And that is just why I am looking forward to it.
I have to admit I might be biased concerning the Lesnar – Mir fight, because I lost a bet on that one and am now the luggage-guy for a friend of mine for a tournament-weekend..
sth. to add: the point I was trying to make also applies in some sense to anderson s. last fight. It is rationally impressing that he is such a great mma fighter, that his opponent had no chance to put him in danger with his otherwise great JJ – rationally – wow – anderson is totally dominant.
Emotionall it wasnt such an impressive fight and nothing I would use to introduce friends to the sport of mma.
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That, by far, has to be one of the deepest posts I’ve ever seen written.
I need an Asprin now…..
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Very good points Anferny, I still see it as skill when a wrestler, no matter what weight class, destroys a BJJ guy on the ground. It is great skill to step outside your area of expertise and fight on your opponents terms. Miguel Torres does it so well. I think you are holding the sheer size of a fighter like Lessner against him and seeing the skill of the fighter.
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“Lessner”
Lesnar
“Anything you can do I can do better……”
LOL
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