Subtle Punches by Rich Franklin

Rich Franklin sat down with MMAJunkie and the quotes put things into perspective. He's excellent at something out there without committing to it.

On Henderson being a dirty fighter..."I would like to thank Dan and I clashing heads and the eye poke – I've never pegged Dan as a dirty fighter or anything like that," Franklin said.

"But I've had people call me and say, 'I'm not so sure about that.' I haven't watched the fight on film, but I like to think Dan did that accidentally."

On the eye poke..."I couldn't see at the time, but there was a situation with Dan (Henderson) walking over to his corner," Franklin said. "I know when there's an accidental foul like that, your opponent is supposed to be instructed to go to a neutral corner.

"All I know is that I heard (corner man) Matt Hume yelling at the ref to send Dan to his neutral corner, and I heard him yell it a couple times while Dan (Miragliotta) was checking on me. I told Dan (Miragliotta) to send him to his neutral corner since I heard Matt yelling and didn't want Henderson standing in his corner getting instructions the whole time."

On Henderson's offense..."I don't think I won all three rounds, but I do think I did enough and should have won the second and third rounds," said Franklin, who was taken down four times in the first two rounds.

"He took me down, but he really didn't do anything once he had me there. Nothing landed. I was pretty much able to get up every time he took me down. In the second round, I don't think he landed one punch when he sat in my guard. He wasn't real active. He just kind of covered me to make sure I didn't get back up."

On the decision..."'How could that happen?' That was my first thought," Franklin said. "How could one judge see three rounds in my favor and two other judges see two of the rounds in his favor?"