Rich Franklin's move to LHW at UFC 88

On September 6th, Rich Franklin will move back up to the Light Heavy Weight division, and his first test will be Matt "the Hammer" Hamill.

If you look at Rich Franklin's resume, it is quite an impressive one. His overall MMA record is 25-3. Of his 12 fights in the UFC he has won 10 of them. 7 of those victories came by way of knock out(or ref stoppage), 2 decision wins, and 1 submission. His more notable wins were over Ken Shamrock, Evan Tanner(2), Nate Quarry(if you haven't seen this knock out look it up), David Loiseau, Yushin Okami, and Travis Lutter. 

This may explain why Franklin is such a popular fighter, always looking to close the show, and usually in exciting fashion. His only 2 losses were at the hands of Anderson Silva, who proved to be Franklin's cryptonite in a weight class that he dominated.

Franklin is now taking the only logical step in his career, and that is moving up to LHW, as opposed to waiting around for someone to de-throne Silva. He will have his hands full as well, since he will be stepping into the cage with Matt Hamill.

Matt Hamill's overall MMA record is 6-1(many people would argue it should be 7-0, due to his controversial decision loss to Bisping). Obviously Franklin has the edge in experience, but lets not count out Hamill. His ground and pound is relentless, and most of his wins have come by knock out. In his last fight against Tim Boetsch he never stopped attacking through round 1 and into round 2, forcing a referee stoppage.

This fight seems simple to sum up, if Franklin can keep the fight standing he will more than likely win. If Hamill can take the fight to the ground and keep it there, he will more than likely win. Franklin has a good sprawl and has shown a good ability to escape dangerous situations, but of course this is where the weight change comes into factor.

Franklin is a big 185 lb. fighter, but at 205 lbs he will no longer have a size advantage. This may hurt his ability to keep the fight standing, and his ability block Hammil's take down attempts. Also the way Hamill smothers his opponents on the ground will make it tricky for Franklin to get back to his feet.

I believe that Franklin will fare well in the light heavy weight division. My prediction is that he will win his fight with Hamill; Hamill has never been knocked out, and Rich Franklin will put his chin to the test. Assuming he defeats Hamill, I am interested to see who Franklin will take on next. Hopefully they get him straight to top level guys, rather then easy wins over low level competition.

Regardless of how succesful Franklin is at 205 lbs, he will always be respected by fellow fighters and fans. However, if he does well against top level guys, and maybe even gets into title contention(wishful thinking), he could be the 3rd fighter to hold titles in 2 different divisions. That would take Franklin from being a great fighter, to possible UFC Hall of Fame status.

This is all just speculation of course, he could very well lose to Hamill, and not even get anywhere near a title shot. Of course he could always go back to being a school teacher, but I personally would rather watch him punch some more people in the face. How do you guys think he will do in the heavier division??