Reclaiming the Throne: Rich Franklin’s Quest to become the UFC’s next Light Heavyweight Champion

            In October of 2006, many MMA analysts thought that Rich “Ace” Franklin was the best middleweight fighter in the world. With his only professional loss having come in late 2003, from a then unknown Brazilian by the name of Lyoto Machida, Franklin was on a tear in the UFC, having defeated the likes of Ken Shamrock, Evan Tanner, and Nate Quarry. With two successful titles defenses to his credit, it looked as if Franklinwas set to experience a lengthy run as the UFC’s middleweight champion; that is until he met Muay Thai master Anderson“The Spider” Silva. At the time of their first meeting Silva was not well known by casual MMA fans in America, largely due to the fact that he fought exclusively in Brazil, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Having impressively defeated Chris “The Crippler” Leben just four months previously, little was known about the Brazilian other than that he was a solid striker who had done well in various MMA promotions overseas.

            Before the first Franklin/Silva fight, which took place at UFC 64, odds makers had Franklin picked as a heavy favorite, despite the fact that he had spend the past seven months recovering from a serious hand injury that required major reconstructive surgery. Yet the MMA cognoscenti felt that Silva was quite capable of winning the UFC middleweight title, especially since he had not lost a fight in over two years (for Silva’s last, and most interesting, loss see Silva vs. Chonan at PRIDE Shockwave 2004). Still, no one was prepared for what happened when Franklin and Silva finally squared off. More reminiscent of a grown man fighting a helpless child than two athletes of nearly equal skill competing against one another, Silva quite literally demolished Franklin with a firestorm of punches, kicks, and bone shattering knees delivered from his patented Thai clench.

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