Wanderlei Silva vs Rich Franklin: Technical Breakdown of the Rematch

When it was time for UFC 147 to finally get here, some of us were worried that we'd see a late-breaking injury that somehow would make the card even less appealing. Thankfully that didn't happen. What we did see was an entertaining battle between MMA legends Wanderlei Silva and Rich Franklin.

Let's take a look at this rematch and see how it went.

Takedowns:

The wrestling portion of the fight was fairly minimal. Franklin ducked under a strike in Round 3 and secured a trip to get to the ground. Ace would throw some elbows from half guard, and when Silva pushed him off, Rich stood above landing strikes until the horn sounded.

Other than that, this contest mostly took place on the feet.

Jiu-Jitsu:

You're kidding, right? This fight saw absolutely zero grappling. If the fight went to the ground, there were brief attempts to finish with ground and pound, and then right back to the feet.

Since the striking portion of the fight made up such a high percentage of the event, let's do an in-depth look at the different aspects of striking from last night.

Counter striking:

Early in the first round, Wanderlei timed the left body kick from Franklin and cracked him with an overhand right that sent the crowd into cheers. Silva allowed Franklin to strike first in many situations and attempted to capitalize with big hooks at first movement.

UFC announcer Joe Rogan compared Silva to a spring that was ready to go, as the Brazilian wanted to catch Ace making a mistake. In the final minute of Round 2, he found that mistake. When Franklin backed up following a combination, Silva charged with big hooks that his opponent wasn't ready for. He clipped Franklin with a pair of right hooks, a clinch knee and then a big right hand that put Franklin on the mat.

With Franklin leading the charge for most of the fight and Wanderlei being tentative after gassing, there weren't a lot of counter-striking moments in the latter half of the contest.

Silva could have benefited by being first more often, as he allowed Franklin to dictate the pace and ended up being outstruck 122-58 in significant strikes through five rounds. 

Combinations:

Franklin was more active throughout most of the fight, and he utilized a straight right jab to start off combinations. The exchanges from Ace were crisp, and they mixed up attacks to the body and head in a way that continued to have Silva pressed against the cage for a considerable period of time.

Using a wide variety of combinations, Franklin started some combinations with a jab while starting others with a straight right or even a head kick. 

The third and fourth rounds can be best described as a Rich Franklin boxing display. Combinations remained sharp and landed frequently.

The final moments of the fight showed us an exchange that resembled the first 30 seconds of Diego Sanchez vs Clay Guida, as both men stayed in the pocket and threw bombs until the final buzzer. In the final second of the fight, Franklin dropped Silva with a punch that seemed to seal the round.

Kicks:

Franklin's left body kick is a strong weapon. The liver kick is what finished off Matt Hamill when they met back at UFC 88. However, the head kicks from both men would be thrown in the first round. Wanderlei scored a big one while Franklin threw one late as a way to insist that he wasn't going to back down.

Wanderlei would utilize a front kick in Round 2 while Franklin was happy to throw to the body. Halfway through the round, both men threw head kicks that were designed to put you to sleep like a Ben Askren fight.

This trend continued in Rounds 3 and 4, but Rich focused more on the jab and less on kicks in these rounds. Every now and again, Wanderlei would try to catch Franklin off guard with a head kick.

Silva landed one kick in particular in Round 4 that Franklin would rather forget about. A vicious low blow connected on Franklin's cup, and unfortunately the kick landed with all shin. Franklin was able to tough it out after a visually humorous series of humps and jumps that appeared to give him some testicular relief.

Cardio: 

Maybe cardio isn't the right name for this category, because each fighter has a great gas tank. Unfortunately for The Axe Murderer, he dumped a lot of his energy into trying to finish in the second round, and it took him until the final minute of the fight to get his second wind.

Joe Rogan commented on Silva gassing out despite having incredible conditioning. "A wild sprint like that just costs you."

Franklin is a guy who hasn't fought for five rounds since 2006, but he had no problem going the distance once again.

Corner Work: 

I don't usually talk about the between-round banter that takes place in the corner, but I was amazed at what we heard from Rob at Camp Cincinnati.

Rich Franklin may have the smartest cornermen in the business. Despite Rich clearly being ahead three rounds to one going into the final frame, the advice given to him between rounds was that Wanderlei had just won Round 4 by scoring a knockdown. Rich was not knocked down in Round 4 and had actually outstruck Silva 22-10.

The conversation made Franklin think that he needed to win the final game, and the former middleweight champion looked sharp because of it. He would go on to avoid the "tornado" of Silva and outpoint him once again. If Franklin had gotten lazy and thought that he only needed to survive, he might not have worked so hard and could have gotten caught. 

Post Fight: 

The post-fight interview was hilarious, as Franklin was humored by the fact that he couldn't remember Rounds 3 or 4.

"

Honestly. I remember in between the second round and the next thing I know, it's the fifth round. I kinda like those fights. I just remember my corner man saying "It's the fifth round" and I'm like, "Cool, only one more."

"

Overall:

If you didn't order the Pay-Per-View due to a lack of name value, I can't say that I blame you, but you missed a very entertaining main event. This was a great showing from Rich and is not a loss that Wanderlei should be ashamed of.

Franklin expressed a desire to make one more title run before retirement. If he can continue to outwork high-level strikers like Wanderlei Silva, it will be incredible difficult to deny him. I have been requesting for months that we see Rich Franklin vs Michael Bisping. Cross your fingers.