What Next For Hendo and Ace After Their Dublin Duel?

At UFC 93 in Dublin, Ireland two former champions will collide.Those two former Champs come in the form of Rich "Ace" Franklin and Dan "Hollywood" Henderson.

Rich Franklin is the former UFC Middleweight Champion who holds a record of 24 wins and three losses. He has victories over Ken Shamrock, Evan Tanner (twice), David Loiseau, Yushin Okami, Travis Lutter, and Matt Hamill—quite a star studded list of victims.

Franklin won the title at UFC 53 against the late Evan Tanner. He defended it twice with a brutal KO of Nate Quarry and a unbelievable battle against Loiseau. All appeared to be rosy for the poster boy of the UFC, that is until a Spider crawled into the UFC. At UFC 64 Ace was battered brutally by Silva in one of the most devastating performances ever seen in the Octagon.

Despite the loss Franklin rebounded with two consecutive wins against Jason McDonald and Yushin Okami. Franklin was rewarded with a second shot at Silva, this time in his hometown of Cincinnati (did he really want it?).

The support of his hometown was not enough as he was stopped in the second round, although his performance was alot better; Silva simply reved up his engine and turned on his swagger. That was that.

Yet once again Franklin rebounded from his second loss to his boogeyman and got another two consecutive victories against submission specialist and fellow Silva patient Travis Lutter and wrestling powerhouse Matt Hamill. He will be looking to get three in a row against Hendo.

His opponent on January 17th is former welterweight and middleweight Pride World Champion Dan Henderson. Hendo holds a who's who of victims that include Wanderlei Silva, Vitor Belfort, Sobral, Bustamante and Palhares.

Hendo became a Champion at Pride Shockwave 2005 against Bustamante this secured him his Welterweight title. Two years later he would become the first man to hold two world titles simultaneously when he avenged a previous loss against Wanderlei Silva in a dominating performance which saw him knock Wanderlei out cold.

He returned to the UFC to challenge the then Light-heavyweight Champ Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson at UFC 75 in London. Despite a valiant effort Jackson proved to be too big for Hendo and got the Decision win.

So with a loss of his Light-heavyweight belt Hendo saw a drop to Middleweight to challenge Anderson Silva as the best way forward. Despite a dominant first round Hendo succumbed to a rear-naked choke late in the second round.

So with two losses in a row Hendo started to hear the whispers that he was getting to old. He had different ideas and he returned with a victory against grappling guru Rousimar Pahlares at UFC 88—the same night Franklin stopped Hamill.

Now at UFC 93 bothmen will collide. The winner is certainly hard to chose as both men are tantalisingly matched. I certainly cannot chose. If Hendo can get Ace down then he should get a win, however wrestling powerhouse Matt Hamill could not manage to keep Ace down. If Ace can keep it on the feet he has more of a chance as his standup is much more well rounded, although he must be concerned about that wrecking right hand on Hendo.

But where does the winner go? One has to think if Hendowins he gets his rematch with Middleweight King Anderson Silva. If Ace wins he will certainly get a top Light-heavyweight opponent, perhaps the loser of Machida-Silva or Rampage-Wanderlei. We will have to watch and see!