UFC On Fuel TV: Franklin vs Le Discussion Thread

[jimufctna24]

As I said above, he basically had to move division because the UFC wouldn't have put him in with Anderson again, and he'd not have done them any favours by beating their contenders.

 

I've mentioned the top three UFC middleweights of recent months, and I don't think any of them would be a clear pick over Franklin. I wouldn't see Bisping beating him, nor Sonnen. You can throw Boetsch, Munoz, Okami and Stann into that catetgory as well.

 

Weidman would be an interesting fight, and is perhaps the only current middleweight I'd favour over Franklin, even if it was ever so slightly.

I agree on Stann, Boetsch, Okami and maybe Munoz.

 

Bisping I could go either way. But Chael would beat him, Franklin had trouble with Forrest Griffin out-wrestling him. Chael is bigger than Franklin and a better wrestler than Forrest, I see Chael grinding out a win on points.

[David]

How can it be argued that he's number 2? He just got knocked out by Cung Le in his first fight in the division for 5 years, and he only holds 1 victory over a current UFC middleweight.

As I said above, he basically had to move division because the UFC wouldn't have put him in with Anderson again, and he'd not have done them any favours by beating their contenders.

 

I've mentioned the top three UFC middleweights of recent months, and I don't think any of them would be a clear pick over Franklin. I wouldn't see Bisping beating him, nor Sonnen. You can throw Boetsch, Munoz, Okami and Stann into that catetgory as well.

 

Weidman would be an interesting fight, and is perhaps the only current middleweight I'd favour over Franklin, even if it was ever so slightly.

Ok fair enough, i read that like you would rank Franklin at 2.

Nah, he's not been active enough for that, but if he declared a return to 185lbs he'd be right up there again without doubt.

[lambyUK]

How can it be argued that he's number 2? He just got knocked out by Cung Le in his first fight in the division for 5 years, and he only holds 1 victory over a current UFC middleweight.

As I said above, he basically had to move division because the UFC wouldn't have put him in with Anderson again, and he'd not have done them any favours by beating their contenders.

 

I've mentioned the top three UFC middleweights of recent months, and I don't think any of them would be a clear pick over Franklin. I wouldn't see Bisping beating him, nor Sonnen. You can throw Boetsch, Munoz, Okami and Stann into that catetgory as well.

 

Weidman would be an interesting fight, and is perhaps the only current middleweight I'd favour over Franklin, even if it was ever so slightly.

Ok fair enough, i read that like you would rank Franklin at 2.

Nah, he's not been active enough for that, but if he declared a return to 185lbs he'd be right up there again without doubt.

 

The simple fact is though, he got KO'd by an aging and what looked to me an out of shape Cung Le. This was a middleweight contest as well so I can't see how on earth you can state this "without doubt"?

[David]

How can it be argued that he's number 2? He just got knocked out by Cung Le in his first fight in the division for 5 years, and he only holds 1 victory over a current UFC middleweight.

As I said above, he basically had to move division because the UFC wouldn't have put him in with Anderson again, and he'd not have done them any favours by beating their contenders.

 

I've mentioned the top three UFC middleweights of recent months, and I don't think any of them would be a clear pick over Franklin. I wouldn't see Bisping beating him, nor Sonnen. You can throw Boetsch, Munoz, Okami and Stann into that catetgory as well.

 

Weidman would be an interesting fight, and is perhaps the only current middleweight I'd favour over Franklin, even if it was ever so slightly.

Ok fair enough, i read that like you would rank Franklin at 2.

Nah, he's not been active enough for that, but if he declared a return to 185lbs he'd be right up there again without doubt.

 

The simple fact is though, he got KO'd by an aging and what looked to me an out of shape Cung Le. This was a middleweight contest as well so I can't see how on earth you can state this "without doubt"?

If he'd been seriously competing at 185lbs, and not being the resident nomad he wouldn't have been fighting Le for a start. It's because he's become the UFC's go-to guy for fights in other countries and different weight classes that he's taking on the likes of Le in the first place.

 

Also, whilst Franklin was dominating Le up until the KO, it's difficult to argue that Cung is a threat to anyone if he connects with a good shot.

[wandshogun09]

I wouldn't say Franklin was dominating. He was certainly winning most of the exchanges but It only lasted 2 minutes so it's difficult to say anyone was dominating.

 

Franklin's fucked by Anderson being champ anyway. He got ass raped twice by Anderson so as you say it puts him in limbo regardless how many wins he gets at 185. A loss like this just ensures his hopes of one last run at the title is even further away.

 

Assuming he fights on, the best he can hope for would be taking a bunch more fun name fights at whichever weight like he has been the last few years, pick up some wins and hope and pray that Anderson either retires, gets beat or fucks off to 205 permanently.

 

If you have anyone besides Anderson holding the belt at 185, then Franklin is simply 2 or 3 good wins away from contention. Problem is Anderson seems set on taking that belt to the grave. And I'm not sure there's anyone on the horizon at 185, who can stop him.