The one thing that really hurts to see is my boy Rich fading into obscurity. After two losses to Anderson it seems nobody is really excited about him anymore. But if he is able to get a win over Dan Henderson will it give his career that much needed spark. Or will it still be the same as yesterday (considering Hendo is somewhat down on his luck after two losses and a lackluster win)?
I have my left hand on Franklin's nuts and my right on Hendo's, but no I do not think a win for either is a game changer. I think it puts them back on the path to being in the game, but there are too many younger and more high profile guys. To me it almost seems like this fight is which older fighter stays and which one becomes a gate keeper. What is even worse is that they are both still fairly young. I want this fight to end with them both jumping A.Silva and being declared tag team 185 champs.
I have my left hand on Franklin's nuts and my right on Hendo's, but no I do not think a win for either is a game changer. I think it puts them back on the path to being in the game, but there are too many younger and more high profile guys. To me it almost seems like this fight is which older fighter stays and which one becomes a gate keeper. What is even worse is that they are both still fairly young. I want this fight to end with them both jumping A.Silva and being declared tag team 185 champs.
I think a win over Henderson will put Franklin on the map at 205. Now he would need a win over a legit 205 guy so that he could be in title contention but this would be a great step for him.
I'm not sure about Franklin at 205. beating Hammil who IMO is pretty overrated doesn't mean much but a win over Hendo would.
If it wasn't for a fighter named Anderson Silva, Franklin and Henderson probably would have already fought for the middle weight championship. Besides Anderson I dont see any one beating those two.
I think Rich would beat Jardine. They both had unorthodox striking and Rich is a smarter fighter than any that Keith has fought and I feel that would play a huge role in it.
Hendo is gonna **** rich up....period!! Especially since the fight is at 205 i think thats Danny's better fighting weight....as far as it changing a career i see it doing more for Henderson than for Rich:dunno:
Pretty much sums it up. A win over Hendo would definitely legitimize his stature at LHW but as far as MW's he's still in the top 3, with 4 on down being a HUGE dropoff. Aside from Hendo has Anderson fought anyone in the UFC Rich couldn't destroy? I'm not real convinced moving to LHW was a good move for Ace but there are some real exciting matches up there for him. Chuck? Shogun? Rashad? Forrest? A rematch with Machida? All fights I would LOVE to see whether he wins or loses against Hendo.
I'm sure everyone, including me, know that Franklin is a great fighter, talented and poses some danger to most fighters at both 185 and 205. On the same note, I personally have never been "excited" to see him fight, he's just not one of my favorite fighters.
There is no doubt that he is a talented fighter and a win over Hendo will only boost his resume.
One thing I'm wondering about since this fight is at 205- is where is Hendo wanting to go after this? He's stated he wants a rematch with Silva but is coming off a MW win over Palhares. He beats Rich(possibly) at 205- is he trying to contend at 205 or at 185? Rich wins- it moves him up at 205 but where does Hendo go win or lose? :dunno:
One thing I'm wondering about since this fight is at 205- is where is Hendo wanting to go after this? He's stated he wants a rematch with Silva but is coming off a MW win over Palhares. He beats Rich(possibly) at 205- is he trying to contend at 205 or at 185? Rich wins- it moves him up at 205 but where does Hendo go win or lose? :dunno:
The problem with Rich was that most people agreed that he 1) was the #2 UFC MW, and 2) would never be able to beat Silva. So that made it pretty uninteresting to watch his fights for people who was rooting for him, because he could only either lose or stay where he was.
Now that he's moved to LHW he's getting more interesting again with all the interesting matchups that are possible.
Rich is awesome and i never thought he was to down and out, but maybe he should take a run at the LHW belt....him v Chuck Liddell could make an interesting fights and they both have big fanbases
Franklin is the MAN!! Dude stepped to the spider twice both times he fought like a warrior. He didnt come with some B.S. game plan he went in there just as hard the second time around.
He has also continued his winning ways after those defeats and I believe he will beat Hendo.
I didn't think Rich was ever off the map, still nice and cozy as the 2nd best MW. UFC just needs to make him a silver belt, maybe with a gate instead of a cage on it, in the MW division. Because I don't think there is anyone that can beat him at MW, but Silva.
I'm very excited to see Rich fight at LHW. He's still relatively young and the only constant where he's concerned is the ability to amaze everybody, IMO.
Rich is a great representatvie of MMA, i dont think he he'll ever be off the map. If Silva beats Machida, i think we'll get to see Machida/Franklin 2 in the not too distant future. It worries me slightly that theres alot of heavy hitters in the LHW division. Will Rich be able to execute a similar gameplan that he employed at MW? or will he have to refine the way he fights?
Almost everyone would "do better" in another promotion, because the UFC generally has the better fighters. So you go to a different promotion, you fight lesser fighters. General rule, i know there are exceptions
I would disagree he is "fading into obscurity", its only natural that after 2 hard defeats losing his belt etc he would be a little out of the limelight, he is however still a well respected fighter but now he has stepped back up to 205 he has to start over.
Hendo is a huge test at 205 but the question is does "Ace" have the tools to beat him?, i would say yes, wether he does is another matter.
I feel bad for Franklin, everyone acts like he isn't a big deal, just because he lost to Anderson Silva twice, yet hes dominated everyone else (minus Machida) and has two wins following each Silva fight. People act like hes a has been, yet he sports a 25-3 record.
Hendo vs Ace is a really close fight and I think Franklin will come out on top. I see Franklin doing well against most of the top LHWs, except Rampage, Wandy and Evans. I do believe Franklin could beat Griffin though. I would love to see Franklin as the LHW champion someday.
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