He has only two win by decision. The guy finish fight, as simple as that. **** Anderson Silva, Rich will never beat him, who cares. There's a lot of possibily for Rich at 205. Because at 185, he will beat everyone apart from Silva and Cotehey). Seriously I would like to see Rich vs these guy vs Wand vs Rashad vs Machida(rematch) vs Rampage vs Griffin vs Shogun vs Jardine And I don't favor him in all these fight, but he has a shot in every of those fight. He is a lot better than he was vs Machida the first time. Wand is not the same anymore, Rashad don't have any advantage over him(clinch), he could hang with Rampage on his feet using thoses leg kicks who sucked up all the energy of Hamill, vs Griffin this is a toss up fight in my opinion ,Forrest is really strong, but so is Rich even if he was a 185 lbs, why not him vs Shogun? Don't get me wrong, I'll bet on Rampage and Machida to beat him, the other fight, that's 50/50 for me.
Id bet on Shogun to beat Franklin quite easily. Everybody has an off night & Shogun`s was vs Forrest so I wouldnt judge him on that fight alone. On form, Mauricio `Shogun` Rua might very well be the best LHWT in the world aswell as a very strong contender for the p4p No1 spot which most say is held by Anderson Silva but IMO is held by Fedor.
Franklin's game plan was great! I was a bit worried that the fight would be stopped due to the nasty cut and was glad he finished Hamill off before he had a chance to open it up further. I thought moving up to 205 was a bad idea at first, but after seeing his work tonight..I think he'll do just fine in that weight class.
I dont know about all that. Now im 100 percent sure Wandy kills Rich if it goes to the clinch Rich doesnt have a bad clinch it just isnt on the level of the elite MMA Muay Thai guys like Anderson or Wanderlei. However if it doesnt go to the clinch Rich could win I like his boxing better to be honest hes very active and has better technique then Wandy and he could stop him or atleast hurt him Wandys never had a granite chin good but not great and I cant see Wanderlei outclassing him on the ground on anything. As far as Forrest **** really him and Rich are alot alike neither guy has like Scurlantings always says a bread and butter both do all well nothing super great it would be a close good fight. Jardine could win yes hes a good powerful striker and might out do Rich but agian like Wanderlei I dont see Jardine having a better ground game nor that huge of a advantage standing. Rich can do well in the 205 divison I honestly believe that I dont see him beating Machida though the UFC should be smart to stay far away from that matchup it makes no sense IMO even if does give Rich a chance to avenge a loss. What happens if Rich lost to Lyoto and Lyoto wins the title next ? Now we got Rich screwed because hes 0-2 vs both the 185 and 205 Champion and Rich is a Championship level fighter he deserves to have his shot but those guys are difficult style matchups for him plus probablly just better fighters period though. But if that happened you got a UFC stay basically just a gatekeeper honestly the best ever though he would just go around beating the crap out of guys coming of title shots or on the verge of title shots. Keep Rich away from that match unless Machida becomes Champ and Rich starts winning 205 fights and becomes the top contender clearly.
Just goes to show the favouritism. Realistically that fight should have been stopped. That cut was bad and the skin was just flapping and tearing away.
It obviously didn't stop his ability to finish the fight... I guess we'll see how much damage the cut causes Rich long term, but it will probably not affect his later career at all. No long lasting damage + Cut fighter is able to come back and win the fight = good call by the ref.