How would prime Rich “Ace” Franklin do in today’s MW division?

he didnt do well against the generation after him. he would get sparked and not be top 15 IMO

Fighters generally dont dominate across two generations because mileage and age are real.
Franklin did fine against good versions of Henderson, Wand, Okami or Hammil. If you think any moder top15 as Elias Theodorou would "spark" those guys you dont really know what you r talking about
 
No mad dude. I was hoping you have any further argumentt than what Silva did. You dont so its cool
I mean he got beat by Cung and Vitor,what makes people think hed do ok against Yoel,Izzy or even Till or Goastelum?
 
I mean he got beat by Cung and Vitor,what makes people think hed do ok against Yoel,Izzy or even Till or Goastelum?

Israel is the champion and Yoel is arguably #2. You are saying Franklin would get beat by any modern fighter, why even bring Israel and Yoel to that argument. Can you try not being such a :eek::eek:
 
Yeah Wanderlei didnt take a Muay Thai lesson in his life. He saw the same weaknesses you pretend is so easy to exploit and wasnt able to do so, but any Dana White contender series jobber would get it done

Wand was 1-4 in his last 5. That was a very, very toned version of the axe murderer.

He was knocked out in his last fight against an also aging rampage, a guy he destroyed with his thai clinch in his prime.

So im not sure if Wand's thai clinch game was on point anymore at that time of his career.
 
The REAL question we should be asking is how would Edwin Dewees do today? with modern training.
 
Fighters generally dont dominate across two generations because mileage and age are real.
Franklin did fine against good versions of Henderson, Wand, Okami or Hammil. If you think any moder top15 as Elias Theodorou would "spark" those guys you dont really know what you r talking about
You didn’t like that I kept using silva as an example but you keep using Elias (who isn’t even in the ufc anymore) as an example of a guy rich might be able to take on. Considering that’s the only example you have you are proving yourself wrong.
 
Wand was 1-4 in his last 5. That was a very, very toned version of the axe murderer.

He was knocked out in his last fight against an also aging rampage, a guy he destroyed with his thai clinch in his prime.

So im not sure if Wand's thai clinch game was on point anymore at that time of his career.

Numbers dont say much. Especially when I'd bet on most ranked MWs today to get beat by the likes of Rampage or Crocop.
That same version of Wand beat Bisping, who still had two functional eyes, unlike when he actually became champion years later.
 
You didn’t like that I kept using silva as an example but you keep using Elias (who isn’t even in the ufc anymore) as an example of a guy rich might be able to take on. Considering that’s the only example you have you are proving yourself wrong.

Rich Franklin could win or lose to Brunson, Hall, Tavares, Heinish, Omari, Cara de Sapato or even fringe top5 Till, Kelvin or Vettori. Definitely a tough fight for every of them. And it would be the best win in the career of almost any of them.

Not sure they would do better than Franklin vs Henderson, Okami, Wand, Hammil, Quarry or Liddel neither
 
As the jury seems so agree, his skillset wouldn't float **at all** in modern MMA. That being said, Prime Franklin, now, would also have an entirely different training regimen and skillset, so probably as an athlete he'd do pretty well.

This is what I'd think too, he seemed like a hard worker and would certainly evolve.
 
id say today hed be top 5 somwhere but this is all opinion he lost to the best ever everybody mentions like it was cm punk or something but he had size power its not that he couldnt defend a thai clinch

Its the fact he got put in one by a super intelligent fighter who knows how to keep somone in it..

Thats like saying BROCK lesner couldnt defend it.. From Alister overeem so he wouldnt of ben shit when he was the hw champion... With 0 mma

And rich didnt have decades of training he was a school teacher before he got into mma.

Just being realistic about my opinion.
 
id say today hed be top 5 somwhere but this is all opinion he lost to the best ever everybody mentions like it was cm punk or something but he had size power its not that he couldnt defend a thai clinch

Its the fact he got put in one by a super intelligent fighter who knows how to keep somone in it..

Thats like saying BROCK lesner couldnt defend it.. From Alister overeem so he wouldnt of ben shit when he was the hw champion... With 0 mma

And rich didnt have decades of training he was a school teacher before he got into mma.

Just being realistic about my opinion.

I think his wins over Wand and Okami were extremely close, and neither Wand nor Okami were in their absolute prime at that point.
None of his other wins would be top5 worthy by today standards, not even close really, including his best win in Evan Tanner.

So I dont see evidence enough to say Rich would be a top5 fighter today. I think he could be a fringe top10 though
 
Well rounded skills. KO power. Huge MW (also fought at LHW). 2 MW title defenses. Wins over Liddell, Wand 2X, Okami, Lutter, Hammill, Tanner 2X. Took prime Hendo to a split decision.
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He wasn't huge by any means. Every single one of the old time MW (And many of the "fat" WW) fought as a 200ish pounder because the 185ish divisions weren't really a thing.
Prime Rich had literally no idea how to defend a basic Muay Thai clinch. He would get thrashed by the lowest level guys.
If you don't allow for any ajustement, then this game is silly.
Beings he got completely demolished by Anderson and stiffened by lee imma say not well
Prime Anderson beats Izzy with ease. You have a gooffy concept of prime if you think thar Franklin retired in his prime.

- Rich handles pre-Parrillo Bisping with ease. Beats Parrillo Bisping too.
- Rich does things to GSP that Serra wouldn't dream
- A tricky lefty like RIch could have done to Rockhold what Bisping did

Three fairly recent MW champs
 
...

Prime Anderson beats Izzy with ease. You have a gooffy concept of prime if you think thar Franklin retired in his prime.

- Rich handles pre-Parrillo Bisping with ease. Beats Parrillo Bisping too.
- Rich does things to GSP that Serra wouldn't dream
- A tricky lefty like RIch could have done to Rockhold what Bisping did

Three fairly recent MW champs
show me where i said that or you are goofy !


Anderson on drugs get the W over Izzy i agree

also Rich DOESN'T get a W over Bisping prime for prime

Franklin doesn't do nadda to GSP
 
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