Rich Franklin: Wasted, Enough Said.

via cdn.cagepotato.com

The talk of today was a triangle involving Chuck Liddell, Rich Franklin, and Tito Ortiz. News spilled out on the message boards and Fighters Only picked up the story from there and ran with it.
 

The talks of Tito pulling out and Rich stepping in set the MMA blog sphere ablaze and speculation went crazy. Opinions were coming from left right and center and to add the bout was rumoured to be contested on April 17 in the UFC's efforts to counter Strikeforce and not 115. Kid Nate of Bloodyelbow.com made a good case to the problems with such a bold move this late in the game.

I really have to question the UFC's wisdom here. Not only are they losing the Tito Ortiz vs Chuck Liddell headliner for UFC 115 (although that may have been unavoidable due to Tito's mysterious issues) but they are also pushing the TN Athletic Commission to the limits of their resources and capabilities. If someone gets hurt in the cage because of poor oversight, Dana White should be held to answer for it.

They are also completely strip-mining any value that Rich Franklin has as a draw with this long succession of meaningless fights. If Anderson Silva ends up moving up to light heavyweight, it will all have been for naught.

The loss of the main event is true but what i find much more troubling is how Rich Franklin has been used as a transition fighter for others and not really fighting to further himself. First he fought Wanderlei Silva who had dropped 2 out of his three fights at 205 and was looking to drop down to Middle weight. Silva was uncomfortable cutting stright to 185 so Franklin weight was born. The fight with Wanderlei was nothing more then a fight designed to help ease Wanderlei into a lower weight division, but for Rich is did nothing.

Even with the win it did not help Franklin's stock seeing as it was not contested in any division. After the fight with Wand Franklin was once again faced with fighting as a name and not a contender when he was picked to welcome Vitor Belfort back to the UFC. Belfort would not fight at 205 which is the class Franklin was interested in at the time and once again Rich took one on the chin and fought at the catch weight of 195. Franklin lost that fight and has not been back since.

Franklin was once a man who could draw some eyes and was considered one of the best fighters floating between divisions but as Kid Nate stated they are strip mining his name and leaving him a skeleton of a career. After the dust settled on today's rumours Dana White finally came out and stated that Tito is fine and Randy Couture will face Rich which is a step in the right direction for Rich. With a win over Couture it would put Rich in the spotlight and with a few more wins he could very well see himself back in the title picture and in a number one contenders match. Franklin is wasted talent, name, and he has also wasted time with the foolish string of fights he has had.