7. Rich Franklin
I strongly disagree with this pick. In fact, I did not even have Franklin in my Top 10 at all. Franklin was one of the UFC’s poster boys in the mid-2000s, when it rose to prominence. UFC President Dana White loved him personally, but it was clear to me then that he was not fighting elite competition and would have lost to Pride Fighting Championships’ best. However, it was actually even worse in Franklin’s case than it was Chuck Liddell’s at 205 pounds. At least Liddell fought great grapplers like Tito Ortiz twice and Randy Couture three times. He fought all the most dangerous opponents available to him in the UFC. Franklin, meanwhile, was so coddled and protected by the UFC that it used a pretext to get rid of No. 1 contender Matt Lindland in 2005, fearing that the “boring” Olympic silver medalist would use his stifling style to take down one of the company’s top draws. Franklin was utterly schooled in a one-sided beating by Lyoto Machida on New Year’s Eve 2003—albeit at a 214-pound catchweight—only a year and half before he won the middleweight championship in the UFC. Franklin, at a perfect 14-0, was far more experienced than the 2-0 Machida, but the difference in ability was vast. Franklin started out 7-0 in the UFC, but the competition was undeniably weak: Evan Tanner (twice), Edwin Dewees, Jorge Rivera, a 41-year-old Ken Shamrock, Nate Quarry and David Loiseau. Tanner was the only good name in terms of a list like this, but he was past his prime, afflicted by alcoholism and employing a somewhat antiquated style. After that, Franklin was knocked out in the first round by Anderson Silva and embarked on a more checkered career once more serious challengers appeared in the UFC. He won two decisions over a badly washed-up Wanderlei Silva and knocked out an even more washed-up Liddell. Franklin lost to a 38-year-old Dan Henderson, was knocked out in the first round by Vitor Belfort, dropped his rematch to Anderson Silva, fell to Forrest Griffin at 205 pounds and got knocked out by Cung Le despite being a huge favorite in his last appearance.
In spite of it all, I was actually a fan of Franklin back in the day. I respected how, with far less natural ability than the other guys on this list and many others who did not even make it, he nevertheless developed a basic but highly effective game predicated on neutralizing the grappling and winning with his good if not great striking. Of course, that had its limits.
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