Sherdog’s Top 10: UFC Middleweight Title Fights

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3. Rich Franklin vs. Anderson Silva
UFC 64
Oct. 14, 2006 | Las Vegas
Franklin shouldered the middleweight championship, owned a 22-1 record and had never lost at 185 pounds when he met Silva in the UFC 64 main event at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Only a handful of MMA insiders saw the juggernaut that was headed his way. Silva was still an unknown commodity for casual fans, but those who had followed his career were well aware of the scorched-earth weaponry he possessed in his wiry frame. “The Spider” was spectacular, established his dominance early and picked apart Franklin with violent precision. Once they clinched two minutes in, Silva applied his vice-like collar tie and raked the Cincinnati native with repeated knees to the body. Franklin’s ribs went from bright pink to deep red, as he became hopelessly entangled in the Brazilian’s destructive muay Thai web. Silva continued to pepper the body, until he fired one of his knees upstairs and mangled Franklin’s nose. The defending champion’s legs buckled, as he stumbled backward, got sucked into the clinch again and absorbed another knee to the face. Franklin was done 2:59 into Round 1, and Silva had touched off a run of divisional dominance that had never before been seen in the UFC.

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