Sherdog.com Preview – UFC 53: Heavy Hitters
Evan Tanner vs. Rich Franklin
May 31, 2005
TANNER: American freestyle fighter Evan Tanner is 31-4 in MMA
competition. Until recently, Tanner trained with former UFC light
heavyweight champion Randy
Couture, middleweight contender Matt Lindland, PRIDE middleweight
contender Dan Henderson and
the rest of Team Quest.
A conflict over management and money led to Tanner leaving the team and once again become a “Ronin” warrior in a sport dominated by strong camps. Of late he has been training with Dennis Hallman of ATT and UFC veteran Benji Radach.
Tanner started training martial arts from books and tapes and is
one of the few fighters in the sport to be successful though
originally self-taught. He won the Texas State championships in
wrestling as a junior and senior and fought well in smaller shows
like the PSDA and USWF (which he eventually bought) before turning
to the Japan’s Pancrase circuit.
Evan defeated UFC veteran Ikuhisa Minowa, American Justin McCully and Pancrase star Kousei Kubota to win the ’98 Neo Blood tournament title in his debut tournament in 1998. He debuted in the UFC in 1999 (the same year he contemplated leaving the sport to follow Buddha) and beat Darrell Gholar at UFC 18 and then defeated Lance Gibson at UFC 29.
Evan has defeated recent PRIDE competitor Phil Baroni twice in a row. The first time there was a controversial stoppage involving referee Larry Landless but the rematch left little doubt as Tanner took a unanimous decision. Evan submitted Robbie Lawler at UFC 50 via triangle choke and faced grappling prodigy David Terrell for the title at UFC 51. It took just one round for Tanner to show he deserved his shot as he put a hurt on Terrell and became the new UFC middleweight champion.
FRANKLIN: Kentucky native Rich “Ace” Franklin has an MMA record of 19-2 and trains as part of both Meat Truck Incorporated and Team Extreme. Based in Cincinnati Ohio, Meat Truck Inc. is run by the man known as “Meat Truck,” Kerry Schall. They also train at New Generation Martial Arts with Jorge Gurgel.
Franklin was a schoolteacher with a Masters Degree in Education and will likely return to teaching once his fighting career is over.
Rich first gained exposure at WEF 9 with a win over EF veteran Gary Myers. Franklin threw a roundhouse kick to Gary’s head in the third, making him crumble to the floor and forcing Kipp Kollar to stop the bout. Rich faced Huntington Beach fighter Aaron Brink at the IFC Warriors Challenge 11. Nearly two minutes into the bout, Franklin pounded a bloody Brink to the mat and Aaron got his foot caught between the fencing and the floor of the cage. The bout was declared a No Contest.
Franklin defeated UFC veteran Travis Fulton at the RINGS USA tournament when Fulton could not continue due to a broken hand. A bout at the World Fighting Alliance pitted Rich against Muay Thai fighter Marvin Eastman and ended in a controversial win submission win for Rich (see Eastman bio).
Franklin won back-to-back wins in the UCC and made his UFC debut at UFC 42 against Tanner. He overwhelmed Tanner with strikes and rolled through Edwin Dewees at UFC 44 with an injured groin. Rich experienced a rare loss against Antonio Inoki prodigy Ryoto Machida when he was KO’d at the Inoki Bom Be Ye 2003 New Year’s Eve show. Franklin made his Superbrawl debut and rattled of two straight wins in the promotion (including a win over UFC veteran Curtis Stout) with a UFC win over striker Jorge Rivera and an Alaskan bout sandwiched in between.
Then as the headliner of the Ultimate Fighter finale, Franklin moved up in weight to take on UFC legend Ken Shamrock. Rich defeated Ken by TKO in a bout that can only be described as odd. Now Rich gets his first shot at a title in the Octagon with a 4-0 record and just one match going past the first round.
MY PICK:
Finally we see a great title fight for the middleweights. I don’t expect a repeat of the UFC 42 bout and I don’t feel entirely comfortable with the way Rich got here (the Shamrock bout) but he is an incredible athlete and I think Evan is meeting his best competition ever. Granted their first bout was the last time Tanner lost and both fighters were competing at light heavyweight.
Evan also had two weeks notice to prepare for Rich then and he had a serious inner-cheek injury the week before the bout. Overall, I think Franklin is even better than the first time they fought because the loss to Machida served as a wake-up call. However, the up and down changes in weight class can work against him. He fought Shamrock at over 200 pounds two months ago and now he fights for the 185-lb. title? That’s quick.
This could be a great fight and with a 25-minute time limit, it is unlikely to go the distance. As tough as it is to fathom, I feel the UFC championship curse (check the history of titles folks) will continue and title will change hands yet again. Franklin by submission in the third round.
A conflict over management and money led to Tanner leaving the team and once again become a “Ronin” warrior in a sport dominated by strong camps. Of late he has been training with Dennis Hallman of ATT and UFC veteran Benji Radach.
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Evan defeated UFC veteran Ikuhisa Minowa, American Justin McCully and Pancrase star Kousei Kubota to win the ’98 Neo Blood tournament title in his debut tournament in 1998. He debuted in the UFC in 1999 (the same year he contemplated leaving the sport to follow Buddha) and beat Darrell Gholar at UFC 18 and then defeated Lance Gibson at UFC 29.
His first Octagon loss was to Tito Ortiz for the light heavyweight
title at UFC 30. Ortiz applied a body-lock and slammed Tanner to
the mat but he caught the top of Tito’s head and was knocked out.
Evan went on to defeat Homer
Moore, Elvis Sinosic
and Chris Haseman before
meeting Rich Franklin for
the first time at UFC 42. Rich landed a series of right hands that
dropped Tanner to his knees and the referee stepped in before
things got worse.
Evan has defeated recent PRIDE competitor Phil Baroni twice in a row. The first time there was a controversial stoppage involving referee Larry Landless but the rematch left little doubt as Tanner took a unanimous decision. Evan submitted Robbie Lawler at UFC 50 via triangle choke and faced grappling prodigy David Terrell for the title at UFC 51. It took just one round for Tanner to show he deserved his shot as he put a hurt on Terrell and became the new UFC middleweight champion.
FRANKLIN: Kentucky native Rich “Ace” Franklin has an MMA record of 19-2 and trains as part of both Meat Truck Incorporated and Team Extreme. Based in Cincinnati Ohio, Meat Truck Inc. is run by the man known as “Meat Truck,” Kerry Schall. They also train at New Generation Martial Arts with Jorge Gurgel.
Franklin was a schoolteacher with a Masters Degree in Education and will likely return to teaching once his fighting career is over.
Rich first gained exposure at WEF 9 with a win over EF veteran Gary Myers. Franklin threw a roundhouse kick to Gary’s head in the third, making him crumble to the floor and forcing Kipp Kollar to stop the bout. Rich faced Huntington Beach fighter Aaron Brink at the IFC Warriors Challenge 11. Nearly two minutes into the bout, Franklin pounded a bloody Brink to the mat and Aaron got his foot caught between the fencing and the floor of the cage. The bout was declared a No Contest.
Franklin defeated UFC veteran Travis Fulton at the RINGS USA tournament when Fulton could not continue due to a broken hand. A bout at the World Fighting Alliance pitted Rich against Muay Thai fighter Marvin Eastman and ended in a controversial win submission win for Rich (see Eastman bio).
Franklin won back-to-back wins in the UCC and made his UFC debut at UFC 42 against Tanner. He overwhelmed Tanner with strikes and rolled through Edwin Dewees at UFC 44 with an injured groin. Rich experienced a rare loss against Antonio Inoki prodigy Ryoto Machida when he was KO’d at the Inoki Bom Be Ye 2003 New Year’s Eve show. Franklin made his Superbrawl debut and rattled of two straight wins in the promotion (including a win over UFC veteran Curtis Stout) with a UFC win over striker Jorge Rivera and an Alaskan bout sandwiched in between.
Then as the headliner of the Ultimate Fighter finale, Franklin moved up in weight to take on UFC legend Ken Shamrock. Rich defeated Ken by TKO in a bout that can only be described as odd. Now Rich gets his first shot at a title in the Octagon with a 4-0 record and just one match going past the first round.
MY PICK:
Finally we see a great title fight for the middleweights. I don’t expect a repeat of the UFC 42 bout and I don’t feel entirely comfortable with the way Rich got here (the Shamrock bout) but he is an incredible athlete and I think Evan is meeting his best competition ever. Granted their first bout was the last time Tanner lost and both fighters were competing at light heavyweight.
Evan also had two weeks notice to prepare for Rich then and he had a serious inner-cheek injury the week before the bout. Overall, I think Franklin is even better than the first time they fought because the loss to Machida served as a wake-up call. However, the up and down changes in weight class can work against him. He fought Shamrock at over 200 pounds two months ago and now he fights for the 185-lb. title? That’s quick.
This could be a great fight and with a 25-minute time limit, it is unlikely to go the distance. As tough as it is to fathom, I feel the UFC championship curse (check the history of titles folks) will continue and title will change hands yet again. Franklin by submission in the third round.
