With Dan Henderson’s split-decision victory over Rich Franklin, he’s now set to coach opposite Michael Bisping in the upcoming “Ultimate Fighters: USA vs. UK.” As is customary, the two coaches fight when the season is done and Henderson will be dropping back down to 185 for the fight with Bisping.
As I’ve been saying, I’m extremely underwhelmed by all of it. I hate the “USA vs. UK” idea, and while I like though of Bisping vs. middleweight champion Anderson Silva, a Henderson/Silva rematch (if Henderson defeat Bisping) isn’t really one I imagine any MMA fan is interested in. It also don’t make a lick of sense when the UFC just had Hendo move up to 205.
If anything, I think Franklin came out of UFC93 the real winner. It was a close split decision that some are calling controversial, so it won’t effect his standings all that much. Plus he can keep developing in the 205 division (Franklin vs. Wanderlei Silva would be interesting), while Henderson will be stuck in limbo for most of the year.
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Shogun Rua was considered by many to be the best light-heavyweight in the world, so it shocked a lot of people when his UFC debut ended with him tapping out to Forest Griffin. To add injury to insult, he had to pull out of a 2008 fight against Chuck Liddell because of a ruptured ACL.
Rich Franklin is at a curious point in his career. He was the most dominate middleweight in the UFC, until he ran into some cat named Anderson Silva…twice. Now he’s giving light-heavyweight another shot and after a victory over Matt Hammil, will be facing Dan Henderson (another former middleweight and former champion) a week from today at UFC93.
UFC 93: Franklin vs. Henderson returns to the motherland, IRELAND, on January 17. You wanted the picks? You’re getting the picks…