UFC 103 - Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort

This is the first blog breaking down a UFC event and we’re looking at UFC 103 Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort.

Dana White said to everyone I worked with at The Fight Network that you should never bet on MMA because ANYTHING can happen (and certainly does) but I’m going to give some opinion, insight and even make some picks.

FIRST UP!

Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort

This is at a catch weight of 195lbs which I understand has been set up to suit Rich Franklin. Vitor has said that he doesn’t like the weight class and would rather just get into the Middleweight division right away and start working towards the belt but he’ll do what he has to in order to win. In my opinion I think catch weight fights like this are pointless because they do nothing for either fighter’s rankings in their respective weight class. Catch weights should only come into play when champions that have hit the ceiling of their division want to fight other division champions. I’m sure no one would complain about a catch fight against Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva. This also tells us that it may be a while until Franklin comes back to the Middleweight division.

I’m going to stir the pot a bit here and say that I don’t think Franklin was ever as good as most thought he was. The top fighters in his weight class were in Japan under the PRIDE banner (they were also juiced up) and the only talent that’s worth mentioning on Franklins career is the late Evan Tanner.

The UFC even got rid of Matt Lindland (the man that should have been reining there for a long time) to make Franklin their poster boy because Lindland is such an ugly dude (this has all been discussed openly by both parties and is certainly not a ‘conspiracy theory’). Evan Tanner is the only quality fighter Rich faced up until he got his nose re-arranged by Anderson Silva in 2006.

Rich can not get passed Anderson Silva and has since moved up to the Light Heavyweight division only to see these two meet for a third time. Everything may be different with the extra weight.

Even though Vitor Belfort has had difficult times in the sport since exploding on the scene back in 1996 I think he’s got focus, goals, a great mentor in Randy Couture, great training at Xtreme Couture with my former trainer Shawn Tompkins and his team will formulate a game plan and with proper execution Vitor will come out victorious.

Franklin has heavy hands but they’re very slow while Vitor has knockout power with incredible speed. Either way it goes, it should be a great bout.

Mirko “Cro-Cop” Filipovic vs. Junior Dos Santos

Fights like this are tough to call and could go either way. Often when two strikers or Grapplers fight each other, one camp (or sometimes both) comes up with the game plan of doing the opposite of what they’re best at which results in Strikers spending all of their time on the ground or Grapplers trying to slug it out.

Although I was never a believer in Cro-Cop during his K-1 career he had great success in Pride Knocking heads off MMA competitors. With the demise of Pride, the greatest promotion on the planet, went the demise of many of its best fighters, including Cro-cop. Cro-cop hasn’t done anything great since 2006 but I’m giving him the edge in this fight. Mirko has fought a “who’s who” of the MMA and K-1 World giving him incredible experience. Even if the fight goes to the ground, each round starts standing. Santos does show openings when he fights and I think CroCop will use his experience to capitalize and win via KO.

With a shot in the dark, I’ll say it’ll happen in round 2.

Josh Koscheck vs. Frank “Twinkle Toes” Trigg

Trigg and Kos line up pretty equal. Both are known for being wrestlers, both have fought some quality opponents in MMA but both have also never won against anyone great in the sport.

I’ve never had faith in Trigg (or Kos for that matter) but I’m giving Trigg the edge. Trigg did commentary for The Fight Network and I remember being impressed with his insight and I was surprised at his knowledge of the stand-up game (for a wrestler).

Other than being the wise old man in this battle Trigg is coming off 4 wins while Kos just faced his first KO loss so I’m giving the mental and experience edge to Trigg and he should take home the win.

Hermes Franca vs. Tyson Griffin

This is another fight that should make it on the main card. I think Hermes Franca has great skills and I remember watching him in Hook n’ Shoot and being very impressed back in the day. This is Hermes’s third fight after getting busted for steroids along with Sean Sherk during a lightweight title fight back in 2007. I bring up the Sean Sherk fight because Hermes lost that fight and I’ve always seen a lot of the same things in Tyson Griffin. Tyson’s an incredible athlete, amazing wrestler and just an athlete that never stops pushing the pace. He’s also got a great team behind him in Xtreme Couture. Tyson griffin is a tanned version of Sean Sherk and I see Hermes being overwhelmed in a similar fashion as when he fought Sean Sherk and seeing Tyson Griffin walking away with the win.

These picks are all obviously speculative and comments/discussion is always appreciated.