UFC 115: Liddell vs. Franklin

[Troy]

UFC 115​

Main card​

• Light Heavyweight bout: Chuck Liddell vs. Rich Franklin
• Heavyweight bout: Mirko Filipović vs. Patrick Barry
• Welterweight bout: Paulo Thiago vs. Martin Kampmann
• Heavyweight bout: Ben Rothwell vs. Gilbert Yvel
• Welterweight bout: Carlos Condit vs. Rory MacDonald

Preliminary card (Spike TV)

• Lightweight bout: Tyson Griffin vs. Evan Dunham
• Lightweight bout: Mac Danzig vs. Matt Wiman

Preliminary card

• Middleweight bout: David Loiseau vs. Mario Miranda
• Welterweight bout: James Wilks vs. Peter Sobotta
• Welterweight bout: Ricardo Funch vs. Claude Patrick
• Welterweight bout: Mike Pyle vs. Jesse Lennox

Thoughts on this card?

 

[Clydefrog]

im personally going to watch this UFC for Liddel! im a big ICEman fan! so i hope he can come back and knock out franklin! the rest of the card seems blah to me

 

[Troy]

For me the biggest draw is Crop Cop. I am still a huge fan of his and am glad that he has decided to stick around in the UFC rather than leaving after his disappointing fights. He is still one of the best and hopefully will pull of a great KO this PPV.

Liddell must be nearing the end soon but is still a huge draw so you can see why UFC have kept him around. I would expect Franklin to win this fight because I honestly think that Liddell is past it.

The rest of the card other than those two fights doesn't interest me.

 

[Clydefrog]

liddel will most probs be ending his carer soon, but doensn't mean he was going to just lie down agaisnt franklin! he is already a legend but he needs a good 2 more fights to cement his legendary status in my eyes! And is Crop Cop fighting? if he is awesome

 

[Troy]

He certainly won't lie down but I just don't think he has that much of a chance against Franklin. He is already a legend and even if he loses the rest of his fights he will be seen as an MMA legend. Even if he is competitive here that will be enough, I still see Franklin winning it.

Crop Cop is Mirko Filipovic. Much easier if they just listed it as Cro Cop.

 

[Clydefrog]

silly me! didn't know his full name! We should put a wager on Liddel Franklin tbh

 

[Troy]

Not sure what we could wager living on opposite sides of the world. I just think that Franklin will be too quick for him. Out of their last five fights Franklin is 3-2 whereas Liddell is 1-4 so form is with Franklin. Both are nearing the end of their careers and I see it being similar to the fights they had against Wanderlai. It will be a three round fight that goes to the judges.

 

[Troy]

Result: Franklin defeated Liddell via KO (punch) at 4:55 of round 1.

Thankyou very much. Great display by Franklin who was much more dominant than I expected. Is this the end of the line for Liddell now or will he have one or two more fights against some other older fighters?

Cro Cop had a good win aswell by submission near the end of round three. I am still waiting to see him bring out that roundhouse kick and KO someone.

 

[Dademo]

I think Liddell won the first round here if he didn't get knocked out. He was throwing some good leg kicks and Rich was struggling to counter. I don't think he won by a lot, I'm sure it was probably a 10-9 round, but the Iceman showed he still got it, just he doesn't have the iron chin that he used to have. Rich was dominant though, and I think the LHW division is better for him now since the MW division is controlled by Anderson, and Rich has tried twice against him and failed. I'd like to see Rich vs. Forrest Griffin next, and I heard it's rumored for UFC 123.

 

[Troy]

Franklin is certainly better placed in the LHW division since he lost to Anderson Silva a couple of times and just couldn't get past that hurdle. He may as well see what he can do in another division rather than staying where he knows he can't win the title. Franklin vs Griffin would be a good fight to have next for him to see what he can do against the younger generation.