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Franklin knocks legendary Liddell into retirement

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By Dann Stupp, Contributing Writer 11:23 PM Sunday, June 13, 2010

With a perfectly placed counter right hook, Rich Franklin picked up a signature career win, re-entered the title picture, and sent MMA’s biggest superstar into retirement.

Franklin endured a broken arm but ultimately scored a first-round knockout of UFC hall-of-famer Chuck Liddell at UFC 115 on Saturday, June 12. The bout headlined a pay-per-view broadcast live from a sold-out GM Place in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The win means retirement for 40-year-old Liddell (21-8), but a world of possibilities for 35-year-old Franklin (28-5).

Franklin, a West Chester Twp. resident and former UFC middleweight champion, took the fight as a replacement for injured Tito Ortiz. After Franklin took a pair of 195-pound catchweight bouts, the Liddell fight offered stability in the light-heavyweight division where he’d like to make a final title run.

Franklin, though, quickly faced adversity.

“I kind of got stupid and stood in front of him,” Franklin said of the legendary striker.

And then, two minutes into the fight, came the debilitating body kick, which broke Franklin’s arm. He instantly knew it was bad.

“I could hear the bones clicking around in there,” he said. “But I’ve had broken bones before and kept fighting. But there was a part of me wondering what strategy I was going to use to win a fight with a broken left arm in the (later) rounds.”

Fortunately, the fight never went that far. In the final seconds of the opening round, Liddell moved forward with a lunging right hand. Franklin ducked and tagged him with a punch to the chin. Liddell was out before he hit the mat.

It was a bittersweet moment for UFC president Dana White, who reluctantly allowed Liddell to come out of a 14-month retirement. White only relented because Liddell tamed his sometimes-wild nightlife and got in stellar shape. Despite the KO, White said Liddell went out how he would’ve wanted: “With guns blazing.”

But after this latest loss — Liddell’s fifth in six fights — White said the book is officially closed on the fighter’s career. Franklin, though, takes no pride in it.

“Yeah, it’s a bittersweet victory,” Franklin said. “Chuck and I are friends. ... I don’t want to be labeled as the person who kind of put him out of the sport or whatever. I don’t like the thought of that.”

With the UFC’s light-heavyweight division a mishmash of various contenders, Franklin could be just a win or two away from a title shot. Look for him to meet one of the division’s elite — Lyoto Machida, Forrest Griffin, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira or someone of similar stature — this fall.

Dann Stupp is editor-in-chief of

MMAjunkie.com, voted best media outlet in the 2008 and 2009 World MMA Awards. For the latest mixed-martial-arts news, go to www.MMAjunkie.com.

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