I’ve heard speculation that Franklin sustained a rib injury early in the fight, and that’s why he couldn’t hold off the knees when he got in that plum clinch. At any rate, the UFC has a formidable new MW champion, and an exciting one to boot. Wish they would work on developing that HW division…
If Franklin did suffer a rib injury I believe it was at about 2:30 left in the round… You could see immediately after a knee his arms dropped to cover his body. Randy Couture commented on it about 10 seconds after he did it…
While the clinch was incredible by Silva, I was also impressed by his hand speed.
It seemed like he picked off almost everyone of Franklin’s punches with his hands while they were on their way.
[quote]Shadowzz4 wrote:
Hold on a second. I think when I said Franklin’s training may have had something to do with it, I assumed we all know that he is the champion and has been fighting for long enough to have experience in breaking a clinch. This wasnt some random guy off the T-Nation message boards in there. This was a very experienced fighter.
Im sure Franklin will take everyone’s advice and check this thread to see what he could have done. HE WAS OVERPOWERED. The problem with the clinch is one of the only ways you can get out leaves you open to potentially even more devastating shots.
For example if Franklin would have tried to hug Silva he could have got an even worse knee to the body, one that could have put him down… I know its hard to get out of but he is the champ he should have gotten out thats what I am saying…
And just to prove my point, who thinks Franklin was beaten in a technical fashion and who thinks it was more that he was overpowered physically?[/quote]
It was technical.
Just because Rich Franklin was champ and experienced does not mean he is great at every facet of fighting.
Also one may know what to do in a clinch but that does not mean they can do it very well, and do it against somebody who is better than them at it.
My father taught me to clinch at ten years old. Without experience actually doing it, I realize it is hard for people to really see and understand how much technique is involved just by watching it.
It is subtle.
MIrko remains the gold standard of striking in mma, he has great striking skills period. After that Manhoef. Mark Hunt. Then a big gap.
There are MANY people who are technically better kickboxers and muay thai fighters.
Walk into any gym in Japan and there will be several guys who have striking skills that would put to shame nearly all pro mma fighters. As guys like Rich Franklin have shown you do not need to have great stand-up to succeed in mma.
I have the impression that many fans cannot really tell the difference between good striking skills and mediocre striking skills.
That is normal because most fans do not train or fight. It is not normal for those same fans to think they are experts on striking though. Where did such expertise come from? If one really wants to understand striking then they should at least study. Better to actually do.
[quote]otoko wrote:
Shadowzz4 wrote:
Hold on a second. I think when I said Franklin’s training may have had something to do with it, I assumed we all know that he is the champion and has been fighting for long enough to have experience in breaking a clinch. This wasnt some random guy off the T-Nation message boards in there. This was a very experienced fighter.
Im sure Franklin will take everyone’s advice and check this thread to see what he could have done. HE WAS OVERPOWERED. The problem with the clinch is one of the only ways you can get out leaves you open to potentially even more devastating shots.
For example if Franklin would have tried to hug Silva he could have got an even worse knee to the body, one that could have put him down… I know its hard to get out of but he is the champ he should have gotten out thats what I am saying…
And just to prove my point, who thinks Franklin was beaten in a technical fashion and who thinks it was more that he was overpowered physically?
It was technical.
Just because Rich Franklin was champ and experienced does not mean he is great at every facet of fighting.
Also one may know what to do in a clinch but that does not mean they can do it very well, and do it against somebody who is better than them at it.
My father taught me to clinch at ten years old. Without experience actually doing it, I realize it is hard for people to really see and understand how much technique is involved just by watching it.
It is subtle.
MIrko remains the gold standard of striking in mma, he has great striking skills period. After that Manhoef. Mark Hunt. Then a big gap.
There are MANY people who are technically better kickboxers and muay thai fighters.
Walk into any gym in Japan and there will be several guys who have striking skills that would put to shame nearly all pro mma fighters. As guys like Rich Franklin have shown you do not need to have great stand-up to succeed in mma.
I have the impression that many fans cannot really tell the difference between good striking skills and mediocre striking skills.
That is normal because most fans do not train or fight. It is not normal for those same fans to think they are experts on striking though. Where did such expertise come from? If one really wants to understand striking then they should at least study. Better to actually do. [/quote]
I kickboxed a little when I was younger, I am not totally inexperienced, and yes I am aware that if you put up Silva against a fighter like Remy Bonjasky (but Silva’s size) He would not have been able to do that, but I still think Franklin should have gotten out of that clinch as some point. How I was taught to escape was to rotate toward my dominant hand quickly step toward the opponent with the left arm in a position to try to absorb any incoming knees, while standing as tall as possible. From there you are close enough to hopefully grab your opponents hips get a punch into the body or head, or start your own clinch if you think you can win when trading knees. And this is MMA when I was kickboxing we werent allowed to drop Franklin had another option…
First thing Franklin needs is a new coach. You’ve got to give the opponent a certain amount of space for him to throw the Thai knees, and it was there all night. You can’t let Silva lock his fingers behind your neck. Franklin should have went to the ground asap.
Not taking anything away from Silva. He is a fantastic fighter and totally dominated. I wouldn’t think there is an audience for a rematch.
You can go through all the technical analysis that you want of Franklin’s clinch technique but it all comes down to Franklin forgetting it’s called ‘mixed’ martial arts and chose to fight only a stand up and, in this case a muay thai fight, against someone much superior than him and lost, predictably.
Franklins’ strengths are in his ability to mix his martial arts and do some striking off his grappling. He, like many, got drunk with his stand up skills and thought he was a great striker and forgot to grapple. Fool.