Franklin “Machida is kind of a boring fighter” says he would fight him

Published on: 18th November, 2008

Franklin "Machida is kind of a boring fighter" says he would fight him  | read this item

Franklin says he would fight Machida again

Former UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin is set for a showdown in Dublin, Ireland at UFC 93 against the former Pride Middleweight and Welterweight Champion Dan Henderson. Even though Franklin will have a tough task ahead of him when he fights Henderson, one name constantly comes up when Franklin is asked about rematches or potential bouts at his new weight class of 205 pounds, Lyoto Machida. 

The Former UFC Middleweight Champion spoke to MMA Junkie about a possible rematch with the dangerous Machida in the Light Heavyweight division.

“I’d fight him,” Franklin told MMA Junkie. “The thing about a Machida fight that isn’t appealing to me is that stylistically, Machida is kind of a boring fighter.”

Franklin cleared up his comments at the UFC 91 pre-fight Q&A session for the UFC fan club.

“That’s not a putdown.” Franklin explained. ”It’s not a putdown. He’s very, very effective. He’s good at what he does. He’s constantly backing away and forces his opponent into mistakes, and that’s how he catches you.”

Franklin may not be the only fighter who has admitted to seeing the “Puzzle” that is Lyoto Machida as a tough safe to crack. Recently UFC Light Heavyweight Brandon Vera spoke about turning down a fight with the unbeaten (13-0) Machida, a few months back. One of the reasons was that Machida was too tough of an opponent to figure out and gameplan for on short notice or other on any notice for that matter. Machida is set now officially to face his fellow unbeaten Brazilian Thiago Silva at UFC 94, to the delight of the rest of the LHW division who also sees him as a problem style wise.

 Narcisist is the Co-owner of UR Dirt and is the designer, editor and author. URDirt.com is a MMA blog that covers the UFC, WEC, StrikeForce, DREAM and several other Mixed Martial Art promotions. Read more from this author

Readers Comments