UFC 103 Features Bizarre Franklin Loss, Humbling Cro Cop Defeat

Share on Facebook posted 09-21-09 by John George

The Ultimate Fighting Championship 103 held Saturday night at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, featured a strange ending to the main event, along with dramatic outcomes to other notable fights, including a grotesque shoulder separation and the felling of an old-school warrior. Most of the event was shown on pay per view, but some of the fights on the undercard were broadcast for free on Spike.

What the Hell Happened to “Ace” Franklin?!?

I still can’t figure out what on Earth happened to Rich “Ace” Franklin (25-5-0, 1NC) Saturday night. Three minutes into the first round of his headlining fight at a catchweight of 195 pounds against Vitor “Phenom” Belfort (19-8-0), Franklin went down, and he never came back up. The problem is that Belfort didn’t really connect.

I watched the replays several times, and it was clear that the shot that sent Rich down to the canvas was a glancing left punch along the top of his head. It didn’t look like it would knock a paper cup off a counter, let alone fell a fighter who had been the dominant force in the UFC middleweight division.

As Franklin was falling, Belfort caught him with a right to the jaw that could have done more damage, but that didn’t look too devastating either. While Franklin was kneeling down with his face against the canvas, Belfort landed a couple of other shots, but they weren’t needed. Franklin was done, and Yves Lavigne, the referee stepped in and made the end official.

Franklin himself doesn’t seem to understand what happened to him. During an interview with UFC commentator Joe Rogan immediately after the fight, Franklin said he said he couldn’t remember what happened and asked to see the replay. Looking at it, he marveled at the shot that knocked him down, noting that it wasn’t much of a hit.

This result isn’t what I expected out of this fight. I remember Belfort’s destruction of Wanderlei Silva in UFC Brazil – Ultimate Brazil in 1998. Belfort came out with both fists firing like a machine gun and finished Silva only 44 seconds into the first round. I think that I, along with the rest of the world, was convinced at that moment that Belfort was going to be one of the all-time greats. But it was not to be. Instead of being one of the best, Belfort has been a decent fighter who beat some good fighters and lost to some great fighters.

There were times over the years that Belfort didn’t even look like the same person. He fought in a number of organizations other than the UFC, including Pride in Japan, where policies against performance-enhancing substances either didn’t exist or weren’t enforced. He periodically grew huge muscles, and it even seemed that his facial structure changed.

I’m not saying he tried to improve his abilities through the use of performance-enhancing substances, but he did look awfully different and more muscular at times. Saturday night, his physique more closely resembled that of a normal human’s. I think he may actually have faster punches and be a better fighter without all that unnatural muscle on him.

It will be interesting to see what happens to the 32-year-old Belfort. Will he be able to sustain a high level of performance this time around, or will he lapse back into high-level mediocrity? I’d like to root for him, but I’m not holding my breath. As for Franklin, he first needs to try to understand what happened to him. As I was watching it, I wondered if he fainted. My buddy who was watching the fight with me screamed out loud that he thought Franklin was throwing the fight. I don’t think he would ever do that, but something was clearly not right with him last night. I hope he manages to come back from this and move on.

I still think Franklin is one of the top three guys at 185 pounds, maybe the number two guy. He did lose a split decision to Dan Henderson at that weight, but it was a damn close fight. It could go either way between those two on any given night. Neither Henderson nor Franklin, however, have proven to be a real threat to the undisputed number one 185-pounder, Anderson Silva.

Personally, I think it would be a mistake for either Silva or Franklin to consider moving up to 205 permanently. I think they both would likely get beat up pretty good not only by current light heavyweight champ Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida but also by the other top dogs at that weight class, including former champs Quentin “Rampage” Jackson, and “Sugar” Rashad Evans.

Fierce Young Wolf Takes Out Aging Alpha Male

The top fight on the undercard in UFC 103 was kind of sad for me. It featured a clash between 35-year-old Croatian Mirko “Cro Cop” Filiovic (25-7-2, 1 NC) and the young Brazilian Junior “Cigano” dos Santos (9-1-0), who is 10 years Cro Cop’s junior. This fight was like watching a younger wolf take out the aging Alpha male.

Cro Cop, as always, was steady and stoic in the cage. He was methodical and had a good game plan, which he appeared to be following. I used to watch him when he was kicking ass and taking names in the old Pride fighting championships, and I keep hoping he’ll become a factor in the UFC. I was definitely rooting for him in this fight. But all my rooting did no good. Two minutes into the third round, after taking some punishing punches to the face from dos Santos, Cro Cop indicated that he could no longer see properly, and the referee stopped the contest.

Dos Santos was just too young, strong and fast for Cro Cop. The experienced Croatian showed flashes of his former glory at times, and he was a real threat in the second round, but it was clear that dos Santos’s power was just too much for him. At his peak, Cro Cop would have had a good shot against the Brazilian, but he’s not at his peak anymore. In fact, last night it became clear that he’s far from it.

After losing three of his four UFC fights, including a devastating head-kick knockout by Gabriel Gonzaga, Cro Cop should seriously consider retiring from the Octagon and going back to his day job as the leader of a Croatian police anti-terrorist SWAT team. Whatever he decides to do, I wish him luck. He’s been a true warrior and one of the top heavyweights in mixed martial arts for years.

As for dos Santos, he deserves to be considered a rising star in the heavyweight division. The young fighter showed a lot of intelligence and talent in the cage, and he will undoubtedly be a threat and a factor for years to come. It’s doubtful that, at under 240 pounds, he’ll be able to pose a threat to the monstrous abomination known as Brock Lesnar. But he should prove a threat to any one of the other less gargantuan big boys.

The Undercard: “Semtex” is Explosive, Griffin Schools Flabby Franca

Some of the most interesting and entertaining fights of UFC 103 were on the undercard, in my opinion. I was not happy to see good-natured Danish welterweight Martin Kampmann (15-3-0) get knocked out by Great Britain’s Paul “Semtex” Daley (22-8-2) at 2:31 in the first round.

Kampmann is a jovial guy who often manages to find a way to win against fighters who are stronger and more naturally gifted than he is. He uses guts and skill to figure out a way to pull out a win. A prime example is his choke-out victory against Drew McFedries in March 2007, in which he actually put McFedries to sleep with an anaconda choke after McFedries pummeled and overpowered him during the stand up exchanges.

Against Daley, however, Kampmann couldn’t overcome his opponent’s obvious power advantage. Kampmann’s one chance was to get Daley to the ground, where Daley is known to be less skillful, but Kampmann couldn’t pull it off, and he was stopped by a barrage of punches. He initially protested the referee’s stoppage, but it was a good call. He was basically out on his feet, and there was no reason for him to take more damage.

In another welterweight match-up. Josh Koscheck (13-4-0) knocked out Frank “Twinkle Toes” Trigg (19-7-0) at 1:25 in the first round. There’s wasn’t much to this fight — Koscheck connected with a right, and it was all over for Trigg. This was a much-needed win for Koscheck, who got knocked out by Paulo Thiago in February, but it was a heartbreaking loss for Trigg, who has been out of the UFC for more than four years.

In a lightweight meeting between Tyson Griffin (14-2-0) and Hermes Franca (19-8-0), Griffin dominated the first round with punches and lots of leg kicks. Franca exploded at the beginning of the second round, and the fight became a real slugfest. At one point, Griffin caught Franca with a punch that knocked him down. Griffin didn’t give Franca a chance to recover. He overwhelmed the hapless Brazilian and knocked him out.

Franca had looked flabby coming out. In fact, he was unable to make weight, coming in at 159 pounds, a good three pounds over the 156-pound limit. He was also quite fashion-challenged, sporting purple hair and a bright green mouthpiece. He deserved to lose on fashion alone.

Clock Cleaning and a Bone Sticking Grotesquely From a Shoulder

In another lightweight fight, undefeated Efrain “Hecho en Mexico” Escudero (12-0-0) cleaned the clock of Cole “Magrinho” Miller (15-4-0). Miller is an excellent submissions specialist who has wins over the likes of Jorge Gurgel, Jeremy Stephens and Leonard Garcia, and who also earned the love of the entire MMA world by choking out the unbearable jackass known as Junie Browning. But Miller’s submission skills were of no use against Garcia, who was the better, stronger striker. In the end, Garcia knocked Miller out at 3:36 in the first round.

In a middleweight fight, Polish brawler Tomazs “Gorilla” Drwal (17-2-1) submitted powerful striker Drew “The Massacre” McFedries(8-6-0) with a rear naked choke at 1:03 in the second round. This was a fun fight between two sluggers, but McFedries’ inadequate ground skills once again cost him a victory.

A lightweight bout between Jim Miller (15-2-0) and Steve Lopez (12-2-0) ended sadly when Lopez dislocated his left shoulder while punching Miller in the body at the beginning of the first round. Up to that point, it had been an exciting fight with lots of stand-up and ground action. I was quite irritated to see this one cut short, and I was actually squirming around on the couch looking at the bone poking unnaturally out of Lopez’s shoulder.

In a welterweight bout, Rick “The Horror” Story (8-3-0) submitted Brian Foster (12-4-0) at 1:09 in the second round with an arm triangle choke. This may have been the best fight of the night. Both Story and Foster were like mad dogs, going at each other with everything they had. The pace was frenetic, and there was plenty of striking and submission attempts. In the end, it was story’s superior wrestling and uncanny strength that allowed him to choke Foster while he was still in Foster’s guard.

The only other fight I got to watch was Rob “The Saint” Emerson (9-8-0, 1 NC) versus Rafael dos Anjos (12-4-0), in which Dos Anjos won a unanimous decision. Dos Anjos kicked the crap out of Emerson’s lead leg, completely taking him out of his game. Emerson showed his toughness by hanging in there and slugging it out till the end, but he was really crippled by the end of the third round.

UFC 103 also featured two fights I didn’t get to see: Vladimir “The Janitor” Matyushenko (23-4–0) winning a unanimous decision against Igor Pokrajac (21-6–0), and Eliot “The Fire” Marshall (8-1-0) winning a split decision against Jason “Hitman” Brilz (17-2–1).