Rich Franklin vs Matt Hamill
Sept 6, 2008
Rich "Ace" Franklin looked good in his first fight at 205 pounds since 2005 when he defeated Ken Shamrock. This fight went the way most people predicted. Rich just had to much stand up for Matt Hamill, and Matt was not able to take Rich down and do any damage to him.
Rich "Ace" Franklin looked good in his first fight at 205 pounds since 2005 when he defeated Ken Shamrock. This fight went the way most people predicted. Rich just had to much stand up for Matt Hamill, and Matt was not able to take Rich down and do any damage to him.
The first round started a little slow, but the action picked up quickly and the pace stayed fairly quick for the rest of the fight. Rich started to find his range about halfway through the first round. Matt was picking his shot and manage to give Rich Franklin a nasty cut above his right eye. With about a minute left in the first round, Matt got his first take down, and almost got caught by a quick arm bar by Rich.
In the second round, Rich continued to pick Matt apart working in kicks and punches very effectively. This round took a while because of two stoppages. The first one was for the doctor to look at Rich's cut, and the second one was for a solid kick to Matt Hamill's boys. Most fighters would have lost to Rich in this round, but Matt has a very hard head that allowed him to absorb a lot of punishment.
The end came quickly in the third round when Rich landed a brutal leg kick to Matt's ribs. In the post fight interview with Joe Rogan, Rich sounded like he was going to stay at 205 pounds and try to get a little bigger so he will be able to hang with the big dogs of the Light Heavyweight division.
