Cung Le vs Rich Franklin

Cung Le (8-2) vs Rich Franklin (29-6)

Cung Le:  Cung Le is the former Strikeforce middleweight champ.  Coming from San Shou, a kickboxing style that allows takedowns and throws, Cung Le has a very unique background than most MMA fighters these days.  Having gone undefeated in kickboxing and moving to MMA later in his career (he is almost 41), Cung Le has only really ever been a part time mixed martial artist.  He often takes off well over a year in between fights due to his movie schedule.

Don’t let any of this fool you though, Cung Le is a very dangerous fighter and one you have to prepare especially for.  No one walks into a fight with him without studying his game in great detail.  Armed with deadly kicks and tricky combos, one wrong move by his opponent and it’s game over.  Cung also has great takedowns and takedown defense.  He has only lost two MMA fights in his whole career, both to guys known for hitting hard and both after he had gassed out (both fights were taken after he had been out of the ring for well over a year as well).

Rich Franklin:  Rich Franklin is the former ufc middleweight champ.  Armed with his excellent conditioning, Rich has defeated many fighters no one thought he had a chance against.  Though he can fight on the ground, his bread and butter is his stand up game.  He isn’t known for being a power puncher but he does own some KO’s on his record.  He usually manages to avoid his opponents onslaught while striking back, taking over the fight more and more as it goes on.

There is no doubt Rich has faced off against the much tougher competition in his MMA career having faced Dan Henderson, Wanderlei Silva x 2, Anderson Silva x 2, Chuck Liddell, etc.  When it comes to experience, Rich has it.  Cung Le has fought some tough guys also, just not as often or as many as Rich.

The Fight:  Both Cung Le and Rich Franklin have been alternating wins and losses lately, both are also due for a loss if their standard pattern keeps up.  I think Cung Le is the superior stand up fighter, I also think he has better wrestling.  Rich Franklin is the bigger fighter (having recently been fighting at light heavyweight) and he for sure has the better cardio.  I think the level of conditioning could decide this fight.

If the fight ends in the first two rounds, I think it’s from Cung Le finishing Rich with some devastating kick to the body, head, arm, you name it.  After the first two rounds I just see Rich Franklin taking over more and more.  Both guys have the ability to finish this but it really just depends on how they show up.  This is Rich’s first fight back at 185lbs in a while so it will be interesting to see how he handles the weight cut.  This is also the first time in a while that Cung Le has not taken a really long layoff in between fights.

Result:  Cung Le by KO in rounds 1 or 2 or Rich Franklin by TKO stoppage in the later rounds.  It should be an excellent fight and I am looking forward to it!