It looks like Rich Franklin will still have his hands full when he steps into the octagon at UFC72. Yushin Okami, fresh of his unanimous decision victory against Mike Swick at UFC69, steps up to take on the former champ. This will be Rich Franklin’s second fight back after being totally dominated by Anderson Silva and losing his middleweight title at UFC64.
His comeback began with a TKO victory at UFC68 when Canadian Jason MacDonald’s corner threw in the towel after the second round of their fight, putting his record at an amazing 21 - 2 - 0.
Okami strangely has the same number of fights as Rich Franklin, but adds a loss to his career. He does have a win against current middleweight champ Anderson Silva, but it came by way of disqualification as Silva was penalized for an illegal kick at Rumble at the Rock 8 in 2006.
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On October 14th, 2006 an a relatively unknown Brazilian kickboxer walked into Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas Nevada to face who was unanimously considered the most deadly and accurate striker in the UFC; Middlewieght Champion Rich Franklin. Franklin was considered unbeatable. With an MMA record of 20-1, he was an anomale within the sport. His striking abilities were to this point unmatched by anybody. Until Anderson Silva showed up. A veteran of PRIDE FC and Cage Rage, he was known around the world of MMA as a vicious striker, but nobody could have prepared us for what occurred. From the opening bell, Silva took it to the champ, eventually locking into what looked to be an unescapable Muay Thai clinch and realesed some devastating knees to the face of Franklin, sending him sprawling on the canvas in the first round. To say the Silva dominated would be an understatement. The champ looked outgunned, outmuscled and out classed.
In lightwieght championship action, Sean Sherk and Kenny Florian fought for the vacany Lightwieght belt, with Sherk easily taking home a unanimous decision.
| Winner |
Loser |
Method |
Round/Time |
| Kurt Pellegrino |
Junior Assuncao |
Submission (Rear Naked Choke) |
1/ 2:04 |
| Clay Guida |
Justin James |
Submission (Rear Naked Choke) |
2/ 4:42 |
| Yushin Okami |
Kalib Starnes |
TKO (Strikes) |
3/ 1:40 |
| Spencer Fisher |
Dan Lauzon |
TKO (Strikes) |
1 / 4:38 |
| Carmelo Marrero |
Cheick Kongo |
Split Decision |
3/ 5:00 |
| Jon Fitch |
Kuniyoshi Hironaka |
Unanimous Decision |
3/ 5:00 |
| Sean Sherk |
Kenny Florian |
Unanimous Decision |
3/ 5:00 |
| Anderson Silva |
Rich Franklin |
TKO (Strikes) |
1 /2:59 |
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