What does this win do for Rich? Who's next?

Rich Franklin vs Thiago Silva anyone?

GDPofDRC wrote:

It was working quite well. He rocked him good three times, Broke his are with a kick, dumped him with momentum. In the last ten seconds Rich was in a bad place and pulled out a Robbie Lawler right on the button, good for Rich, I mean real good for Rich, it looked like he was about to find the bad end he manged to give Chuck.

I don't like the comparison for a couple reasons..

1. Robbie Lawlers punch would have knocked out anybody, Rich's wouldn't have knocked out Donald Cerrone (@145). Which to me shows more of Chucks weak chin, than it was a desperate hail mary. If that is all that it took, Chuck would have got caught eventually, one handed even.

2. Robbie Lawler I believe threw a total of 3 strikes before that last one hit flush. Melvin Manhoef was completely and utterly destroying him, not even close to the same in lopsidedness.

I know what you meant by saying "he pulled a Robbie Lawler" .. you may have not thought Rich looked that good in that fight, but there was no way he was ever going to lose it.

Yeah not the same at all, Robbie's shot was hard, Rich's was one of the weakest KO punches I've ever seeen to be honest, sad...

I thought Chuck was winning the fight, but if what Mantis means by "Rich was never gonna lose that fight" is if that punch could KO Chuck than it was gonna happen eventually anyways, I'd have to agree.

I never said it was the same, the comparison exists though because it was a fight finishing shot that came out of nowhere from a fighter who was reeling from his opponents onslaught. The punch that KO'd chuck was hard and happened to hit as square as a punch can land on top of the fact it connected with a fighter whose momentum was going towards it. That shot wasn't weak. Saying it would only knock out a lightweight though. Rich was fortunate and that's a real good thing for him to be.

I did not take the punch, so i could not say if it was weak or not...but most knockout punches cause the head to snap back or to the side...actually, most decent punches do that. Chuck's head did not move an inch and he just went down like Anton Chigurh got him with the cattle prod. Franklin hit Wandy with a lot more than that and never came close to finishing Wanderlei. I'm not one to talk about chins, i think a knockout punch is a knockout punch but that was not a knockout punch and the ice has melted.

Chuck's head, along with his entire body ceased their forward motion from the punch , reminded me of the one Faber jumped into a little.. It wasn't some pretty punch but you can see him pull for it pretty hard in all the replays.

That was a pretty hard shot, otherwise it wouldn't have destroyed his lip so badly. The reason Liddell has been KO'd so many times is a combination of factors working on concert.

LOL at anyone saying it was a weak punch.

Funny how some keep disparaging Rich... While I admit he looked like shit against Vitor, he has been very good against anyone not named Anderson for, well... Forever. I know I'm not alone in thinking he won the fight against Hendo, but even with that the only guys he's ever lost to are Machida, Anderson and Vitor. And he just took out a legend with one arm tied behind his back Saturday... If you don't think he deserves a shot against anyone not named Shogun, you have a problem with yourself. I think he has a serious shot to beat Rampage, Forrest, Randy, Lil Nog, Thiago or Bader... In fact, I might pick him to win any of those other than maybe a fit and motivated Rampage. The only bad fights for him right now would be Machida and Bones, IMO. Give the guy a big fight to see if he can step up and get in position for a title shot before Anderson comes up to 205 permanently.

I don't know how anyone could not like Rich, especially after this last fight. Dude gets his dominant arm broken and ends the fight with his other hand. He has done for the UFC as they have asked him on several occasions to the point he wasn't relavant in either of the two divisions he has been known to compete it. He has now fought four legends of the sport in Dan Henderson, Wanderlei Silva, Vitor Belfort, and Chuck Liddell. Four guys who have helped define this sport for almost two decades now between them. Yeah he got clipped by Vitor, but thats Vitor Belforts MO.

As far as whats next for him I would suspect he gets Forrest when they're both healthy again, and if Forrest is taken up probably Rampage or maybe even Minotoro.

Next for Chuck is a long time to reflect and accept the end of the road as a fighter and hopefully a serious look into coaching. After that a dream fight with Evan Tanners ghost.