AKAThailand.TVAside from Jens Pulver, no one is more deserving of a UFC Hall of Fame induction more than Rich ‘Ace’ Franklin. The UFC announced his induction at UFC 236 this past weekend. Currently, Franklin is working for ONE FC and growing their brand. However, he will be honored for his past contributions to the UFC.
Before MMA took its ugly turn and everyone tried to show how real they are by being fake, Rich did his thing with class. In fact, Dana White made him the face of the UFC because of his clean look, no tattoos, and the fact that he was an active math teacher. The UFC utilized Franklin’s squeaky clean image to try and help get MMA legalized in the US to show that it wasn’t just a barbarian sport.
Rallying around Franklin worked, as they promoted him hard and his star grew much brighter. He actually had to quit being a math teacher because he was making so much money fighting and also needed more time to train.
Franklin won the UFC middleweight championship from Evan Tanner and defended his title twice thereafter. In his career, Franklin beat the likes of Chuck Liddell, Wanderlei Silva (twice), Evan Tanner (twice), and many other top fighters at the time.
Rich Franklin will be a welcome addition to the UFC HOF and there’s only one thing left for the UFC to do…
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