can rich franklin hang with the best at 205
 

can rich franklin be great at 205

Can he hang with 205's?
 

He is a strong fundamentally sound fighter. But does he have the power to strike with the top fighters at 205? I am not sure. Most fighters attempt to stay in a weight class that allows them to retain their power, and if they go too low, we can see the effects of going down one to many weight classes. I don't think Rich would even consider moving up a weight class. I hope he stays where he is...he is a tremendous fighter who could dominate his weight class for years to come! Go ACE!

I dont think so, Lyoto beat him.. and he didnt dominate Shamrock like hes doin a lot of these Middleweights.. yes I know the Shamrock fight was a 1st round TKO but im sayin' he almost got caught in a submission on a ground and Shamrock slipped.. Franklin vs Tanner was a round after round domination, Loiseau was a 5 round domination, Nate Quarry got KTFO.. hes a much better middleweight then he his LHW.

well he looked very impressive when he knocked out shamrock at 205

I think he could do well at 205 but when i comes to guys like Wandy and Chuck i dont think he could hang.

If he could "hang" at 205 the way he wants to, he would. No one wants to cut weight that that they do not have to cut. Ask any wrestler in the history of competition. Let us not forget that Franklin was at 205 and decided to drop to 185, it is what it is, a very good decision!

I concur... He would hang at 205 in the UFC but I think it would be an absolute nightmare for him in Pride having to fight the likes of Silva, Shogun, Arona, Little Nog, Igor, Overeem, Nakamura and Randleman.

Those guys can all take a lot of punishment and they can deliver a ton as well so Rich would not be able to withstand the punishment as his chin is very suspect as proven by Lyoto, Tanner and the Crow.

Franklin knows that is the downside to his game and knows Chuck would KO him when one of those punches landed. In UFC he would be sitting at #2 forever untill more great strikers came into UFC and then he would drop lower and lower (assuming the future top talented LHW strikers have good chins).

In Pride he would hover towards the end of the top 10 say around Randleman and Nakamura.

In UFC at MW is the champion who will stay champion for a long time unless he decides to stand and trade with A. Silva, then Silva will have a very good chance at being MW champion come UFC 64. Franklin is a smart guy and will have a good gameplan coming into the fight as if at any point he feels he is getting handled in the standup he will look to take it to the ground. He just needs to make sure to do that before it is too late and gets KO'ed.

I understand guys have weaker chins than some. But I don't care what kind of chin you have, eventually you are going to get caught. You may not get knocked out but you will be rocked. The weak chin thing gets brought up about every fighter that I have heard fight this year except maybe Chuck. It seems that every time a guy is about to fight someone brings up the chin thing. I think with a record like Franklin's and considering that he is the champ and with a resume like he has....it is safe to say that his chin is ok. As for the 205 class...it is hard to say really. His fight with Shamrock was over so quick that no one got see his power against Shamrock. I agree with the fact that he should stay at 185 and just continue to dominate. I mean why mess with a good thing.

hang with? Certainly.

Beat? Probably not the very best (Silva, Chuck, Shogun etc)

git.

Rich Franklin is a very intelligent fighter with the skills to beat anyone in the 185lb and 205 lb divisions. I think he could beat the top guys at light heavyweight but he has made the smart choice cutting down to middleweight where I believe he is almost unstoppable. The strength he carries down with him to 185lbs gives him too much for any other middleweight including, in my opinion, Anderson Silva.