UFC on FUEL TV 6: November 12, 2012 CotaiArena in Macao, China UFC Middleweight Contender Rich Franklin (-245) Profile: Rich Franklin (29-6, 1 No-Contest) is a former math teacher and UFC middleweight champion who has had a spotty record in the years past his brief title reign that started in 2005 and ended with a loss to current middleweight champ Anderson Silva in 2006. With solid wins over Matt Hamill, Yushin Okami and Wanderlei Silva, as well as putting Chuck Liddell into retirement, the 37-year-old MMA veteran has certainly enjoyed his share of high moments without the belt around his waist. However, he has also suffered through some tough times, including a first-round TKO loss to Vitor Belfort at UFC 103 that followed a controversial split decision awarded to Dan Henderson at UFC 93. Franklin is coming off another disappointing unanimous decision loss to Forrest Griffin at UFC 126, which came immediately after his surprising first-round KO of Liddell as a replacement for Tito Ortiz at UFC 115. He followed that up with an impressive unanimous decision win in Brazil at UFC 147 when he filled in for an injured Belfort against Wanderlei Silva. UFC Middleweight Contender Cung Le (+195) Profile: Former Strikeforce middleweight champion and B-movie star Cung Le (8-2) has had a brief, exciting yet unsuccessful run in the UFC thus far. His lone fight came in November of 2011 at UFC 139, when he lost to former light heavyweight champion Wanderlei Silva in what would have likely been named Fight of the Night if not for the Fight of the Year between Dan Henderson and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. The 40-year-old Vietnamese American has an incredible array of Wushu (a Chinese form of martial arts) and kickboxing skills to bring at his opponent in very unorthodox ways. Le can come at his opponent from any angle, and even at his advanced age, he is extremely fast. His fights with Scott Smith in Strikeforce are legendary, and he came through with a huge win for the 40-year-olds when he beat fellow middleweight contender Patrick Cote at UFC 148. Opening UFC on FUEL TV 6 Odds Analysis: MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas made Franklin a solid -245 favorite (bet $245 to win $100) while Le opened as a +195 underdog (bet $100 to win $195) according to the MMA odds. While this may not appear to be the most exciting fight from a marketing standpoint, it makes sense from a matchup perspective considering where each of these veterans is in their respective careers. Le proved himself as a legit UFC fighter with his upset win over Cote, but he will be taking on a guy who just handily beat the last opponent to defeat him. Franklin’s win over Silva on his home turf showed he is still good enough to stay relevant in the middleweight division. He has not won two in a row in more than four years though, and beating Le would not really put him into the mix of top contenders challenging longtime champ Anderson Silva. A win for Le would also be more of a personal accomplishment than anything else against a former champ who has definitely seen his better days.
