UFC 93 Preview: Franklin vs. Henderson Preview & Predictions
Saturday night January 17th features the latest UFC event, UFC 93 on Pay-Per-View. Below is the UFC 93 preview with fight predictions provided by the expert staff at Pro Fighting Fans where you can also find the UFC schedule of events and great MMA coverage every day. We begin with Steven T. Kelliher's preview of Franklin v Henderson and Rua v Coleman and continue our UFC 93 preview with added coverage as Nick Russell previews Mohr v Siver and Kampmann v Barros with his fight predictions to round out our UFC 93 preview.
Rich “Ace” Franklin vs. Dan Henderson:
On January 17th in Dublin, Ireland, the most anticipated match up of two of the top middleweight contenders in the last five years will unfold…at light heavyweight. While the choice to have Dan Henderson, who last fought at middleweight in September, and Rich Franklin, who last fought at light heavyweight on the same card to contest their battle at 205 lbs has been explained away merely as fighter preference, specifically referring to comments made by Franklin on his desire to remain at the weight the UFC had hinted he should compete at given his second loss to middleweight king Anderson Silva, is a hot topic amongst hardcore MMA fans, the fight is nonetheless one of the most hotly anticipated affairs in either fighter’s history.
In a month stacked with two of the largest events in MMA history (Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski Jan. 24th and BJ Penn vs. Georges St-Pierre II Jan. 31st), much of the would-be buzz surrounding UFC 93 has been swallowed up by a sea of over saturated—albeit well-warranted—promotion of the latter card. Regardless, Henderson and Franklin know they have a grueling and competitive battle on their hands this coming Saturday night, and while one fighter is clearly less interested than his opponent in getting a crack at coaching season 9 of The Ultimate Fighter, expect fireworks early and often as these two mid-sized bangers fight for bragging rights and a chance to add an impressive name to their already-impressive resumes.
Most predictions centering around this contest have focused on Franklin’s more technical stand up game and footwork compared with Henderson’s Olympic caliber wrestling credentials, and while there is certainly no denying Franklin’s edge in terms of technical prowess, do not expect the former Pride two-divisional title holder to shy away from any exchanges.
Henderson has one of the thickest beards in the business, a fact that is painfully obvious when watching his 25 minute 2007 war with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 75 for the light heavyweight belt in a bout that saw “Hendo” do serious damage to both of Jackson’s meat hooks with his face alone. While Franklin certainly possesses the one-punch knockout power to potentially be the first to put Henderson away, if Anderson Silva and “Rampage” failed to do it, I don’t think anyone is betting on Franklin to.
Be that as it may—and with Franklin, being the intelligent tactician that he is, no doubt equally aware of his slim chances of knocking out or submitting Henderson—there is an almost equal—or unequal, for that matter—chance that Henderson will do either to Franklin. Sure, Franklin’s chin has been rocked on more occasions, but his footwork and south paw fighting stance is going to give the rowdy and wild Henderson fits as the Olympian fires off twice as many strikes as his opponent, and lands half as many.
Look for Henderson vs. Franklin to be a highly explosive and high-impact affair with both fighters bruised, and at least one of them (Franklin) bloody at the end of their too-short 15-minute affair. When the dust settles, however, it will be Rich “Ace” Franklin that stands victorious with a unanimous 29-28 technical victory over one of the legends of the sport. Given his heavily-hinted reward—a second coaching spot on TUF and a move back down to a division he was told to vacate only last year—and Franklin might want to do himself a favor and take a dive in this one, but don’t count on it.
Official Prediction: Rich “Ace” Franklin by Unanimous Decision
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Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Mark “The Hammer” Coleman:
The other mega-fight, if you could even call it that, on the UFC 93 card features a rematch that not many people—hardcore fans anyways—truly wanted to see the first time around as Mauricio “Shogun” Rua returns to the Octagon after more than a year sidelined with serious injuries and surgeries following his submission loss to former light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin to battle the old and never-very-good-in-the-first-place UFC hall-of-famer Mark “The Hammer” Coleman.
In my opinion, this fight represents more of a tune-up or tester for “Shogun”, who was once thought of unanimously as the top light heavyweight fighter on the planet, in order for the UFC to revitalize the precious fan interest they saw slip away like Rua’s consciousness at the hands of Griffin more than a year ago. Coleman may talk a big game, and technically he did win their first encounter, but unless he has the pathological lying skills of Dick Cheney to convince himself of his own worth in the current light heavyweight landscape, Coleman knows just as well as “Shogun” that this fight won’t look anything like the first.
It will be interesting to see if Rua—fully healed and healthy as he may be—can shake the cobwebs of a 14 month layoff and return to his previous form in an unfamiliar arena compared with the ropes and ring of Pride in order to knock off a nagging loss on his impressive resume, as even a competitive victory for the 2005 Pride Open Weight Grand Prix Champion could hurt his stock in a stacked 205lb division.
Look for Rua to use both his anger and general dislike for his aging opponent, as well as the thirst to begin a new reign at the top of the light heavyweight rankings, or at least to approach those heights, to be too much for Coleman to handle, as “Shogun” uses a mixed bag of straight punches and flashy kicks to stun and eventually stop “The Hammer” midway into the fight.
Official Prediction: Mauricio “Shogun” Rua by TKO (kicks and punches) (Rounds 1-2)
By Steven T. Kelliher
ProFighting-fans.com Staff Writer
More UFC 93 fight previews & predictions
Nate Mohr vs. Dennis Siver
This fight might be a “loser leaves town” fight when Mohr and Siver battle in this preliminary Lightweight bout. The journeymen both are trying to get their UFC careers back on track with this fight. With their careers on the line they are both sure to try and put a good fight for the Irish fans.
Mohr is trying to get back on the winning side after being submitted by The Ultimate Fighter vet, Manny Gamburyan at UFC 79 in December of 2007. The Team Curran fighter was easily submitted via guillotine choke by Gamburyan. Overall, he has one win and two losses in the UFC.
Siver has a 1-3 overall record in the UFC and is back after one fight out of the UFC. He easily submitted his opponent Chas Jacquier at a Mix Fight Gala VII event in October of 2008. He is back and wants to show that he is in the UFC to stay by getting by counterpart Nate Mohr.
Prediction: Siver over Mohr via 2nd round submission (guillotine choke)
> Don't miss the MMA rankings posted earlier this month on ProFighting-fans.com!
Martin Kampmann vs. Alexandre Barros
This Welterweight fight could have easily been featured on any main card event. Kampmann looks to continue in his run for number one contender for the Welterweight belt. Barros is getting a huge opportunity with his first UFC fight against a top contender. With a win over Kampmann Barros jumps way up the Welterweight ladder.
Kampmann has had much success in his career by compiling a career record of 13-2 and 4-1 in the UFC. He has UFC wins over many veterans such as Jorge Rivera, Drew McFedries and Thales Leites. His only UFC loss came at the hands of Nate Marquardt in his last UFC fight at UFC 88 when he was TKO in the first round. Kampmann has carried the injury plague tag around with him much of his career. Much of that criticism has come because of his style of fighting is an all or nothing style. Of his 15 career fights, only one has gone to a decision.
Not much is known of Barros other than he is a large Welterweight fighter. He does have a very respectable 13-5 record although much of it came in smaller organizations in his homeland Brazil. Barros will be prepared in his match, training with the popular Gracie Barra Combat Team in Brazil. He is a solid all around fighter winning in all types of fashion. He has compiled 4 TKO wins, 3 submission victories and 6 wins by way of decision. It is also known that he is very hard to KO himself only being finished one time throughout his career.
Prediction: Kampmann over Barros via majority decision
By Nick Russell
ProFighting-fans.com Staff Writer