Open Weight Tourtument 14th fight

BJ Penn vs Rich Franklin

Current UFC LW champion "The Prodigy" takes on former MW champion Rich "Ace" Franklin in an exciting fight between two well rounded fighters. Can BJ defy the odds against his much bigger opponent or can Rich use his pace and cardio to overwhelm BJ Penn. Let the votes begin.

Im picking Franklin by TKO (body shot) in the 4th.

Note:Any picks against Rich Franklin will not be taken into consideration

i got BJ by KO in the 2nd round. seriously!

(sorry chelsea but i think when this fight goes to the ground BJ will end up on top and KO him)

Franklin UD

BJ, rear naked choke in the 2nd

BJ wins this one i'm afraid. just a better allround game and better punch resistance.

Ace Ventura tko rd 2


Size difference proves to be too much for BJ to handle

BJ fought Machida who's bigger and a lot better than Franklin and gave him the closest fight of his career up until the Shogun fight.

Penn, 3rd round stoppage! As Anfield says MAchida vs Penn was close enough Machida number 2 in his devision (Yeah Anfield number 2 ) But Rich and him are at opposite ends of the Lhw rankings anyway. Penn boxing is so good and with the extra size I think he would have the power to put Rich away. (I think Rich would have won a round going into the 3rd though!)

Franklin TKO 2nd fau shau buddies

rudeboyben84 wrote:Penn, 3rd round stoppage! As Anfield says MAchida vs Penn was close enough Machida number 2 in his devision (Yeah Anfield number 2 ) But Rich and him are at opposite ends of the Lhw rankings anyway. Penn boxing is so good and with the extra size I think he would have the power to put Rich away. (I think Rich would have won a round going into the 3rd though!)

Are we counting Fedor without the gut as a LHW?

BJ via rear naked choke in the 4th.

BJ is just too good for Rich I'm afraid. Everything that Rich is good at I would rate BJ better. GSP has the wrestling on BJ but Rich doesn't.

Its a fight I'd like to see though!!

I'm going BJ by submission in the 3rd. It would be an awesome fight too

BJ 3rd round Sub. Just think that BJ is technically better. Has good punch resistance and amazing take down defence. Don't see size being a major factor either.

Exactly. Franklin isn't an over-powering fighter. His wrestling is non-existent and he sucks in the clinch. Franklin's only advantage would be his reach over BJ but i don't think Franklin has the power to KO Penn or even rock him.

Penn better on the feet and ground and his wrestling is better, Defensivley anyway! I dont see this as a good fight for Rich, I dont think he would get dominated but BJ has never had a problem with bigger guys apart from GSP in the rematch.

When Penn was coming back to UFC he tried to demand an openweight fight with Arlovski!!! what a crazy mother fucker!

Fuck you guys

Seriously though, I think its a tough fight for BJ because Rich is a lot bigger than a fit BJ Penn. If BJ put the weight on he looses conditioning and Rich has excellent conditioning. BJ has a legendary chin but Rich aims for the body and those kicks hurt, it could get him in the gut or the rib. Don't think BJ could KO Franklin, he couldn't Ko Kenny or Sanchez.

Machida is no where near the fighter he is now when he fought BJ. Styles wise Machida isn't made for BJ, if they were both 155 BJ would beat him I think. I actually think BJ would beat most fighters if they were all the same weight but a size disadvanatge would affect him in this fight.

Franklin is pretty good on the ground, I think his long limbs could help him defend the submissions. Franklin is hard to takedown as well, BJ Penn doesn't have great takedowns unless its Kenny Florian.

Ill call this fight soon, unfortunatley I have to go with the majority of votes

I always back the bigger skilled guy against the much smaller highly skilled guy.

No ones managed to KO BJ yet and Franklin isn't subbing him,but then again,Franklin wasn't the former MW champ by luck,plus the only people Rich has lost to are Silva,Macheda,Belfort and Hendo,arguable 3 of the best MW's ever and the current no1 LHW king(for now maybe),I think BJ loses to all these also,so Franklin UD.

They have a common opponent around the same time. Lyoto Machida. Bj gave him a close fight. Rich got a beating. Bj is better in every aspect and has improved more over the years than Rich.

MMAth never works...... also Machida is alot better now than he was back then.


Its an open wieght fight, so Rich can come in as big as he can, while BJ will more than likely gas after carrying much bigger weight that he is used to fighting, and its 5 rounds also.


Do we know the results of the weighin chelsea?? Did BJ look in shape?

Rich Came in at 210 and BJ came in something like this:

BJ rnc round 3

Bump

I'm surprised everyone's gone for the prodigy. Rich has some pretty decent sub defence as demonstrated against Lutter, so combined with his size and weight advantage I don't see him tapping. He's much more athletic than BJ so cardio won't be a problem, and I don't see how BJ knocks him out standing whilst Rich has decent hands and BJ is giving away such a lot of reach.

I see this going like GSP vs BJ 1, in other words a bit of back and forth and a close decision. Purely because I like Rich I'll give it to him. Let's not forget that Thiago Silva also got destroyed by Machida, and I'd assume not many people would give Penn the nod over him?.....

well im ont doubting Rich has good sub defence, even though the escape against Lutter was a very basic escape unless they have a really tight grip on your wrist.

but Florian and Stevenson are blackbelts!! and were embarrased by BJ when it hit the ground.

Chelsea is slacking off! I think he just can't face calling the fight against Rich!