#4 Rich “Ace” Franklin
Rich Franklin was one of the most highly-regarded middleweights in the early years of the Zuffa era in the UFC. Due to his brilliance inside the cage, he captured the UFC middleweight title at the expense of the late Evan Tanner in April 2005. He managed to successfully defend it twice before dropping it to Anderson Silva.
In the 36th bout of his illustrious career, Franklin shared the Octagon with Cung Le in November 2012. A devastating loss smashed in front of Franklin as Le knocked him out cold with a clean counter right hook in the first round.
Franklin was looking to redeem himself after the loss. But it turned out to be his last. After teasing the possibility of one more MMA fight before calling it quits. Franklin instead announced his retirement in September 2015.
Franklin penned a retirement column on theplayerstribune.com. He indicated that a recent conversation with his mother helped him understand that “his body has slowed down.”
Franklin found an office job after he retired from MMA. He is currently serving as Vice President of what is widely known as Asia’s largest MMA promotion, ONE Championship.
