9. Rich Franklin
This man literally changed the perception of cage fighters. In the early noughties, the idea was that MMA fighters were thugs, plain and simple. Franklin was clean-cut and well-educated. The full-time math teacher was still working as an educator as a professional fighter.
Four years in his combat sports career he called a halt to his teaching. But he’d been working both sides of the game long enough to make a massive difference and change the image of an MMA fighter forever. Becoming a UFC middleweight champion will do that for you.
