Fight Report

By kw

After seeing Rich Franklin brutally KO Nate Quarry in his last bout one might think of his upcoming fight against David Louiseau as a classic striker vs striker matchup. But a closer examination of Rich’s entire MMA career reveals that he is equally effective at grappling as he is on his feet. It’s one reason why he sports a stellar 19-1-1 record with nine wins coming by submission and ten wins coming by TKO.

But which style will be to his advantage when he goes up against The Crow on Saturday night? Will it be wise for him to play into his opponents strength and try and trade with David? That spectacular KO win over Quarry will surely further his confidence in his standup. Rich is also a very big Middleweight, he will have a sizeable reach advantage over Louiseau come Saturday. This may also tempt him to trade with the Canadian.

Of course David Louseau is an excellent striker in his own right. Winning nine of his 14 wins via TKO it’s no secret what his strength is. The Crow is coming off a TKO win via cuts over Evan Tanner and prior to that he ended Charles McCarthy’s evening with a brutal spinning back kick to the mid-section. David will want this fight to take place on his feet. Or will he?

Despite his low percentage of submission victories (only two of his wins have come via subs), Loiseau is not weak on the ground. In fact he is downright devastating especially when he has top position and begins raining down those fearsome elbows. This position is one he’d love to find himself in on Saturday.

But he is facing a guy who knows how to fight off his back. Rich has secured guillotine’s and armbars from his guard and he’ll be quite comfortable in this position if the fight ends up there.

So where will these guys want this fight to take place?

There are three basic positions a fight can be be fought.

• Both guys standing = Equal

On paper this area is equal. Both guys can bang and until we see how their styles matchup we won’t know who has the edge here.

• Ground position w/ Louiseau on top = Equal

Both guys have ended fights from this position too, and both will be comfortable here.

• Ground position w/ Franklin on top = Advantage Franklin

And here is the deciding factor. This is where Loiseau will NOT want to be. Rich will give him a serious beating if it ends up here. This may be a long brutal fight with all three of these scenarios playing out and if #3 plays out for any extensive length of time, Rich will win the bout.

PICK: Rich Franklin via Unanimous Decision

This entry was posted on Friday, March 3rd, 2006 at 12:44 am and is filed under MMA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.