MMA News: Rich Franklin to Face Yushin Okami at UFC

Yushin Okami will fight Rich Franklin on June 16. (Photography Courtesy Edgar Cardenas)

Rich “Ace” Franklin (23-2-0) has a big obstacle standing between him and the title.

June 16 in Northern Ireland, the former middleweight champion will fight Japanese ground and pound master Yushin Okami (21-3-0).

Franklin came into the octagon in 2003 with a perfect record of 9-0 and destroyed Evan Tanner (32-6-0). Putting together three more wins, matchmakers put him in against Ken Shamrock (26-12-2) for their first live event on free nation-wide television. At 2:42 in the first round, Franklin was the winner by TKO and an overnight celebrity. Winning the middleweight title in a rematch against Tanner, “Ace” mauled both Nate Quarry (8-2-0) and David Loiseau (15-7-0) before running into Brazilian super-striker Anderson Silva (18-4-0) in October of ’06. Franklin had planned on being the bigger fighter that night and using his size advantage to muscle Silva around the octagon. Silva had other plans, though. Grabbing onto Franklin’s head, he delivered a devastating series of knees to the body and face. Franklin fell to the canvas, his nose horribly broken. Silva was the new middleweight champion. 

Franklin has been on the comeback trail ever since and recently beat tough Canadian Jason MacDonald (18-8-0). Another win could put him back in title contention, but it won’t be an easy task to accomplish.

Okami is 4-0 in the octagon, and shows no signs of slowing down. In under a year, he has beaten Alan Belcher (9-3-0), Kalib Starnes (7-1-1), Rory Singer (11-6-0) and Mike “Quick” Swick (10-2-0). A skilled wrestler, Okami showed off his grappling skills recently by winning the Japanese Qualifiers for the Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling World Championships. If Okami is able to take Franklin down, it could be a long night for “Ace”.

Full Card:

• Rich Franklin vs. Yushin Okami
• Hector Ramirez vs. Forrest Griffin
• Rory Singer vs. Jason MacDonald
• Clay Guida vs. Tyson Griffin
• TBD vs. Marcus Davis
• Tom Murphy vs. Jake O'Brien
• Eddie Sanchez vs. Colin Robinson
• Scott Smith vs. Ed Herman
• Dustin Hazelett vs. Stevie Lynch

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