UFC 82: Rich Franklin vs. Travis Lutter
Ohio-native and former UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin will take on The Ultimate Fighter 4 winner Travis Lutter at UFC 82 in Columbus, Ohio. The bout was first reported by MMA Junkie earlier this month.
Franklin (22-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) will be looking to rebound in the main card fight following another disappointing loss to current UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva. Prior to his first meeting with Silva in October of last year Franklin’s career had been on a roll: he had lost just a single bout and was the champion of the top MMA promotion in the world. That came to a screeching halt at UFC 64 when he was knocked out by Silva less than 3-minutes into the first of five scheduled rounds. Franklin recovered to win fights against Jason MacDonald and Yushin Okami to earn another bout with “The Spider”. Though his October matchup with Silva at UFC 77 lasted twice as long as their first meeting Franklin was again defeated. He will now look to rebound yet again with a win over the middleweight winner of The Ultimate Fighter 4.
Lutter (12-4 MMA, 2-3 UFC) has had a mixed career in the UFC. Prior to appearing on the fourth season of The Ultimate Fighter Lutter had just a lone UFC win over Marvin Eastman as well as two octagon losses to Matt Lindland and Trevor Prangley. After making his way to the finals of the season Lutter submitted Patrick Cote to become the season four champion. He was immediately matched up against Anderson Silva for a February showdown but was unable to make weight for the match. Converted to a three round, non-title matchup Lutter put in a solid performance against the dominant champion. Despite taking Silva farther into the fight than anyone else had in the UFC he was submitted in the second round.
For more on UFC 82 check out the MMAFrenzy.com UFC rumors section.
This fight has been on my mind since i watched rich franklin loose to anderson silva and travis lutter also lost to him to this should a great fight
Could be a great opportunity for Lutter. He has looked batter against Silva than anyone else that faced him, so maybe he wins this, wins one more, then tries again for the belt. If Franklin wins, then what, no one wants to see him him get knees to the face for the third time. I don’t.
Who knows? Franklin probably can’t win the belt, but he’s one case that might should jump up a weight class, put on some more muscle, and try again at light heavy. I would rather see that than another rematch with Silva.
cant wait for this fight but ide have to give it to franklin, ide love to see franklin n silva again. but ide say plz try take silva down rich no one wants to see u hurt!
good chance for lutter tho if he wins this then he should get a title shot.
This could be setting up a Tanner/Franklin III? I would watch that again- but I would also be interested to seeing if Evan has any tricks up his sleave for Silva. Yes I know Tanner lost to Franklin 2 times before, but that’s not how it works)
lets go lutter i think he has a shot 2 win this fight
Rich is going to kill him.
Personal source says that Franklin has not signed any contract to fight anyone yet. Just a rumor thus far. Plus Lutter is not in the same catagory as Franklin,
I for one have no interest in seeing Travis Lutter in the UFC or anywhere else for that matter. Anyone who can’t “get motivated” to make weight for a freaking title match has no place in serious competition at all. I only wanna see people who will make the most of the opportunities presented to them. Someone else would have loved to be in Lutter’s place for that title fight, I guarantee it. Not everyone is cut out to be a fighter.
Good matchup, but Franklin will want to redeem himself here in Ohio. I don’t see Lutter getting Franklin to the ground where he needs him.
Franklin > Lutter
I have always beleived travis lutter to be one of the biggest underdogs in the game… i think he will win this fight, but i thot he would beat silva too…
franklin can’t fight silva for the title again, one rematch and thats it if you lose the second one. lutter is a bum, just like the other comment, who can’t cut weight for a title fight. I put lutter in the same catagory as joe riggs. BUM. Cote and tanner would be better
http://www.richfranklin.com and on his myspace and American Fighter bulletin. Should confirm a fight before you report is as fact. As of now this isn’t happening
Hi guys. First off, I would like to thank everyone for the support. Thank you for the support leading up to, and since the fight with Anderson. He is a great fighter and deserves everyone’s respect as a fighter, person, and ambassador to our sport. Also thank you for supporting American Fighter.
Todd tries to maintain our Myspace account because of my hectic schedule. Hopefully he is doing a good job for you all. He spends a good amount of time on here and does it for free. Sometimes he gets a t-shirt.
I am told there are rumors of me fighting multiple people in March. I have not signed for a fight in March. I don’t believe that I am allowed to fight more than once in a night. I hope this clears up any confusion. I have not signed to fight anyone in March, or any other month.
Happy Holidays
RF
[...] surfaced yesterday indicating Franklin had agreed to take on Travis Lutter at UFC 82 in Columbus, [...]
I was reporting it based on the MMA Junkie report. I know The Wrestling Observer also reported that it was a done deal but this is obviously the most direct source out there right now.
Thanks for the heads up Tommy.