UFC on Fuel Franklin vs. Le

The UFC's debut in China marked the return to middleweight of the division's former champion Rich Franklin. While his two brutal defeats at the hands (and knees) of Anderson Silva rendered him an irrelevance when it came to title contention, many still believed that Franklin was the next best fighter at 185lbs. This thought-process ignored that over his four-year exile, he had been safely kept away from the younger fighters turning middleweight from the weakest division in the UFC to one of the strongest.

His competition since 2010 has been as storied as they were old; Chuck Liddell, Forrest Griffin and Wanderlei Silva. His performances in these fights showed that the skills that had once made him a champion were diminished, despite "Ace" going 2-1. Liddell was on course to a quick victory having broken Franklin's arm, before being caught rushing in, while "The Axe Murderer" was unlucky to not finish his American adversary. The extent to which Franklin was riding into Macau on the back of an inflated reputation was cruelly exposed in just two-and-a-half minutes.

He was up against former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le, who's Sanshou mix of spectacular striking and wrestling had made him a legend in the San Jose area. With age having taken a heavy toll on his body, and a burgeoning movie career occupying his attention, he was a heavy underdog against Franklin. In the early stages, he looked awkward standing, clearly struggling to unleash the unorthodox offence that was so easily at his disposal in his athletic prime. But Le can still throw a hell of a punch, and repeatedly, Franklin left his chin out while placing kicks. Mid-way through the first round, Le made him pay for it, when he clocked Franklin with an overhand right that caught him right on the button. As Franklin's body suddenly gave way beneath him, Le was able to celebrate a remarkable and decidedly unexpected flash knockout victory.

While the muted reaction he received from the fans belied the adopted "home fighter" status that the UFC had tried to bestow on the Vietnam-born victor, his triumph was one of several good results for Asian fighters. Takeya Mizugaki, Takanori Gomi and Dong Hyun Kim all secured victories on the undercard, although unfortunately for the UFC's marketing men, the only Chinese fighter on the organisation's roster was not so fortunate, with a strong final round not being enough to secure Tiequan Zhang the victory against Jon Tuck.

Results Riki Fukuda def. Tom DeBlass (Decision [unanimous] / R3 / 5:00) - John Lineker def. Yasuhiro Urushitani (Decision [unanimous] / R3 / 5:00) - Alex Caceres def. Motonbu Tezuka (Decision [split] / R3 / 5:00) - Takeya Mizugaki def. Jeff Houghland (Decision [unanimous] / R3 / 5:00) - Jon Tuck def. Tiequan Zhang (Decision [unanimous] / R3 / 5:00) - Takanori Gomi def. Mac Danzig (Decision [split] / R3 / 5:00) - Dong Hyun Kim def. Paulo Thiago (Decision [unanimous] / R3 / 5:00) - Thiago Silva def. Stanislav Nedkov (Submission [arm-triangle choke] / R3 / 1:45) - Cung Le def. Rich Franklin (Knockout [punch] / R1 / 2:17)