UFC 99-Franklin vs Silva

Headlining UFC 99 will be Rich “Ace” Franklin vs Wanderlei “the axe murderer” Silva, in what should turn out to be a brutal stand up war between two of Mixed Martial Arts’ most feared strikers!

The striking should make all the difference in this fight. With both fighters coming off losses, (Silva, a first round K.O to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, and Franklin a decision loss to coach of the Ultimate Fighter, Dan Henderson) both fighters should be looking to get back on track with a win.

Not only did Wanderlei Silva lose his last fight, but has lost 4 out of 5 of his last outtings, 3 by knockout. However, a devastating first round knockout out of Keith Jardine showed that Silva still possesses that effective K.O power.

Franklin has been hit and miss lately as well with his 2 losses against middleweight champ, Anderson “the spider” Silva, and his decision loss to Henderson. But an impressive TKO victory over Matt Hamill with a third round body kick, and a TKO victory over submission machine, Travis Lutter shows that Franklin is still dangerous as well.

Stylistically these are two different strikers.

Silva is an aggressive Muai-Thai fighter, who tends to brawl, and Franklin is a more textbook striker with power and accuracy.

22 out of 32 of Silva’s wins have ended in K.O or TKO, a lot of wich were in the first 2 rounds.

Franklin has 13 KO or TKO wins himself, also most of wich were early on. Ace also has a great submission game, wich should be dominant to Silva’s, even though Silva is a BJJ black belt.

I don’t see the ground game coming into play here though. These two cagefighters should stand and trade, with “the axe murderer” being the aggressor, until one of the two drop!

The question is who will drop???

My opinion is you can look for Franklin to pick up a win here, probably in the first 2 rounds. Silva’s aggression will get him caught by one of Franklin’s accurate counter strikes, and set up a KO or TKO. His textbook striking and power will be too much for Silva, and this could end up looking a lot like the Chuck Liddell vs Wanderlei Silva fight, where Silva is just overwhelmed by a better striker.