UFC 88 Preview: Rich Franklin vs. Matt Hamill

Rich Franklin (23-3, 10-2 UFC) vs. Matt Hamill (4-1, 4-1 UFC)

Former middleweight champ Rich Franklin returns to light heavyweight to fight his friend Matt Hamill.

Franklin was a dominant champ until Anderson Silva came around. Franklin's bread and butter at 185lbs. was the clinch and out muscling his opponents while striking from close quarters. It was too bad that this was Silva's strength as well. In Franklin's last fight against Travis Lutter, Franklin looked flat. If Lutter hadn't gassed out after the second minute it looked like Rich was in trouble. But Franklin's chef advantage at 185 is nullified at 205.

Matt Hamill (the deaf guy from season 3 of TUF) is a great wrestler but consistently fails to utilize that advantage instead favoring his stan up which has improved with each fight. The one time Hamill did use his wrestling he focused only on takedowns then letting his opponent up to take him down again. That opponent was Michael Bisping who 'miraculously' won thanks to the judges.

Despite Hamill being robbed and Bisping continuing to flower as the UFC's UK poster boy, Hamill is still a fighter who has a lot of work ahead of him. This fight is truly a crossroads to see if he can become a legit light heavyweight prospect in the UFC.

The odds are -240 for Franklin and +190 for Hamill. It is worth noting that the only person Franklin has lost to in the UFC is the worlds best fighter so I might be foolish for who I am going to pick, but I just can't go against my heart.

Pick: Hamill via decision.