“I’m a guy that’s going to go out there and I’m going to fight to my strengths. I’m going to go out there and I’m going to try to take Rich down, and I’m going to beat him up. That’s what I do. If I can’t take him down than it’s going to be a long day for me. If he can’t stop me from taking him down, it’s a long day for him.”
– Travis Lutter tells MMAWeekly.com how he expects his 185-pound showdown with Rich Franklin this weekend at UFC 83: “Serra vs. St. Pierre” to unfold inside the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. Lutter has not competed since losing to UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva via submission at UFC 67: “All or Nothing” back in February 2007 — a fight for which he did not make weight. This time around he intends to cut just 10 pounds (he tried to cut more than 20 against Silva) prior to tipping the scale to avoid another disaster.
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WOW, well put. I actually got Lutter in this one, but Rich I’m sure is going to come in well prepared. Should be a great fight.
Off subject, I can’t tell you how pumped I am for this one. The next couple for that matter. Two title defenses in 2 months…make that 3 doesn’t Rampage fight in June (or is it July)?
Beginning of July
thanks mike, how was your weekend??? you pumped for this weeken? on sat the 26th I’m going to the charles gracie invitational here in nor cal
I agree with Travis. If he can’t take franklin down I believe franklin will knock him out, but if travis takes franklin down I’m going with a submission victory for travis
I like this matchup. I expect it to be an exciting fight.
I really hope Franklin wins. Pretty sure he’ll be able to keep it standing, then he can knock his asss out and go fight Hendo.
Im sure he will win…lutter is a great bjj guy.. one of the best ive seen but…style wise it takes a wrestler style grappler to take franklin down. jason mcdonal could not take him down at all and as soon as he did he got revered…lutter had some succes agaisnt silva due to the fact that silva and lutter are both great BJJ guys. but when it comes to wrestling style grappling lutter falls short. as he did with matt linland. bjj try to try with lazy shots fomr the outside and trips form the clinch. lutter can close it with franklin..he couldnt with silva the only reason lutter was succeful with silva was the fact that silva is just stall…more unstable center of gravity.
You think it’s a long day for you, give me 15 mins in a cage any day over my 8 hours on a Monday morning lol
Grrrrrrr - Yes I have the Monday blues
Too bad man, I feel for ya…I’m on my fourth week of vacation, hence the more than usual posts. Hang in there, only 2 more days till hump day. lol
With Kimbo?
Should be a good fight, but what for the winner? Another beat down at the hands of the Spider? Makes the outcome of this fight kind of un-interesting IMO…
No, winner gets winner of…I mean Bisping, then Bisping gets beat by Silva. Yes guys me with that prediction again, mark my words Silva/Bisping in Dec. or Jan. Then silva either needs to go to 205 or 170, or UFC needs to build a robotic fighter (and Silva still wins)
Kevin, I do agree with much of what you say, but Bisping fighting Anderson Silva in late 2008/early 2009, I just don’t see happening. Especially if he needs to get by Hendo, or even Franklin to get there.
He will beat Tupperware, and then the question is, “where does Bisping go from here”. My guess is that he wouldn’t even be ready to go against the like of a Chris Leben/Patrick Cote type/level oppenent (possibly 1 win away from fighting in a #1 contender fight). If Terry Martin was around, that would have been a fitting second MW fight for The Count.
Ricardo Bid Dog Almeida, Martin Kampmann, and even Thales Leites are ranked above Bisping and I beleive that they would have their way with Bisping.
I am very curious to see what direction the UFC goes with Bisping assuming he beats Mccarthy. Is his next fight going to be someone ranked in the top 10 like:
Leites
Cote
Marquardt
or will he be fighting someone ranked in between 10-20, like:
Alan Belcher
McFedries
winner of Starnes vs. Quarry
?????????????????????????????????????????
**I am talking about UFC rankings NOT mma rankings!**
it has to be, he’s a proven guy (at 205) somewhat, moved down, if he wins convincingly, he should get winner of Lutter/Franklin and then let silva dismantle him too
I am ready to see Leites fight again, he would put a BJJ clinic on Bisping
JamesS: I am a huge Thales Leites fan. I really enjoy watching him fight, and I see Big THINGS in his future!
uhm he will drop donw to 170 i guess lol…that was a joke ppl!
Franklin is the previous MW champ and has fought for the title since. Lutter’s previous UFC fight was for the championship.
Bisping beating Tupperware does NOT warrant him the winner of that fight. He is not even close to being deserving. I understand what he did at 205, but he dropped tto 185. The UFC could have given him someone ranked about #15 in the UFC, and then had him fight a formidable opponent. However, the UFC reached down below the surface of the earth to dig up chainsaw. Bisping is starting out way to low to get a #1 contender fight with just one win.
Beside, where is Hendo in your MW equation? Assuming he jumps to LHW?
If Lutter wins it could be interesting. I think Lutter would be beaten severly the second time around, but a lot of people think he was doing awesome against Silva before he tapped in their first fight. If Franklin wins, he can fight Hendo for the toughest 2nd place to Silva.
I honestly believe that we will NEVER see a rematch between Lutter and Silva. Only way that could happen is if Lutter goes on a crazy tear and beats every fighter in the top 10 of the middleweight diviwsion.
1st of all, Lutter disgraced himself and the UFC title by not making weight for a UFC title fight. Only other fighter I have seen that happen to was Joe Riggs (against Hughes). I dont know how u guys felt about that, but IMO it was a really big deal. The whole concept of that season of TUF, was that Veterans would be given a second chance and the winner of the show fights for the title. The pay per view event was all based and Marketed on that concept. To not make weight, means that the title cant be on the line, and the fight cutts down from 5 roands to 3. When that happebns, it makes the UFC look really bad. What if after 3 rounds, that fight would have went to a decision That would be terrible for all the fans and especially those who purchased tickets to the event. Lutter screwed himself, Silva and ESPECIALLY THE UFC (in a big way) and since he is nothing special and has no more to offer the Champ than any other fighter in the division….I dont see Lutter ever getting a 2nd shot at the title!
The other thing that people seem to forget about the Lutter/Silva fight was that Silva was 6 weeks out from bilateral meniscal repair when that fight occurred. Silva is an animal for simply taking the fight. If there was ever a time when we saw a less than 100% Silva, that was it, and he still subbed Lutter.
Yeah I’m curious to where the winner goes. Not sure if Franklin wants more rhinoplasty courtesy of the Spider. They might be willing to throw Lutter in their with the Spider again if he does win.
Who in this weight class has’nt got beat down by Silva? Franklin, lutter, okami(not in ufc though), leban all have.They need some new blood for the champ anderson silva.This fight is the battle for second loser
I would love to see Franklin/Henderson.
Any speculation on Okami and Silva for a title fight yet? I think it’s Okami’s time to throw down for the belt. Boring or not, he deserves it.
Okami should get a title shot, especially since he has a win over Silva in PRIDE. OK, it wa a DQ win, but it’s still on the record. And Franklin-Henderson would be awesome.
Okami/Silva took place at Rumble on the Rock.
I have wanted to see Dan Henderson vs Rich Franklin for about 3 years now!!!!! Rich needs this win in order to get Hendo
You think Bisping is a shoe in to win against McCarthy? I don’t.
Obviously Lutter has better BJJ, but I think Rich has a better chance ont he ground that Travis does on his feet. I don’t see Franklin losing this fight, but I’ll stop short of any bold predictions.
I agree with everyone though…..what if Franklin does win? I don’t think another Silva fight will have much draw.
Every silva fight is a draw, but you’re right the short lived excitement would be comparable to the strip club…lots of hype, lots of build up but left feeling like I want more!
Yeah, you’re definitely right. We’re all willing to pay to see Silva fight.
As much as I want to see Chuck and Wanderlei go at it again, I’m starting to think Wanderlei should drop to MW for a crack at the Spida. I would love to see the Hendo rematch, but outside of that or the UFC signing Lindland; I’m not sure who they throw at Spida.
i don’t think Lutter is going to be able to just go in there and take down ace all fresh first second of the first round.
Lutter over Franklin. Lutter IMO is the only guy in UFC who has made Silva look beatable.
I just hope the fatty makes weight!!!
ha! i agree. hopefully he and gabe rudiger weren’t in training camp together eating ice-cream cake!
Or sticking tubes up their bums!
I promise you that Franklin will not be submitted. Franklin via referee stoppage.
I’m actually rooting for Lutter in this fight because I think he stands a better chance against Silva than franklin. Plus, non of us really want to see rich get his nose reset again–silva’s definately got his number. If rich does win he should have to go through hendo, which IMO would be a great fight.
On a side note, I wonder how long before one-dimentional fighters such as Lutter are extinct. You would think with the growth of MMA fighters would have to be more well-rounded..
franklin all the way. if he wins then he should fight leben/bisping. then hendo
sounds good. who,s hendo gonna fight in the meantime? i dont think he deserves a rematch w/ a. silva without a couple of wins. he might move back up to lhw for 1 fight. who knows? he’s done it before in pride.
Now that would be interesting Leben vs. Rich, but I think Rich would take that. Unless Leben foot stomps him into submision???? The real draw would be Rich vs. Hendo for sure, I know I would pay to watch that fight.
Like most have said, Lutter did make the Spider look beatable, for at least 30+ sec. That would be the best match up for the fans, I can’t see Bisping doing great vs. the Spider.
This fight is going to be a very good fight. I can’t wait to see who wins this one.
Good fight in the making here. Franklin by strikes OR Lutter by submission. I reckon it’s 60:40 Franklin but i’d never rule Lutter out, he’s a much underrated fighter. Can’t see this going the distance.
What the hell is Lutter talking about? He is a very good submission grappler, but I dont ever remember him beating anyone up.
This fight is going to be very simular to Franklin vs. McDonald…. Lutter has skills but lacks toughness and I just feel that Rich will beat him up.
What I like most about Canada is that its really easy to get bud up there and the people are really friendly. Maybe the two are connected.
how’s the weather??? I’m originally from just s. of worcester (family still lives there), and man it looked cold last night at the sox game
Its alright, its alright. Any night the sox wins is a good night.
BTW, my money’s on Lutter. Its really hard to take somebody down when they know its coming. Plus, I think Franklin’s sub defense is good enough, and his cardio is good enough to avoid any quick subs. I don’t see Lutter powering subs on Franklin. Thats my 2 cents on the subject.
Franklin over Lutter…provided it stays standing, and Rich is good at keeping fights on the feet.
i hope lutter wins. franklins career is almost done i think, silva really hurt him mentally!
This should be a good fight. I think Franklin has the edge, his takedown defense is pretty solid. The only thing is: Then what? Noone in the middleweight division has earned the right to face Silva again, but you can’t keep the best in the biz on the shelf. The middleweight division needs some new blood badly. Bisbing is gonna be eaten alive. I would really like to see Wanderlei and maybe Shogun make the move, and Rashad Evans as well after he gets Chuck’s fist removed from his forehead.