Rich Franklin is all in on ONE Championship’s latest invention.
Franklin, a former UFC middleweight champion and current Vice President of ONE Championship, is very much enjoying the company’s new venture putting together fights that mix the styles and rules from various combat sports.
The Asia-based promotion currently has a high-profile mixed rules fight coming up on Saturday’s ONE X event involving former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson and muay Thai star Rodtang Jitmuangnon.
The contest is set for four, three-minute rounds that alternate between muay Thai and MMA rules. The fight will start under muay Thai rules and will switch over the following rounds, pending a finish.
Initially, Franklin said he wasn’t a big fan of the idea, because he wanted a traditional approach to ONE Championship’s MMA events.
“When they started doing muay Thai and the super series kickboxing matches, and started adding those to the card, I’ll be honest, I wasn’t a fan when we started talking internally in the company,” Franklin told MMA Junkie Radio. “My whole idea was, ‘Who comes to a football game to watch a game of baseball?’ Kind of like that mentality. I’m showing up to an MMA event to watch MMA. I don’t want to see muay Thai.
“And we did our first event and I kind of begrudgingly internally was like, ‘I actually kind of like this and I don’t want to like it because I’m an MMA guy.’ And then as the cards went on, I really started looking forward to the muay Thai and kickboxing matchups. Of course, we also had a few super grappling matchups … I like this concept that we have with the various martial arts. It kind of for me brings me back to the original concept of MMA of boxing vs. jiu-jitsu or wrestling vs. judo or whatever. So now with this change, we have this hybrid match with Demetrious Johnson and Rodtang and that’s going to be pretty cool.”
It’s not often fans see a mixed rules bout on an MMA card a long with other various martial arts included. Franklin, who only competed under MMA rules for almost 13 years before retirement, would’ve loved to have this option of fighting in his time as an active competitor. He said it takes him back to the early days of the UFC.
“Absolutely I would’ve (done it),” Franklin said. “Keep in mind when I got into martial arts I started in the traditional karate. I graduated the first year the UFC started, and like many people who watch Royce (Gracie) in that first match, I was sitting there watching – I’ve never done any grappling – and I’m like, ‘Come on, man. Just stand up.’ Like it was just that easy. So those early days of one style vs. another style is very appealing for me. That’s why I would’ve given this a try, for sure.”
Rich Franklin: Demetrious Johnson vs. Rodtang bout at ONE X brings back ‘original concept of MMA’
