Capital Jiu-Jitsu

Biography
Prior to becoming a full time MMA fighter, Franklin was a math teacher at Oak Hills High School in Cincinnati. He has a master's degree in education and a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Cincinnati.

Martial arts background
According to Franklin, he first learned submission fighting from instructional video tapes.[citation needed] He has been associated with and trained with Meat Truck Inc., and currently trains at facilities run by Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Jorge Gurgel, (New Generation Martial Arts); Neal Rowe, a Muay Thai instructor (Sacan Martial Arts); and Rob Radford, a boxing instructor (Boxing 4 Fitness). Franklin is currently ranked as a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Jorge Gurgel.

Mixed martial arts career

Franklin had a record of 17 wins and 1 loss before his fight for the title, which he won. His sole loss was against Lyoto Machida by TKO in the second round. In the run up to the title match, he defeated such well-respected fighters as Evan Tanner, Jorge Rivera, Edwin Dewees, and Ken Shamrock. Before his fight with Shamrock, Franklin signed an unusually long 8-fight contract. In 2005, he defeated Evan Tanner for a second time at UFC 53 to win the UFC middleweight championship. His victory lead to his being a coach (along with welterweight champion Matt Hughes) on the second season of The Ultimate Fighter.

On November 19, 2005 at UFC 56, Franklin defended his title against Nate Quarry, a competitor from season 1 of The Ultimate Fighter. Franklin won the fight via knockout in the first round. On March 4, 2006, at UFC 58, Franklin defeated David Loiseau in a unanimous five round decision to retain his title. Franklin broke his left hand early on in the second round. The injury required surgery, including a metal plate and screws, and Franklin was out of action for seven months.

Franklin lost his title on his return fight after being defeated by Brazilian Anderson Silva in the main event of UFC 64 on October 14, 2006. Franklin was stopped with approximately 20 unanswered knees from the Muay Thai-clinch followed by kicks and a knee to the face at 2:49 of the first round. On October 19, 2006 Franklin underwent surgery due to the nasal fracture he received in his fight against Silva.

At UFC 68 on March 3, 2007, Franklin defeated Jason MacDonald by TKO due to MacDonald's corner throwing in the towel in the break between rounds two and three. Franklin had mounted MacDonald in the closing seconds of the second round, causing significant injury and swelling around MacDonald's left eye. MacDonald's corner advised ending the fight, and Franklin was declared the winner. After the fight Franklin called Anderson Silva to the ring, and said that he and Dana White had agreed to a fight for the title in Franklin's hometown, Cincinnati.

On June 16, 2007 at UFC 72 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Franklin defeated top middleweight contender Yushin Okami to be announced the official number one contender for Anderson Silva's middleweight championship. The bout was only Franklin's second overall fight that went the full distance (due to being a non-title fight, it was three rounds). All three judges scored the bout 29-28 in favor of Franklin.

On October 20, 2007, Franklin faced Anderson Silva in a rematch for the middleweight championship, losing by TKO (knee) in the second round.[3] Franklin recently signed a new 6 fight contract with the UFC.[4] Rich Franklin had to pull out of a UFC 82 fight with Travis Lutter and will be sidelined until approximately June because of a torn meniscus he suffered in his right knee.