UFC Hall of Famer Rich Franklin Goes Full Throttle on ONE's U.S. Expansion

Transitioning from the center of the octagon to behind the scenes, the promotion's vice president maintains his fiery fighter spirit.

ONE Championship is coming to the United States. The promotion’s debut card on American soil takes place in Colorado this May, headlined by the Demetrious Johnson-Adriano Moraes trilogy bout. Leading the charge into the U.S. is ONE vice president Rich Franklin.

“This won’t be a one-time thing,” says Franklin, who plans to consistently incorporate events in the U.S. into the ONE schedule. “I’m putting 100 percent into making this as successful as possible.”

A decorated fighter whose vast accolades earned him a place in the UFC Hall of Fame, Franklin carries himself with the same authenticity as an executive. He is dedicated to the endeavor of a successful entry into the U.S. market, which ranks high among his top priorities.

Franklin, a former UFC middleweight champion, finished his MMA career with a 29-7 record / Courtesy of ONE

In addition to overseeing the U.S. expansion, Franklin is working on a recruiting endeavor in Mongolia. He also continues to add a distinct voice to commentary on the ONE broadcasts, and he will be on the call Friday during ONE Fight Night 6, which streams live on Amazon Prime Video. Franklin is in a much different position than when he stepped into the Octagon to compete against Anderson Silva or Chuck Liddell, but it is the same unbridled passion that drives him.

“People think of me as that fiery fighter, and I still have that in me,” says Franklin, who is entering his ninth year with ONE. “When I first started working for ONE, when I walked in the arena, it felt like I should be fighting. It took me about a year and a half to remove that feeling.

“I had a background as a math teacher and I had business acumen, so the transition to rebranding myself as an executive wasn’t difficult. I was familiar with the intellectual work, though there are times when I’m sitting in front of the computer so long that I feel like a caged tiger at the zoo.”

ONE president Chatri Sityodtong has entrusted Franklin with an extraordinarily tough project in the company’s entry into the U.S. at ONE Fight Night 10 in May. Part of the challenge is that ONE is different from other fight organizations, primarily UFC. People in the U.S. are already accustomed to a certain style of MMA, but Franklin’s confidence about ONE is steeped in knowledge of the product—and he believes the differences are going to make the fights stand out even more.

“Change is hard, and we’re different,” says Franklin. “The genius of this business model—bringing Muy Thai matches to MMA events—I didn’t see it at first. I wasn’t a fan of it. I wanted it to be an MMA event. Just to prove my point, I didn’t want to like it—but I did. These athletes, particularly with their standup, they’re on a different level. You see precision you don’t even see in MMA. And then you see the grappling matches, and then we systemically created a league and now we have champions. The product truly is different from any other organization in the world.”

Franklin has transitioned successfully into being a ONE executive by utilizing his fighter's mentality / Courtesy of ONE Championship

A significant distinction in the way ONE operates is its hydration protocol. In ONE, fighters need to simultaneously make weight and the appropriate hydration level. Another key difference is the way judges score rounds. ONE does not use the 10-point must system, instead employing a global ruleset where all of the fight is scored.

“Our global ruleset looks at the entire match and judges it in its entirety,” says Franklin. “There is no such thing as stealing a round with a takedown. Nothing can outdo the prior four minutes of work. We have very clean judging criteria, set up to push a fighter to finish a fight.

“Even when I was fighting, I had no clue on what I was fighting on. What constitutes the criteria that determines which fighter gets a 10? Historically, it’s been vague at best. The 10-point must system is so ingrained in people. In boxing, if there are 12 rounds, that makes sense. You’re judging punching. When you mix in takedowns, grappling, ground control, and strikes landed on the ground, it becomes much more complex, especially with only three rounds. I lost my first round to Forrest Griffin [in 2011], so I decided to stay on the mat. In the 10-point must system, when I lose another round, I’m done. The 10-point must system for three-round MMA matches is an inferior system for judging.”

ONE has the structure in place to resonate with American audiences. Ultimately, its success will be determined by the athletes. If people become emotionally invested in Rodtang Jitmuangnon, Reinier de Ridder, and Anatoliy Malykhin–and there are plenty of reasons to believe those fighters can transcend beyond international borders–then there is no limit to the heights ONE can reach in the U.S.

Already a distinguished, established brand, ONE is bringing pure, uncut fighting to the states.

“People are in for a shock,” says Franklin. “ONE events are like marrying a rock concert to a sporting event. The production quality is going to surprise people. I can’t wait for May.”