Former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin has reached the sport's highest honor.
The 44-year-old Franklin, who retired in 2012, was the second name added to the 2019 class of the UFC Hall of Fame. The announcement was made during Saturday's UFC 236 broadcast from Atlanta.
Franklin (29-7, 1 NC), who is currently employed as a vice president with the MMA promotion ONE Championship in Asia, will join fellow former 185-pound champion Michael Bisping in the July 5 ceremony in Las Vegas during International Fight Week.
A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Franklin was nicknamed "Ace" due to his resemblance to actor Jim Carrey in the movie "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective." A former school teacher who earned a master's degree from the University of Cincinnati, Franklin made his UFC debut in 2003 and knocked out Evan Tanner in their 2005 rematch to win the middleweight title.
'Ace' heads to the Hall.@RichFranklin, welcome to the #UFCHoF! pic.twitter.com/SxtFtFWtNt
— UFC (@ufc) April 14, 2019
Despite being best known to fight fans for a pair of damaging knockout title losses to Anderson Silva, Franklin scored victories during his UFC career over the likes of Ken Shamrock, Vanderlei Silva and Chuck Liddell over a 13-year career.
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