Richard Jay Franklin II was born on 5 October 1974, in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. He is a retired professional mixed martial artist, best known to have competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He is a ex-UFC Middleweight Champion, and all of his efforts have helped put his net worth to where it is today.
How rich is Rich Franklin? As of mid-2016, sources estimate a net worth that is at $3.5 million, mostly earned through his success in professional mixed martial arts. He’s earned high valued contracts through fights, but later transitioned to a more executive role. He is the Vice-President of ONE Championship and as he continues his career it is expected that his wealth will increase.
Rich Franklin Net Worth $3.5 million
Franklin attended William Henry Harrison High School, and after matriculating went to the University of Cincinnati. He graduated with a degree in mathematics, and would later earn a master’s degree in education. Prior to going into mixed martial arts, he was a mathematics teacher at Oak Hills High School.
In the early 1990s, he started learning martial arts, specifically karate at the Harrison Okinawan Karate Dojo. During this time, he was also learning submission fighting through instructional video tapes, and would later learn Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from Jorge Gurgel. He then learn Muay Thai under Neal Rowe and Boxing under Rob Radford. Eventually, he would work his way to becoming a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt.
At the start of his UFC career, he would go on a perfect 3-0 record, defeating Evan Tanner, Edwin Dewees and Jorge Rivera. In 2005, he fought in the main event of “The Ultimate Fighter 1 Finale” which he won against Ken Shamrock thanks to his striking. He was the first fighter to have knocked Shamrock out, and the win made him one of the most popular fighters in UFC. Thanks to his win, he got a title shot and would face Evan Tanner for the UFC Middleweight Championship. He won the belt and would successfully defend it against Nate Quarry and David Loiseau from 2005 to 2006, however, after the fight with David he would be side-lined for six months because of a broken hand. In 2007, he lost the belt to Anderson Silva via TKO during the first round and had to undergo surgery to fix a nasal fracture.
He returned in UFC 68 to fight against Jason MacDonald, getting a win. He then fought Yushin Okami in UFC 72 to determine the top contender for the middleweight division, which he won, and then fought Silva for a second time but would lose in the second round via TKO. After his second loss, Rich would start training with Matt Hume, and then moved to the Light Heavyweight division to fight against Matt Hamill. He won the fight via TKO and then faced Dan Henderson at UFC 93, losing in a controversial split decision, and his next fight would be against Wanderlei Silva which he won. At UFC 103, he fought against Vitor Belfort and lost during the first round though there was controversy about illegal blows to his head. Franklin then went on to face Chuck Liddell and would win thanks to a counter right hand during round one. He continued with a couple of more fights before returning to the Middleweight division.
Franklin’s return paired him with Cung Le, but he was knocked out during the first round; in 2015, he announced his retirement. The decision was made after he discussed retiring with his mother, admitting that his body had slowed down.
Aside from fighting, Franklin has acted in several film projects including “Cyborg Soldier” in which he stars with Tiffani Thiessen. He also played MMA Coach Billings in the comedy film “Mantervention”.
For his personal life, it is known that Rich was married to Beth Franklin in 2002 but they divorced in 2011. He is a Christian, and quotes Psalm 144:1 on his fighter gear and webpage.
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