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Originally Posted by Zeke's Chaingun
Well I hope you are right... but Rich has been susceptable to the clinch game before and Hendo relishes the clinch game. Even though Hendo's clinch is far different than Anderson's clinch, it is still an X factor, and IMO is the biggest X factor of this fight.
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That's been Franklin's only real weakness in the UFC. He lost to Anderson twice via the clinch, otherwise he's beaten all of his opponents handily. He's a much more technical striker than Henderson as well, so Henderson really needs to clinch up and try and rock the right and some knees if he hopes to finish the fight. I don't see this fight ever going to the ground, because if there is any place where Hendo doesn't want it, it's the ground. Looking at their records, Franklin has a decent percentage of his wins by submission, whereas Hendo has one. The only reason why Hendo would take it to the ground is to lay'n'pray but Franklin could still get it back up to standing fast, not to mention refs and judges have grown less and less kind to guys who don't get action going.
In conclusion, Hendo's most likely route to finishing this fight is to get a solid clinch going and try to take Franklin out like Anderson did. The only other option that has any chance of happening is to keep winging in his heavy hands and hope for one to land and stun Franklin so he can finish. However, it is MMA, and anything can happen, so take what I say worth a grain of salt. For all we know, Hendo might come out and try to sub him with a flying scissor heel hook.