I’m a big mixed-martial arts fan. A BIG one really. In fact, most of my blog posts here are about MMA events from UFC, WEC and Strikeforce.

Last Wednesday when I was browsing the listings of my favorite local eBay seller for my NBA trading cards hobby, I saw that he now has MMA trading cards in his auctions as well.

I immediately presented bids for a BJ Penn, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans and Rich Franklin autographed cards. After the auction ended, I only won the Rich Franklin. It seems many fans want a piece of these fighters too.

I especially like the Penn but it ended at $56 + $3.95 shipping which is too high for me. The Prodigy co-headlines UFC 112 this Sunday at UAE so I think that’s the main factor for the price. In comparison, I got the Franklin in less than Php500.

So, from the mail that arrived today, here’s my first-ever MMA trading card, a 2009 Upper Deck Prominent Cuts Cage Fighter Signatures #CFSRF Rich Franklin autographed card:

Rich Franklin is nicknamed Ace due to his resemblance to Jim Carrey (who played the character Ace Ventura). Before becoming an MMA fighter, Franklin taught mathematics at the Oak Hills High School in Cincinnati, Ohio and has a master’s degree in education at the University of Cincinnati.

Now, who says MMA fighters are all brawn and no brains?

He is a former UFC Middleweight champion winning it at UFC 56 against Evan Tanner and has defended it successfully two times before losing it to Anderson Silva at UFC 64 (who is still the champion and making his sixth title defense against Demian Maia at UFC 112).

He has a record of 26 wins (14 by KO, 9 by submission) and 5 losses. In his last fight, he lost against Vitor Belfort at UFC 103 when he was caught by a big left that knocked him out in the very first round.

If rumors are to be believed, he replaced Tito Ortiz as a coach in The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 which is currently on at Spike TV.

We will find that out soon.

UPDATE May 27, 2010: I think that will finally happen in The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 Episode 10 to be shown on June 2, 2010.

UPDATE June 3, 2010: Rich did replace Tito in the 10th episode of TUF 11. Dana White also announced that he will face opposing coach Chuck Liddell in the main event of the UFC 115 fight card on June 12, 2010.

UPDATE June 13, 2010: This card is now gone. I sold it for $16.15 including shipping at eBay to make a gross profit of $5.78.

Please read my related posts:

1. UFC 115 | Rich Franklin Knocks Out Chuck Liddell! A UFC legend falls in Vancouver, Canada. UFC Hall of Famer and former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell may have fought his last inside the Octagon after a devastating knockout blow from Rich “Ace” Franklin in the...
2. UFC 99 Video | Rich Franklin vs Wanderlei Silva In the main event of UFC 99: The Comeback, former UFC  middleweight champion Rich “Ace” Franklin defeated Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva via unanimous decision in a very exhaustive 3-round bout of 5 minutes each. Franklin got the first 2...
3. UFC 126 | Forrest Griffin vs Rich Franklin In the co-main event of UFC 126 this February 5, 2011 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, two former UFC champions will face off to move one step up to challenging again for a UFC...
4. UFC 115: Liddell vs Franklin Official Fight Card UFC 115′s main event is supposed to be the third bout between The Ultimate Fighter 11 coaches Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. However, an injury to Ortiz (that was finally revealed in TUF 11 episode 10) put the fight in...
5. UFC 115: Liddell vs Franklin Fight Card Results After Tito Ortiz pulled out of his matchup with Chuck Liddell due to a neck injury (see The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 Episode 10), will fans be treated to a more exciting bout with Liddell against Rich Franklin? In a...
6. UFC 115 | Franklin Aces The Iceman Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell wants to knock Tito “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Ortiz out for the third time. However, after having to grudgingly deal with him in The Ultimate Fighter 11 show for weeks, his chance vanished when The...
7. UFC 115: Liddell vs Franklin Fight Videos UFC 115: Liddell vs Franklin features the two opposing coaches for the reality series The Ultimate Fighter Season 11. Tito Ortiz (instead of Rich Franklin) was originally scheduled to fight Chuck Liddell but bailed out due a neck injury that...
8. UFC 103: Franklin vs Belfort REPLAY UFC 103: Franklin vs Belfort was one of the most-anticipated UFC events ever as it featured a match between two former UFC champions. It was scheduled for September 19, 2009 (September 20 Sunday here in the Philippines) at the American...
9. UFC 115: Liddell vs Franklin Replay UFC 115: Liddell vs Franklin featured the matchup between the two opposing coaches of the reality TV series, The Ultimate Fighter Season 11. The event was scheduled for Saturday, June 12, 2010 at the General Motors Place in Vancouver, British...
10. World MMA Awards 2010 Winners The 3rd annual Fighters Only World Mixed Martial Arts Awards 2010 was held at the Palms Casino Resort  in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA on December 1, 2010. Sponsored by Fighters Only Magazine, the awards show is a celebration of the...

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Tags: autograph, MMA cards, rich franklin