Rich Franklin has given his take on when fighters should know when to walk away from the sport they love.
Franklin was once the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight title holder. He also fought the likes of Anderson Silva, Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin. “Ace” now serves as the Vice President of ONE Championship.
During a recent appearance on BJ Penn Radio, Franklin talked about when fighters should hang up their gloves:
“I think you should hang ’em up when you get to a point where it’s detrimental to your well being. I used to speak to my coaches about that. My boxing coach, Rob, I used to be like ‘hey look man, you’re the most in tune with my speed and my reflexes and stuff like that. So let me know, be straight with me. If there comes a day where you’re like, look bro, you’ve lost a step and it’s time to step down, tell me.’ We never had that conversation. Since I never had that conversation with a coach, in my mind, I still have what it takes to compete and do what I need to do. But every athlete is different. Some athletes, their body is more beat up, they’re a bit run down, they lose a step, their reflexes aren’t there. Whatever it may be, they’ve lost their chin… the list goes on and on.”
