Richard Jay Franklin II (born October 5, 1974)[2] is an American businessman and retired mixed martial artist.

Ze/Lin In October 2013, Franklin and friend and business partner, Billy Zebe, launched Ze/Lin Organic Juice & Fusion Café in Beverly Hills, California.

[8] Franklin serves as a face of the brand and travels throughout the US and Asia hosting seminars and speaking engagements, promoting fights, and working with the fighters.

He has been associated with and trained with Meat Truck, Inc. and currently trains at facilities run by Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Jorge Gurgel (New Generation Martial Arts), Neal Rowe, a Muay Thai instructor (Sacan Martial Arts), and Rob Radford, a boxing instructor (Boxing 4 Fitness).

On April 5, 2005, Franklin fought in the main event of The Ultimate Fighter 1 Finale, which was the first live UFC card on free cable TV.

The victory led to Franklin being named a coach, along with welterweight champion Matt Hughes, on the second season of The Ultimate Fighter.

At UFC 56 on November 19, 2005, Franklin defended his title against Nate Quarry, a competitor from season 1 of The Ultimate Fighter.

Franklin was caught in a clinch by Silva and received a flurry of knees and kicks that rendered him unable to continue.

Franklin fought world ranked Yushin Okami at UFC 72 in Belfast, Northern Ireland on June 16, 2007.

Silva was able to effectively neutralize Franklin in the clinch, eventually defeating the former champion via TKO (knees) at 1:07 of the second round.

After his second loss to Anderson, Franklin began making regular trips to Seattle, WA to train with Matt Hume of AMC Pankration.

At UFC 88 on Sept. 6, 2008, Franklin made his return to the light heavyweight division against close friend and training partner Matt Hamill.

Franklin won by TKO following a kick to Hamill's liver, which prompted the referee to call a stop to the fight at 0:39 of round three.

Franklin faced former PRIDE welterweight and middleweight champion Dan Henderson at UFC 93 in Dublin, Ireland on January 17, 2009 and lost by controversial split decision.

At UFC 99 in Cologne, Germany on June 13, 2009, Franklin defeated former Pride middleweight champion Wanderlei Silva via unanimous decision at a catchweight of 195 lbs.

During the post-fight press conference, Franklin confirmed that his left forearm had been broken by a head kick Liddell threw during the middle of the round.

[14] Franklin faced Wanderlei Silva in a rematch, replacing Vitor Belfort, who suffered a hand injury, in the main event at catchweight on June 23, 2012 at UFC 147.