BOUTSCOUT
Matchup deep-dive

Rich Franklin vs.
Ken Shamrock

Two full careers, measured against each man's own division and against each other — the tape, the read, and every number behind them.

14-6-0 Rich Franklin · UFC
6-5-2 Ken Shamrock · UFC
Tale of the tape

The men, measured.

Frame, age, layoff and recent form — green marks the edge on each line.

14-6-0
UFC record
6-5-2
Middleweight
Division (benchmark)
Open Weight
51.8
AgeΔ 10.7 yrs
62.5
6'1"
HeightΔ 0"
6'1"
76"
ReachΔ 4"
72"
Southpaw
Stance
Orthodox
164.8
Layoff (months)Δ 73 mo
237.8
LWLWL
Last 5 (newest first)
LLLWL
The read

What the numbers say.

Scouting notes, auto-generated — only stats deviating more than 25% from the division median make this list. No narratives, just deviations.

Rich Franklin carries real power — 0.74 knockdowns per 15 minutes, vs a 0.32 Middleweight norm.
Ken Shamrock is wasteful with strikes at range — only 16% land, vs a 28% Open Weight norm.
Rich Franklin is hard to hit — absorbs 2.05 sig. strikes per minute, vs a 3.20 Middleweight norm.
Level of competition

Who did they actually beat?

Full-career records re-graded by the tier of opposition — the same grading the Contender Series pick model uses. Records built on tier-4 competition are worth less than records built on killers.

Rich Franklin

Full career not yet synced for Rich Franklin — tier grading appears once their record documentation lands (refreshes weekly).

In the UFC: 9-5 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +2.5 wins over .500

Ken Shamrock

Full career not yet synced for Ken Shamrock — tier grading appears once their record documentation lands (refreshes weekly).

In the UFC: 1-5 against opponents who walked in above .500 · avg opponent walk-in record +3.5 wins over .500

Striking

The stand-up battle.

Career totals; norms are the medians of each man's own division.

Significant strikes — landed & absorbed

8564.23/min · norm 3.25
Sig. strikes landed
1171.55/min · norm 1.46
4152.05/min · norm 3.20
Sig. strikes absorbed
1642.17/min · norm 1.68
43.5%norm 47.4%
Striking accuracy
41.1%norm 45.8%
63.4%norm 53.8%
Striking defense
50.5%norm 49.0%
100.74/15 · norm 0.32
Knockdowns
10.20/15 · norm 0.00

Where the fight happens (share of sig. strike attempts)

Rich Franklin

Distance 79.9% (norm 79.4%) · Clinch 11.5% (norm 9.1%) · Ground 8.6% (norm 10.3%)

Ken Shamrock

Distance 51.2% (norm 50.2%) · Clinch 14.0% (norm 14.9%) · Ground 34.7% (norm 28.7%)

What they throw (share of sig. strike attempts by target)

Rich Franklin

Head 81.6% (norm 78.0%) · Body 12.8% (norm 13.4%) · Legs 5.5% (norm 8.4%)

Ken Shamrock

Head 85.3% (norm 81.2%) · Body 11.9% (norm 8.0%) · Legs 2.8% (norm 5.2%)

Zone accuracy matrix Landed / attempted by zone

Green ≥ division median, red below. UFCStats tracks position and target as separate splits.

Zone Franklin L/AAccMiddleweight med Shamrock L/AAccOpen Weight med
BY POSITION
At distance 596 / 1575 37.8% 40.5% 23 / 146 15.8% 27.8%
In the clinch 151 / 226 66.8% 70.3% 27 / 40 67.5% 63.8%
On the ground 109 / 169 64.5% 69.1% 67 / 99 67.7% 65.8%
BY TARGET
To the head 559 / 1608 34.8% 38.9% 79 / 243 32.5% 39.3%
To the body 198 / 253 78.3% 71.7% 30 / 34 88.2% 90.5%
To the legs 99 / 109 90.8% 83.3% 8 / 8 too few to rate 53.5%

Zones with fewer than 25 attempts are marked "too few to rate". Each fighter is measured against the median of leaderboard-eligible fighters in his own division (Middleweight: 174 fighters · Open Weight: 11 fighters).

What lands on them Opponents' accuracy against each man

Green ≤ division median — harder to hit than the typical man in his division.

Zone vs Franklin L/AOpp accMiddleweight med vs Shamrock L/AOpp accOpen Weight med
BY POSITION
At distance 247 / 877 28.2% 39.5% 49 / 165 29.7% 37.0%
In the clinch 120 / 169 71.0% 70.9% 38 / 57 66.7% 66.7%
On the ground 48 / 88 54.5% 69.0% 77 / 109 70.6% 67.1%
BY TARGET
To the head 231 / 879 26.3% 37.9% 134 / 288 46.5% 47.0%
To the body 109 / 162 67.3% 71.3% 17 / 20 too few to rate 87.9%
To the legs 75 / 93 80.6% 82.1% 13 / 23 too few to rate 61.2%
Grappling

The ground war.

Takedowns, control and submissions — career totals with each man's per-minute rates against his division norm.

1463.6% acc · 1.04/15 · norm 1.42
Takedowns landed
763.6% acc · 1.39/15 · norm 1.15
3464.2% def · norm 63.1%
Takedowns stopped
1066.7% def · norm 66.7%
37:3818.6% of cage time · norm 19.75%
Control time
0:392.8% of cage time · norm 21.95%
25:391:54 per 15 · norm 3:00
Time under control
14:002:46 per 15 · norm 0:39
20.15/15 · norm 0.47
Submission attempts
91.78/15 · norm 1.34

Bars compare the two men's rates (per-minute / per-15 figures), not raw totals — Franklin has more cage time on record.

Next move

Let the engine settle it.