Rich detained at LAX: mistaken for convicted felon
Former UFC middleweight champion and current ONE Championship VP Rich Franklin was detained at LAX on Tuesday after being mistakenly identified as a convicted felon.
Former UFC champ Rich Franklin had a really, really long layover at LAX, as he was mistaken for a wanted felon.
Franklin, according to his publicist, Daphne Ortiz, was on his way home to Cincinnati, Ohio, following a trip to Singapore, where he works as a vice president for Asian mixed martial arts promotion ONE Championship and travels to and from every couple of months. He had a one-hour layover in Los Angeles, where he planned to relax, but was instead handcuffed by immigration officials, led through a an estimated crowd of 500 people, and put into a cell without being told why he was being detained.
Officials eventually cleared Franklin – who shares the same name and state of residence as a convicted felon – and sent him back to the pre-check area where he is registered with the airlines.
