Rich Franklin on the power of losing
“I’ll actually pray ‘God, please if you can make the lights go out, that would be great.’ That’s a true story. That’s not a joke. There’s no punchline.”
Anderson Silva is on everyone’s short list as the Greater of All Time in mixed martial arts. He took the UFC middleweight title from Rich Franklin in 2006. The coronation of a king in mixed martial arts demands a sacrifice, and it was Franklin.
At a TEDxTalk in Chicago last month, Franklin talked about the power of losing.
This didn’t really resonate with me until the night that I lost my title. I was fighting in Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, recalled Franklin. Sold-out crowd, and 20,000 people were there. Electricity in the air. Sitting backstage, as usual, I’m nervous. I’ll actually pray ‘God, please if you can make the lights go out, that would be great.’
That’s a true story. That’s not a joke. There’s no punchline.
TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Talks are a worldwide set of non-profit conferences, with the slogan “ideas worth spreading.” TEDx talks are independently organized events in the same vein.