Davion Franklin- Driven to Build A legacy
The heavyweight division has always been the most prominent in Combat Sports. There’s nothing bigger than being heavyweight champion of the world. At only 3-0, JacksonWink fighter, “All Day” Davion Franklin has already garnered enough respect to have earned a spot in the Bellator Heavyweight rankings but that achievement while impressive, fails in comparison to Franklin’s ultimate goal.
“All Day” scored his second win by knock out at Bellator 259; stopping Tyler King in just over two minutes into the first round with a barrage of punches. The performance was no accident-, “It showed that I can strike, and I don’t need to wrestle”.
Coming to MMA with a wrestling background, striking is normally the area of the game in which there’s the most to learn. “I feel like I’m pretty well-rounded and I actually like to strike more than wrestle. Anyway, if I wrestle it’s kind of just to prove a point, you know what I mean. That the wrestling is always going to be there.”
The victory over King was in impressive fashion, with a little extra, when you consider it was Kings 22nd professional bout. “I’m 3-0. He’s was a good opponent for me at that point in my career, but at the same time I feel like I can beat any body right now. That’s how I feel. Really that’s how I feel. I feel like I can beat anyone especially on the Bellator heavyweight roster.”
The 26 about to turn 27-year-old has put the division and the promotion on notice, walking through the toughest competition he could find.
“There’s no one that come in Bellator like I have. Guys have come into Bellator under similar conditions. First pro fight in Bellator type thing. They were getting guys with losing records at first. Guys that only have two three fights. My first fight I had a guy who had seven fights. Second Guy, I had a guy who had ten fights. Third fight, who wussied out two hours before the event, had seven fights. This fight twenty fights, know what I mean. And they’re all over .500% (winning percentage). So, no one has come in Bellator like I have. Two fights in, ranked in the top ten. I’m in a position where I don’t expect everything to be handed to me, but I’m gonna take everything. With each performance no matter who they put in my way. I said it before everyone’s getting done the same way. I can assure you of that, I’m telling you, I promise you, everybody, everybody.”
All fighters have big dreams and Everest size goals to achieve but Franklin is determined to have an iconic career.
“As long as I’m comfortable and taken care of, my business is taken care of, I’m just focused on the legacy. I want to stay undefeated my whole career. No heavyweight has done that. And as long as I’m undefeated, I still have a chance to stay undefeated.”
“I have to stay undefeated my whole career; that’s my purpose.”
MMA is a grueling and challenging sport where world champions from a range of different martial arts come together. Many compete but only few become world champion.
“My passion. I look at a lot of these guys and I can just tell they’re doing it for different reasons than I’m doing it for. I’m doing it for legacy purposes. I’m doing this cause this fighting thing, fighting comes so effortless to me. I’m blessed to do this. I do it because I want to be great at it. A lot of guys doing it cause they want a check, want some attention, want some fame, some kind of monetary gain, they’re doing it for their brand, things like that. I don’t see to many guys having the mentality that I love this shit. I want to be great. I want to be number one, numero uno. This is my calling. This is my passion. I feel so at home when I do this. Never been this good at anything in my life and wanted to still do it.”
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