Hermes Franca vs. Marcus Aurelio: The student & the teacher face off at UFC 90

By Jeff Larsen

There is practically nothing that sports fans can universally agree upon. Any two fans can look at the same event and have completely different interpretations depending on their respective affiliations.

An Oakland Raider fan who watched the NFL playoffs in 2002 will tell you about a bad call by an official which allowed the New England Patriots to maintain possession at a key point in their game with the Raiders. A New England fan, who watched the exact same play, can tell you the finer points of the “tuck rule” and how it was properly interpreted on that snowy January day.

Mixed martial arts fans are not immune from these differences in reality interpretation. For example, whether you saw Nick Diaz’s victory over Pride stand-out Takanori Gomi as an entertaining display of heart and technique or an aberration which was correctly changed to a no contest, is probably largely dependant on your opinion of the polarizing Stockton fighter.

At UFC 90, in Chicago, IL, two fighters will square off who, themselves, have very differing interpretations of events from their shared history. Pride veteran Marcus “Maximus” Aurelio (16-6) will face former challenger to the UFC Lightweight title Hermes Franca (18-7).

The two are former countrymen, former teammates, as well as former teacher and student.

Both fighters grew up in the city Fortaleza, Brazil. The two became acquainted through Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with Aurelio teaching Franca - is his junior by one year.

Eventually, both moved to the U.S. and found a home at American Top Team in Florida. The nature of this move, however, is disputed as Aurelio has said that he brought Franca over while Franca contends that he came by himself and that it was fellow UFC fighter Wilson Gouveia who gave him the idea.

Whatever the truth is, the two remained in close contact with Aurelio being one of the four Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belts present when Franca was awarded his own black belt.

It was the awarding of another black belt, however, that helped lead to the end of their relationship.

While still with ATT, Hermes awarded current UFC fighter Kurt Pellegrino his black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Some of Franca’s ATT teammates did not feel the promotion was deserved. The divide was wide enough that Franca left to form his own team with Pellegrino at The Armory in Jupiter Florida.

“When I gave Kurt his black belt I was four years into my black belt,” Franca tells Inside Fighting.

“And I know exactly when a guy deserves a black belt. He wasn’t just a good fighter but Kurt’s a good teacher and a great fighter.”

While the strained separation may have severed their relationship, both Aurelio and Franca continued their careers, becoming top level fighters in the lightweight division. Aurelio highlighting his resume with a submission victory over Pride Lightweight Champion Takanori Gomi in April of 2006 and Franca stringing together eight consecutive victories resulting in a Championship title match with the UFC’s Sean Sherk at UFC 73.

But staying true to their parallel motif both fighters have come upon difficult times as of late; Aurelio losing four of his last six fights and Franca serving a one year suspension for testing positive for a banned substance following his loss to Sean Sherk. Additionally, both are entering this fight coming off of a loss to a strong wrestler; Aurelio dropping a unanimous decision to Tyson Griffin at UFC 86 in early July and Franca on the wrong end of a decision to Frankie Edgar later that month.

“Last time I just froze and I did not fight, you know?” Aurelio recalls of his loss to Griffin. “I wasn’t in good shape and I just got, you know, kind of weird. I didn’t feel good and I couldn’t do my game. I don’t know what happened. I guess (I) froze. But this time that’s not going to happen. I prepare my mind everyday.”

Aurelio has confidence from training with one of the best teams in the world, American Top Team

Franca also believes his performance was not what it could have been in his last outing. “I was really excited to fight, you know? I stopped for a year and I was really excited to fight. I was supposed to go against Frankie Edgar in August in Minneapolis but Joe Silva called me, asked to fight in July, and I said, ‘OK, I’ll do it.’ You know, I was more excited to come back and fight. Believe me, the waiting was kind of weird ‘cause that’s what I do. And one year without fighting was kind of killing me. But, you know, it was great. It was the fight of the night. Of course I didn’t win. Now I have no excuse. I have enough time for training, to change my game. I think I am ready,” Franca says.

Franca was set to start his comeback by facing American Top Team’s Gleison Tibau at UFC 90 until a shoulder injury in late August forced Tibau off the card. His teammate, Aurelio, was offered the fight and the stage was set for the former student and teacher to face off.

And though the back story was already rich as the two fighter’s lives were scheduled to intersect once again, the plot thickened after some comments Aurelio made to the Brazilian press calling Franca’s character in to question.

Despite the verbal shots that were traded in the aftermath, both Franca and Aurelio possess a desire to play down the conflict now.

“We don’t have like bad blood. He was my coach in Brazil and I was at the American Top Team and not kind of like a personal thing so, [it is] not that bad,” Franca says. “But he’s not like my friend, friend. We don’t talk. And I think it’s just more professional. I don’t like bringing problems to the cage, you know? I just train hard and try beating him. That’s my job.”

Franca (right) doesn’t need bad blood to predict a KO win

Aurelio seems to echo the sentiment, “I’m trying to make this fight, you know for me, a professional thing. I have to fight, you know? And I will fight good. I will fight great. I’m ready to rock the world over there,” he says.

Aurelio also indicates that he thinks the pending fight is at the heart of the tension that has surfaced. “People are talking a lot. People are asking a lot about that. But the bad blood is because of the fight,” he says.

Franca agrees.

“Like I say, we don’t have problems, you know? It’s going to be just a fight and it is what it is. After the fight, he’s going to keep the same. I don’t talk to him. He doesn’t talk to me so, same thing,” Franca says.

While acknowledging that his former teacher’s style is perhaps the closest to his own that he has ever faced, Franca makes no secret of what he needs to do to win.

“He has a good guard. He’s got the good Jiu Jitsu,” Franca says. “But he knows if he takes me down, he’s going to have some advantage.”

So to prepare to fight his former teacher, Franca has been working extensively on takedown defense as he prepares in different academies in the San Diego area. Aurelio holds his cards a little closer to his chest and will only indicate that he continues to work on all facets of the game.

“I’m training a lot of Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai and wrestling. I have a lot of teammates at ATT that can train with me all day and they help me a lot,” Aurelio says.

This slight contrast in gamesmanship continues in their predictions for the fight as well. “I don’t have any prediction,” claims Aurelio. “The prediction I have is that when the fight starts I’m going to be 100%, you know, for the fight. For me, it will be a fight that I’m going to die or to live, you know? That’s my prediction. If I have to die in the cage I will die for that.”

Franca simply says, “I’m gonna knock him out.”

And after the fight, will Franca walk across the cage and shake the hand of this man with whom he’s shared so much history?

“If he’s awake, I’ll shake his hand,” Franca says.

One thing that can be predicted is a great fight between two of the most skilled 155 pound fighters in the world; a fight that will propel one of the fighters up the UFC’s crowded lightweight division while making the other an owner of a multi-fight losing streak with an up hill battle ahead of themselves. With stakes like that and a shared history like theirs, Aurelio vs. Franca is sure to be a fight worth seeing.

Even the two of them can likely agree on that.