Rich Franklin

UFC 103 Notes: Belfort Moves to Forefront of Middleweight Title Picture

A win over Rich Franklin was expected to make Vitor Belfort an instant contender for Anderson Silva’s UFC middleweight title. But according to UFC President Dana White, Belfort may have positioned himself as the leading candidate for Silva’s next title defense, even before Dan Henderson and Nate Marquardt.

“You know, I think he might be ready now,” White said at last night’s UFC 103 post-fight press conference.

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Belfort Beats Franklin in Return at UFC 103

Vitor Belfort’s return to the UFC was a successful one as the former UFC light heavyweight champion decked former UFC middleweight king Rich Franklin with a series of punches that resulted in a first-round TKO win for the heavy-handed Brazilian in the main event of UFC 103 on Saturday night in Dallas, Texas.

Up until the ending sequence, the bout didn’t feature much action. Belfort (19-8) and Franklin (25-5) exchanged leg kicks and short jabs, but neither put together any offense of note that landed. Things completely changed however after Belfort clipped Franklin with an overhand left during an exchange.

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UFC 103: “Franklin vs. Belfort” Live Results

We will be going live at 6:00 PM ET with live results of UFC 103: “Franklin vs. Belfort”, which will take place at a sold out American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. The event’s televised main card will be broadcast live on pay-per-view starting at 10:00 PM ET. An additional hour of preliminary bouts will also be shown on Spike TV starting at 9:00 PM ET prior to that.

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort headlines the event, returning to the UFC in a 195 lb catchweight bout against former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin. A heavyweight contenders clash between formidable strikers Mirko Cro Cop and Junior Dos Santos serves as the co-main event.

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UFC 103: “Franklin vs. Belfort” Video Preview

In this extended video preview courtesy of the UFC, Saturday’s 195 lb catchweight mega-fight between former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin and former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort is profiled along with an anticipated heavyweight matchup between Mirko Cro Cop and Junior Dos Santos.

Fight of the Day: Machida vs. Franklin

From the Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye Festival in December 2003, here’s current UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida taking on former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin. The first part of the fight is above and the second is after the jump.

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Vitor Belfort Returns to UFC, Headlines UFC 103 in Bout With Franklin

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort has signed with the UFC and will fight former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin at UFC 103 on September 19 at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas.

Before the fall of Affliction, Belfort was scheduled to face Jorge Santiago and when Josh Barnett was pulled from the main event, Belfort’s name was tossed around as a possible opponent for Fedor Emelianenko.

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Henderson vs. Franklin II & Cro Cop vs. Dos Santos Added to UFC 103

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has announced that UFC 103 will be headlined by a light heavyweight bout featuring former PRIDE welterweight and middleweight champion Dan Henderson taking on former UFC middleweight champion Rich “Ace” Franklin. Also on the card will be a heavyweight bout between Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and Junior Dos Santos.

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UFC 99 Results

Rich Franklin def. Wanderlei Silva - Unanimous Decision
Cain Velasquez def. Cheick Kongo - Unanimous Decision
Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic def. Mustapha Al-Turk - TKO Round 1 3:08
Mike Swick def. Ben Saunders - TKO Round 2 2:47
Spencer Fisher def. Caol Uno - Unanimous Decision
Dan Hardy def. Marcus Davis - Split Decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)
Terry Etim def. Justin Buchholz - Submission (D’Arce Choke) Round 2
Dennis Siver def. Dale Hartt - Submission (Rear Naked Choke) Round 1
Paul Taylor def. Peter Sobotta - Unanimous Decision
Paul Kelly def. Roli Delgado - Unanimous Decision
Stefan Struve def. Denis Stojnic - Submission (Rear Naked Choke) Round 2
John Hathaway def. Rick Story - Unanimous Decision

Thanks to Sherdog, MMA Weekly and Yahoo! for filling in the results and some details of the earlier bouts.

Quote of the Day: Wanderlei Silva Wants to Bet Anderson on Franklin Fight

“I go to knock him out. I have trained so much and Rich won’t last two rounds. I think it is good Anderson has been preparing him. I hope he is also on the corner. I want to dare him to bet $50,000. I put these amount and Anderson or his sponsors, Ed Soares or Joinha, bet another part. Who wins takes the money.”

Longtime PRIDE middleweight champion Wanderlei Silva tells Fighters Only Magazine that would be willing to bet former training partner Anderson Silva that he will be victorious within two rounds in his catch-weight bout against Rich Franklin at UFC 99 on June 13.

It looks like the war of words between the two Brazilians isn’t going to be ending anytime soon.

Silva: “Franklin Isn’t Training With Me”

Reports circulated earlier this week that former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin would be using the services of an old rival, reigning pound-for-pound king Anderson Silva, in preparation for his upcoming catch-weight bout against Wanderlei Silva in June.

Franklin’s camp declined to confirm the news, which would have only escalated a growing feud between Anderson and Wanderlei, former training partners that now seem to be a collision course to face each other in the future. However, according to Silva, Franklin hasn’t even contacted him about training together:

He didn’t said any word to me about it, but he’s gonna face a Brazilian, so it’s hard that something will happen. I don’t have anything against Franklin [or] Wanderlei, both are great fighters. In another situation, I’d train with him, for sure. My gym is open for everyone. Whoever goes there can have classes and I won’t have any problems if he decides to go there.

I had to clean up the quote a little bit so it would make sense. I’m not sure how to take this. Tatame is a great site for news related to Brazilian fighters, but quotes are often skewed during the translation from Portugese to Englsih and so forth.

If Franklin and Silva really are training together, they could be keeping things quiet so the repercussions of Anderson helping another fighter get ready to face another Brazilian, and a former teammate at that, are relatively minimal. Franklin’s camp also using Anderson and Wand’s shaky relationship these days as mind games could also be a possibility as well.