It’s been said before but bears saying again: Rich Franklin is the prototypical company man.
"Ace," as he is called, has done it all in the UFC. He started at light-heavyweight and helped grow the sport. He moved down to the UFC’s middleweight division, and he conquered it. When the torch was passed on to Anderson Silva, he continued to plod along and is transitioning back to 205.
Now he prepares to be the first "test" for Vitor Belfort when the latter makes his long-overdue return to the UFC on Saturday, Sept. 19.
Not that I’m suggesting Franklin is being served up to Belfort. Not in the slightest. But it wasn’t Franklin’s first choice for a matchup.
You might recall that Franklin was originally supposed to take on Dan Henderson in a rematch of a January bout in which he felt he was robbed of a decision. This rematch was officially announced to headline the trip to Dallas.
Many fans, including yours truly, questioned this, not only as a main event, but as a worthwhile fight in general.
The two fighters appeared headed in different directions weight-wise. And what would a second meeting prove? Bottom line, the fan reaction was "less than excited."
Well, to their credit, the UFC brass listened, and decided to scrap that fight. Franklin accepted the change, even though he still thought there was some unfinished business with Henderson.
"Yeah I felt that way," Franklin said on Tuesday’s pre-UFC 103 conference call. "But primarily right now I’m interested in fights the fans want to see if I’m not fighting for a title, even though I would like to fight that fight again, if people don’t want to see it, I’m not going to push for it. I believe this is a more exciting fight for the fans, so we’ll give them what they want."
His meeting with Belfort will be a second straight at a catchweight of 195 pounds -- he defeated Wanderlei Silva in Cologne, Germany in June at that weight.
Will he continue to take fights at 195?
"Fighting at 195 wasn’t my idea for this fight in particular, it was something Vitor requested," Franklin admitted. "At this point in time, I’m not in the title hunt at 205. Perhaps I will be at some point in time as long as I keep winning fights, but until then if the UFC has exciting fights for me at 195 pounds and fights that fans want to see, then I’m willing to drop and do what I need to do to put on good fights."
We already know he isn’t going to be challenging for the middleweight belt anytime soon. Not while Anderson Silva, who has crushed him twice, holds the belt.
He was asked if he would be interested in dropping down and taking another run at the belt if Silva were no longer the champion?
"The first thought that pops in my head is that if Anderson Silva were to somehow lose the title and I were to sneak down there and regain the title, in my mind I’d almost feel like by doing so I dodged a bullet. The fans might view it that way and I wouldn’t want it to be viewed that way."
Nice answer.
At the same time, he knows a title run at 205 will be a challenge.
"These are going to be tough matchups just for the fact that I’m not a big 205-pound fighter. A lot of these guys are taller than me, longer than me, wider than me. I’m going to deal with weight issues and strength issues probably, but I’m going to try to tackle them."
In the meantime, he’ll continue to be used as a showcase fighter for new locations. This will be his eighth in a row in a city making its UFC debut.
Before that: Cologne, Dublin, Atlanta, Montreal, Cincinnati, Belfast, Columbus.
He’s 5-2 in those fights, so he’s certainly making new fans in new places being introduced to the sport.
"If the UFC wants to use me as an ambassador, that’s fine with me."
Spoken like a true company man.
NOTES: Another thing that should make Dana White happy: Franklin expressed he has little interest right now in following the lead of Quinton (Rampage) Jackson and heading back to the silver screen. "You’re not going to see me in the A-Team movies," he joked. … Also on the conference call, Mirko (Cro Cop) Filipovic said there was never any truth to the rumours that he was signing with Dream after his last UFC fight. "I wanted to go in the hardest and the only global organization and that’s the UFC," he said. "Of course I’m staying with the UFC. This is the place where I am happy." … Filipovic also said he couldn’t understand why Fedor Emelianenko won’t choose the UFC. "I don’t think he’s afraid. Maybe he wants to keep his perfect record. Maybe he thinks the UFC is too tough. Why he’s not there, I don’t know."
