Former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin has been named vice president of Singapore-based mixed martial arts promotion ONE FC.
The organization announced the news on Twitter Wednesday.
“The offer was definitely something that appealed to me and I like the people at ONE FC, so it was a no-brainer decision,” Franklin told Yahoo! Sports. “There is no convincing needed for me to join the team…I am here to learn the culture of the [organization]; how it operates, how it functions. They have an aggressive growth plan over the next couple of years and it will be about me learning how that growth plan is going to execute,” he said in an exclusvie interview today.
Despite his new job title, Franklin has not officially retired from the sport and remains under contract with the UFC — he has one fight left on his deal.
“I went to speak to Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta of the UFC at the end of last year, to tell them that ONE FC was offering me a job. They told me it sounds like a really good offer and they were completely supportive, unlike what others might have thought,” Franklin explained. “According to the UFC, taking a position in ONE FC does not force me into retiring from fighting. It is my intention to fight my last fight and it will be my retirement fight. But I have to sit down and discuss this with everybody [at ONE FC] as well.”
Franklin (29-7, 1 NC) hasn’t fought since a knockout loss to Cung Le in November 2012 and has competed just three times in the past four years. The 39-year-old Cincinnati native holds notable wins over Chuck Liddell, Wanderlei Silva, Yushin Okami, Ken Shamrock and the late Evan Tanner.
ONE FC, Asia’s largest MMA organization, debuted in September 2011 and has been developing a talented roster of fighters. Vancouver’s Bibiano Fernandes is the promotion’s bantamweight champion, while former Pride, Dream and Shooto star Shinya Aoki holds the featherweight title. The promotion also recently signed longtime Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren.
Former UFC champions Andrei Arlovski, Tim Sylvia, Jens Pulver, current UFC fighters Rustam Khabilov and Tatsuya Kawajiri, plus notable MMA stars Roger Huerta, Renato “Babalu” Sobral and Phil Baroni have competed for ONE FC in the past.
