This fight in all likelihood won’t happen, because at this time its not right for the sport or the business, Cane’s supporters opinions notwithstanding.

Is that short and to the point for you Jazzkok?

And dude, you know this is all in fun, I have no beef with you. A lot of what you write is on-point, and I agree that guys like Cane get left out in the cold because of the folding green mentality.

I think i read somewhere that franklin owned wanderlei…wow, and thiago alves gave gsp a challenge…

Guys come in all the time from different weight classes and different organizations and get fast-tracked, or allowed to “jump a few spots in line”, if you follow. Anderson Silva got a title shot after whack-a-mole’ing the semi-skilled Chris Leben, and now Silva is getting a match with one of the top LHW’s in the world in Forrest Griffin. AND HE’S NOT EVEN A LHW.
Ditto BJ Penn and GSP.
If you’re a WW contender you’ve got to be thinking, “hey, champ, howzabout defending your belt before doing a superfight with a pumped up 155er?”
Yes, Penn does have credentials at 170, but its not like he “eaned” or “deserved” a fight with GSP.

Is this practice right?
Absolutely not.
Has Dana White and the Fertitas decided it is right for their business?
Absolutely.
And we all go along with it because it’s all part of the show, sad to say.
It’s also working. As per Fortune Magazine, it’s going to work to the tune of over a quarter of a billion dollars for the UFC this year alone.

Its just this simple.
Franklin is a MMA “name”, a previous champion, and has fought some impressive men. If memory serves, at 205, both in and out of the UFC, or as a favor to the promotion catchweight 195 or near to it, Franklin has fought Ken Shamrock before he became the Sham, Lyoto Machida before he became the Dragon, Matt Hamill, Wanderlei Silva, and Dan Henderson. He’s beaten Hamill, Silva, and some would say Hendo, but thats a different thread.

And not to take you to task Jazzkok, but when I look at Cane’s resume I’m not overwhelmed by what he’s accomplished in this sport to date. Yes, he’s beaten some respectable names, and got himself DQ’ed against Irvin, who he probably coud have beaten cleanly.
But names like Irvin, Sokodjou, Lambert, and Cantwell don’t exactly match up with names like Wand, Hendo, Machida, and Shamrock back when that name still meant something to active MMA.

Now Jazzkok before you respond with, “yeah, but I said what’s Franklin done at 205, wisea$$”, lets get one thing perfectly crystal clear before this goes any further.

In MMA in general, and the UFC in particular, what a fighter has done in the cage, or ring, carries far more weight with the promoter, the matchmaker, and both the majority of causal and hardcore fans than what weight class he’s done it in. Cane’s 3-1 UFC record at LHW pales in comparison to Franklin’s 2-1 UFC LHW record in the eyes of the promotion and the majority of fans. And yes, I’m lumping in the Wand catchweight fight because that’s how Dana White wanted it. Everyone knows it was Franklin throwing the promotion a bone, and the promotion throwing Wand a bone. For all intents and purposes for this discussion it’s a LHW fight, the scale not withstanding, and should have been contested at 205.

That’s not to say that Cane’s time won’t come. Yes, he’s got a load of potential and is a real talent. Yes, he may deserve a fight with a top fighter, but Franklin has done the promotion enough solids. It’s someone else’s turn to take Cane out for a run in the cage and see if he’s the real deal or not. If I were Franklin and Dana White called me with that $hit about fighting Cane, I’d respectfully tell him to go call Keith Jardine and let the Dean of Mean determine Cane’s relative level.

Whether or not you’re a Luiz Cane supporter, or a Rich Franklin supporter, or neither, it doesn’t pay to not recognize how things actually are in the 2009 UFC. Thats what everyone has told me when I was trying to make the point about Brock Lesnar.

Fame is the name of the game, and Cane doesn’t have any. Sorry to say Jazzkok, but if I were Franklin, I wouldn’t take a fight with someone so much farther down the career foodchain than I am. Franklin’s looking for title fights. Cane is looking for fights where the MMA media gets his name right.
There’s a big difference…