Rich Franklin Signs Six-Fight UFC Deal, Assumes Henderson Rematch at 205
After recently meeting one-on-one with UFC President Dana White, Rich Franklin has signed a new six-fight contract with the promotion, with the deal going into effect for his UFC 103 headlining rematch against Dan Henderson.
Henderson defeated Franklin by split decision in their first meeting in January and the UFC surprisingly announced the rematch for September 19 in Dallas yesterday.
Franklin and Henderson have both competed at middleweight (185) and light heavyweight in recent years, though Franklin has settled in at 205-pounds while Henderson appears content to remain at 185, prompting questions as to what weight class this fight will take place at.
Franklin, who was a guest on Tuesday’s edition of MMAjunkie radio where he also revealed the new contract, is expecting to fight Henderson at light heavyweight, just as they did for their first meeting.
“I’m assuming (it’s at) 205,” said Franklin. “The last one was at 205. I’d guess that – I haven’t spoken to anyone about it, so anything I say is only speculation. Even if he lost to me at 205, it shouldn’t affect his standing at 185 pounds. So I’d assume the UFC would do this fight at 205.”
Tags: Dan Henderson, Rich Franklin
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This is a prime example of the UFC taking on too many events (at least pay per view) in a year. I was excited when they announced more events last fall, but it seems with this and the last minute Jackson vs Jardine they just don’t have enough headlining events for a year. This is just IMO, but I don’t see how it can be argued.
I don’t think they put on too many events. I think it has to do with four of the five UFC champions fighting in consecutive events – UFC 100 and UFC 101.
Okay here’s the problem I have and it’s a problem for the UFC and MMA as well. I think we can all agree that Henderson has earned a title shot and he SHOULD be fighting Silva next. The only reason he’s not is for this non-sensical fight Silva is going to have with Forest. Now we have two crowd pleasing fights (Silva vs Griffin and Hendo vs Franklin) that advance the fighters cause precisely 0%. Silva should be defending his belt, there’s no excuse whatsoever except in terms of ticket sales. But wait, its literally getting to the point where the UFC can put on any card at any venue and they still sell out and earn millions in ppv buys. Why isnt Silva defending his belt and why isnt Hendo the contender? Can anyone clear this up for me, I’m losing sight of why there’s weight classes and title belts in the first place.
Personal Disclaimer: I am a uneducated individual who reads posts on here religiously but hardly ever posts. The above horsesh!t is why. Im going to disappear for awhile again until I can speak intelligently on these topics. TYVM for not bashing me.
You’re funny dude. What you said in the first post makes perfect sense. And I have no answer other than the UFC seems to be going the old school PRIDE Superfight route for the near future.
Go vent on the forums, it’s good for ya!
makes sense to me.
feel free to speak your mind chief
I think a large part of the reason for this whole situation is Silva v. Leites. Going into that fight it was expected that Maia would get next crack at Silva, then the winner of Bisping v. Henderson would potentially get the winner of that fight (especially if Bisping won). Leites and Silva then went out and put on a total snoozer and completely ruined Maia’s immediate chances as Silva. Then the UFC had to put the Champ in a fight, but it had to be one that was GUARANTEED to be exciting (and guaranteed to sell tickets/PPVs), what better way to do that than Forrest Griffin?
So that fight was already scheduled, the UFC needed a main event for 103, Hendo took care of Bisping and didn’t get hurt, so they decided to rematch a fight that was controversial, and clearly left fans wanting more. Is it the fight I wanted to see as a main event? Meh… But to be honest IMO this is a very intriguing card with some great match-ups, plus the promotional return of Frank Trigg (to hopefully smash Kos) and we get to see rounds 4 5 and 6 of Franklin V. Henderson, with no soddy TUF coaching job hanging in the balance (which Franklin expressly did not want the first time they fought).
I have to agree.
I know some of the disappointed Texas folk [and others] aren’t going to see it this way, but I think by and large that UFC 103 seems chockful of quality fights and big names.
I’m not really sure what more can be realistically expected out of the promotion.
This is incredible news. 6 fights is unheard of. The UFC must have huge plans for Franklin.
But I don’t get the Hendo match. Franklin seems to think he’ll easily beat Hendo at 205, but I’m not too sure. If he loses again to Hendo, it shows that Franklin’s game has no growth. You can’t lose twice in a row to two separate dudes and then be taken seriously for a title shot again. It just doesn’t work. Terrible fight for Rich. He should focus on LHWs. For Hendo though, it’s pretty much win-win; cause he’ll most definately win.
How do you figure he would have lost twice in a row? Or are you saying, twice to Hendo and twice to Anderson?
That’s what I meant
This fight should take place at 185, Henderson moved up to fight him their first fight, Franklin should move down for the rematch, it’s only fair, hey and Franklin shouldn’t complain either because he got his title rematch with A. Silva in his hometown.
rich’s last contract was 8 fights diablo, and kos has the contract where he can fight as much as he wants in 20-22 months. bigchief I agree with you and i have said the ufc was playing with fire when they decide to put on so many events so close together. also what hurts is they are announcing a “big” fight, i.e. rampage-rashad, machida-shogun, etc. 4-5 months in advance. its cool to have the fight signed, but keep it a secret until 2 months out. and still thats dumb because you are left without a big name main event. bigchief, its going to happen again espically with 105-106 a week apart and then less than days from 107. then 108 is less than 30 days.
I understand the ufc is a buisness and is about the bottomline[da Papah] but dont put out a crappy product, sooner rather than later your customers will go somewhere else. dream is putting on awesome fights, strikeforce is doing well.
It is only two months out from this fight. Other fights have not been “officially announced”, in fact 103 is the last “officially announced” event for the UFC. But through contacts, and the fighters having to know before the media, the MMA websites, like this one, gain knowledge of fights and events (like Machida v. Shogun, Carwin v. Velasquez) before they are “officially announced” by the UFC.
Why are they doing this? I would rather see them 2 on the same card not fighting eachother…
While I’m glad that Rich Franklin has signed a nice longterm deal with the UFC, this announcement is by and large a smokescreen to cover a much larger issue, namely, the UFC is slowly becoming a logistical nightmare in terms of planning out events, title defenses, and contenders bouts.
I know Dana White sees the UFC as a one man show, but those days are past. The sport and the promotion are just too big. Recently Lorenzo Fertita has taken a more active role in the promotion, and hopefully they’ll bring in someone to work with Joe Silva in plotting out these events and trying to at least get some handle on the title implications of each weight class.
And absolutely these PRIDE-type fights need to stop happening between cross-weight class titleholders, as well as contenders. It’s slowly screwing up the slate of events, and yielding a less attractive product.
Not to mention pi$$ing off some of the fans.
Less events aren’t necessarily the answer, but smarter management and leadership in the UFC front office is.
I have to agree with ya on that. The events they are putting together seem to be running into a problem.
Although it’s understandable the Organization want and needs to make a certain amount per fight, and ppv, they seem to be running into a problem with fighters being hurt and unable to compete. EX, they wanted Rampage to fight 3x in 8 months. Wandy in Dec. Jardine in March as a favor for Ufc and then they wanted him to fight Evans for title in May due to Mir needed surgery. {even tho Machida took that fight literally he took that fight!!
And although I love seeing my fav guys fight alot it would seems logical that it will give those fighters a short mma life… ALA Wandy, Big Nog, as examples.. Guys in their early 30’s which is still young but they look like their older than R. Couture and it seems they only got maybe 1 or 2 fights left in them before it becomes really embarrassing!
But my point is they are putting together fights that dont make sense and seemingly out of desperation in SOME CASES!!
Just my thoughts!!!
Who would you have had headline UFC 103 then?
What up J-DAWG
I appreciate the question instead of out right blasting me for what I posted playboy..
Well I posted already I woulda had either Keith Jardine or Brandon Vera fight Rich @ this one. I know they are already scheduled to fight some one else but it’s not the first time fights have been canceled to fight other fighters as a “here is your chance to prove yourself!!!” Ex. Forrest vs Thiago silva changed to Forrest vs Anderson Silva. As forrest said one heck of a type over!!
Or take rashad scheduled to fight Thiago silva then changed to Chuck liddel right…
So hey let my pick Brandon Vera fight Franklin he is a fan Favorite, or the greatest Gate keeper of all time Keith Jardine fight Franklin.
Why not??? To prove if Rich or Vera is in form to fight 205 top 5 talent. Just my thoughts.
Maybe they are not as big a name as Hendo but I personally woulda rather seen that then a rematch with him again soooo soon!! True Henderson can do it{fight in both weight classes} but I’ve seen this one and lets be honest it wasn’t that great of a fight and that beef thang about an eye poke and head butts aint even legit.. Franklin aint mouthing off that much about it. He mentioned it but that was all.
ohhh and i’m calling it now!!!
If Tito Ortiz gets resigned by UFC Dana’s F-U to tito will be here Tito fight Cane!! And I know Joe Silva makes the fights but I bet Dana has some say so!
Tito O Vs Cane V
OT1, don’t ever kid yourself my friend.
Dana White has ALL the say, ALL the time. The UFC for all intents and purposes is a one man show in terms of management and leadership.
Joe Silva might watch the video and cruise the gyms and camps and make the legwork phonecalls, but it’s Dana White that has the final word on what a card looks like.
swick-kampmann, have rich fight luis cane since tito isnt coming back in time. i like condit-lytle that is happening on UFN a few days before 103. give hendo time off until anderson is ready to defend, if he is not going to defend, give hendo and the maia-marquardt winner an interim title fight. then have that winner “unify” the title with silva in jan. or feb.
I know rich is a big name and former champ, but he hasnt proven he can hang at 205, so give him an up and comer in cane, or jon jones. they are about the same in the rankings at 205, at least in my rankings.
what is it at UFC 103 or 105? i hope rich wins i though he won that first fight. becuase it says assumes to be at UFC 105 but lower it says going in to effect for his UFC 103 headlining rematch.
its at 103, it says “assumes henderson at 205″ as in a light heavyweight bout.
henderson and anderson need to fight.
henderson won the first round. it was a great fight. hendo-franklin is also a great fight but at 185 hendo seems the best match for the arachnid