Rich Franklin believes a third time could be the charm if given another crack at UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva.
Donovan Fernandes of MMACanda.net attended the grand opening of MMA World Academy in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, where Franklin was hosting a seminar.
After being out of action for over a year with a shoulder injury, the former middleweight champion is eager to step back into the Octagon.
He is slated to make his middleweight return against Cung Le on July 7 at UFC 148.
The bout marks the first time in nearly four years Franklin has fought at 185 pounds, and he is determined to live out his own Cinderella story and make one final push for the UFC title.
“When you start talking about moving down to 185, people automatically start talking about the title. I said in interviews another title run would be a Cinderella story to finish a career. Anybody would say the same thing. It would be great. I got Cung in front of me now, and he’s a tough opponent, and I’ve had a long layoff, so I really have to worry about that first.”
Franklin defeated the late, great Evan Tanner in June 2005 to win the UFC title. After a pair of successful title defenses, Franklin was dethroned by current pound-for-pound kingpin Silva. It marked the beginning of Silva’s reign of terror in the UFC middleweight division.
In October 2007, Franklin was granted a rematch in front of his hometown fans in Cincinnati, Ohio, but it was just a different venue with the same result. Silva punished Franklin before stopping him in the second round to retain the middleweight title.
“If I was able to put a title run together and the UFC wanted to do another fight with Anderson, I would be willing to do another fight with Anderson, and I believe, and this is just because of the champion mentality in my head, but I believe that given another shot I could win that fight.”
“There are a lot of things I would do differently. Some of the stuff we really started incorporating in the second fight, a lot of the clinch defense and all that, it wasn’t as much of a factor in that fight. I was doing a good job with space management and my jab and all that, and unfortunately, I got dropped at the end of that round, I got caught with a hook, and the rest is history.”
How would Franklin fare in a third bout with Silva?
We may never know. Even though he’s confident in his chances against the UFC champ, Franklin has made it clear that he isn’t returning to 185-pounds for another shot at Silva. It’s all about finding a comfortable weight class that gives him the best opportunity to be successful.
“I’m not moving down to 185 and saying my sights are set on Anderson. That’s not what I’m doing here, and I don’t want him to get that impression either because I’m not shooting for him.”
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