Rich Franklin was the UFC middleweight champion, boasting an incredible record of 22-1-1 after a March 2006 win over David Loiseau. “Ace” seemed like he would dominate the UFC’s 185-pound division for many years to come—that is, until Anderson Silva came to town.
Silva defeated Franklin in devastating fashion at UFC 64, and again had his hand raised in the rematch at UFC 77.
Since the second loss to “The Spider,” Franklin hasn’t looked like the dominant force he once was, compiling a record of 4-3 and looking to be in the twilight of his career at 37 years old.
However, if the UFC offered the former high school math teacher a third fight with Silva, don’t expect Franklin to turn it down. Don’t expect him to lacking confidence going into the fight, either.
“If I was able to put another title run together and the UFC wanted to do another fight with Anderson, I would be willing to do another fight with Anderson,” Franklin told MMACanada.net.
“And I believe—and this is just because the champion mentality in my head—but I believe that given another shot, I could win that fight.”
Between his two bouts with the pound-for-pound great, Franklin only managed to survive for slightly over four minutes of action inside the Octagon.
Franklin, who begins speaking around the 2:45 mark of the video, also addresses how his injury rehabilitation has gone, his upcoming UFC 148 bout with Cung Le, and recently being called out by Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
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