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 Post subject: With Anderson Silva partnership,Rich Franklin staying at LHW
PostPosted: Mon May 11, 2009 3:41 pm 
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Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2009 8:04 pm
Posts: 230
Although he'll move from 205 pounds to 195 for a UFC 99 main-event fight with Wanderlei Silva in June, Rich Franklin will return to light heavyweight division.

Quite possibly for good.

In this week's "MMA Insider" column for the Dayton Daily News, MMAjunkie.com's Dann Stupp spoke to Rich Franklin, who said his new alliance with UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva probably means a permanent move to light heavyweight.

As MMAjunkie.com reported last week, Franklin recently arrived in Los Angeles for two weeks of training with Anderson at Black House. Franklin is spending approximately a quarter of his pre-fight camp with "The Spider" as he prepares for UFC 99, which takes place June 13 in Cologne, Germany.

Although still ranked among the world's best 185-pounders, Franklin was already bearish on his prospects in the division. After losing his title and a rematch to Anderson, Franklin knew a third fight was unlikely. And now, with a mutually beneficial partnership with the champ, Franklin doesn't want to compete in the same division as Anderson.

"I'll say this much,” Franklin told the newspaper. "With training with Anderson out here in L.A. and him being the champ at 185, it really makes me feel like I don’t have a place at 185 pounds anymore.

"I don't see myself going to back to 185."

Since a pivotal victory over Ken Shamrock in the main event of The Ultimate Fighter 1 Finale in 2005, Franklin has made two other appearances at 205. The first came in a TKO victory over Matt Hamill in September at UFC 88. The second came against Dan Henderson in January, when Franklin suffered a close and somewhat controversial split-decision loss.

He'll return to the division after his fight with Wanderlei (who plans to move to 185 pounds, possibly for a future with Anderson, after UFC 99)


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