Rich Franklin: I am looking forward to have a shot at 185-pound title before retiring – UFC News
Rich Franklin, after making a comeback on the win track in his recent bout against Wanderlei Silva, in a media interaction, remarked that he is looking forward at dropping down to the middleweight division so as to have a last shot at the title.
Franklin, who recently collected his first win in last two years, was of the view that he wants to grab some wins especially high profile ones before leaving the sport once and for all.
The former UFC middleweight champion has finally broke the bad spell that casted him away out of the octagon for the last two years. Rich, 37, was basically called on to replace the injured Vitor Belfort.
Moreover, Rich was originally scheduled to take on Cung Lee on UFC 148 but due to Vitor’s inadvertent sudden injury, Ultimate Fighting Championship requested a favour from the veteran.
Franklin amicably accepted the offer just days before the Saturday June 23, 2012 engagement. Rich left the middleweight division after his title bout with Anderson Silva since then he has been a part of the light heavyweight division where he has unfortunately
not collected many wins.
The Ohio hailing brawler left the octagon after his last loss to Forrest Griffin and since then the bout against Silva was the very first in almost 15 months. While sharing his thoughts about the future plans, Rich stated, “That was my intention when I moved
backs down to 185 (pounds). I'm glad that you and probably everybody else notices that I've bailed the UFC out a lot. I hope that's going to pay off in the future at some point in time.”
Rich might get leverages not only because he has given UFC a helping hand whenever asked but also because he can deliver provided a chance is given. It is this reason why Rich is now eyeballing the middleweight division again to have a last win streak before
leaving the sport.
Franklin further added, “Moving back down to 185, the idea was that enough time has passed since my title fight, and perhaps if I could put a couple of wins together, I could make another run at the title before I retire.”
With his recent impressive unanimous win over Silva, Rich has improved his resume to 29 wins and most importantly has grabbed media’s attention yet again as Wanderlei is not a simple brawler with least talent who can be pinned easily without a sweat.
Therefore, Franklin’s current win over Silva is being dubbed as an explosive comeback of the former UFC middleweight champion.
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