Rich Franklin replaces Vitor Belfort to headline UFC 147 against Wanderlei Silva – UFC News
Wanderlei Silva, the former Pride middleweight champion, will now take on Rich Franklin, the former UFC middleweight champion, as per recent reports. Since Silva’s former opponent Vitor Belfort has forfeited the bout due to an inadvertent injury, Rich is
now the new opponent.
Silva will now headline Ultimate Fighting Championship’s ‘UFC147’ pay-per-view which will be televised live from Estadio Jornalista Felipe Drumond in Belo Horizonte, Brazil on June 23, 2012.
The fight card will be co-headlined by the heavyweight non-title clash between Fabricio Werdum and Mike Russow. Silva recently shared his thoughts about the cancellation of his engagement with Vitor and his viewpoint about returning Franklin.
Wanderlei commented that he is a bit disappointed over the fact that Vitor had to pull himself out of the bout due to an injury sustained in the sparring session adding that he was afraid that he might not get an opponent in such a short notice.
Silva, 35, stated, “I was scared because I didn’t know if I’d have another opponent. It was bad for me. I had trained hard, and I was ready for the fight.” The Brazilian hailing Silva has been in a total 47 mixed martial art bouts and boasts a huge 34 wins.
The veteran is widely known as one of the best knockout specialists in the UFC roster. He has pinned 24 of his opponents by knockout and just three by submission. This will be the second time that Silva will collide with Rich.
In their first engagement, Franklin emerged victorious by collecting a unanimous decision. Rich, 37, also possesses a pretty intimidating resume and has been in a total 35 mixed martial art bouts.
Rich is an all-rounder and possesses decent ground as well as stand-up game. Franklin, also known as the ‘Ace’, has emerged victorious in 28 bouts and has collected 15 of his wins by knockout and 10 by submission.
While sharing his thoughts about Franklin, Silva stated, “Franklin’s a really good fighter, and I’m hoping we’re going to put on a good show here in Brazil. Franklin was the last champion before Anderson (Silva). He’s got a good name, a lot of fans know
him in Brazil and the event’s going to be a big success.”
Silva, also known as ‘The Axe Murderer’, will definitely strive hard to avenge his former loss to Rich. At the same time, Franklin is looking forward to make a winning comeback. It must be noted that Rich has remained outside the octagon for almost a year.
Franklin last took on Forrest Griffin and collected a unanimous decision loss. Since then Rich has not returned to the sport and this will be the former champion’s first bout in a total 16 months.
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