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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Rich Franklin has garnered a reputation as a company man, stepping up on numerous occasions for fights that may not always be in his best interests, but get the UFC out of some bad spots. He did just that on Saturday night, moving his return up two weeks to take on Wanderlei Silva at UFC 147.
After notching the decision win, he's looking to fully return to the middleweight division in his next fight, and he hopes his penchant for helping the UFC out will lead to the final title run he desires.
"That was my intention when I moved backs down to 185 (pounds)," Franklin said at the post-fight press conference for UFC 147 (transcribed by MMAJunkie.com). "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."
"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."
Franklin lost his title in 2006 to Anderson Silva, and lost again in a rematch one year later. He hasn't fought for a belt in the UFC since that time, hopping around between light heavyweight and 185 lbs., and now he'll look to make one final run before he retires.
Penick's Analysis: The middleweight division isn't packed with deserving challengers, so if Franklin can put together two or three more wins in the division, the UFC may just give him one more shot. Taking into consideration the fact that he's helped them out on more than one occasion by stepping into fights, they may just be more inclined to give him that opportunity, but it's still up to him to pick up a couple of legitimate wins at 185 lbs. in order to get there.
[Rich Franklin art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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