UFC
UFC NEWS: Rich Franklin recovering from his broken arm, working with Susan G. Komen foundation for cast raffle
Jul 17, 2010 - 9:58:27 AM UFC NEWS: Rich Franklin recovering from his broken arm, working with Susan G. Komen foundation for cast raffle

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

In the second minute of their headlining bout at UFC 115 last month, Chuck Liddell landed a kick that broke the ulna bone in Rich Franklin's left forearm. After fighting through it and landing a knockout blow with seconds remaining in the fight, Franklin's next battle came with the healing process.

But while surgery was initially expected, Franklin got some good news from doctor's this week, as the arm is healing well and he may still avoid going under the knife.

"Everything at this point in time is going real well," Franklin told MMATorch.com. "I had a cast above my elbow to my mid bicep, and I got that cut off on Monday. They put a [new] cast below the elbow, it's like a plastic molded cast with the Velcro straps so I can actually take it on and off when I'm showering - which is great because it gives my arm a break from being stuck in something - but recovery seems to be going real well, the doctor likes what he sees in the bone growth and the alignment and all that kind of stuff, so it's looking promising to not [need to] have surgery at this point in time."

Surgery may be avoided, but a lengthy recovery is still ahead for "Ace." Though his manager said this week he could return for a December or January bout, Franklin says he's not quite sure how long it's going to take.

"I was a little bit depressed the other day when I read a chart and realized that the healing time for the ulna could be five months [to heal] 100%," Franklin said. "So I don't know how long it's going to be until I can start getting kicked in the arm and start doing all that heavy training I would need to do to prep for a fight."

The arm break wasn't suffered in vain, however, and in addition to getting the knockout win, Franklin's looking to make some more good come out of it by raffling off his pink cast to benefit breast cancer through the Susan G. Komen foundation. Signed by both Chuck Liddell and himself, fans can purchase $5 raffle tickets at RichFranklin.com or AmericanFighter.com through the end of the month of July.

When asked how he came about working with Susan G. Komen for this particular fundraiser, Franklin told MMATorch.com, "Well, you know I fight in pink, and I was actually talking to my sister one day and she said, 'you know, you fight in pink, it doesn't make sense to me that you don't do any type of charity work for breast cancer.'"

"So when I was getting my cast, of course I asked for pink because I fight in pink, and as I got to looking at it I thought, 'you know what, I should just do some sort of fund raiser for cancer for this thing and spin something good out of a broken arm,' and that's what we did and had it cast in pink."

Many who donate or help raise funds for certain charities oftentimes have someone close to them that has been afflicted by whatever issue they're raising money for, but when Franklin made the decision to work with Susan G. Komen that wasn't the case. He would find out afterward that working with this particular foundation was well timed.

"[It's great to be a part of this charity]. The thing is, I just recently found out that I have a friend of mine that was diagnosed with breast cancer, and they're about to start their radiation treatment and all that kind of stuff," Franklin said. "That was, of course, unbeknownst to me at the time I chose to work with the Susan G. Komen foundation; but the timing involved with it just happened to play out real well."



RELATED STORY: UFC NEWS: Rich Franklin does not require surgery on his broken arm after all, could return in December: [CLICK TO READ FULL ARTICLE]

[Rich Franklin art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]