By Derek Bolender
Special to CBSSports.com
Rich Franklin is one of the most recognizable faces in the history of mixed martial arts and a guy, to this day, who remains one of Ultimate Fighting Championship's most beloved former champions.
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| Franklin wants to keep it standing with Silva. (UFC) |
At the age of 35, "Ace" has yet to show any visible signs of slowing down as he continues to be one of the top contenders in both the middleweight and the light heavyweight divisions.
Although Franklin remains a legitimate force, there is officially light at the end of the tunnel. He has now gone past the nine-year mark in his storied professional career.
Franklin's ultimate goal is still to get back the titleholder status that was taken away from him by Anderson Silva at UFC 64 before he is forced to someday hang up his gloves for good.
"I have two fights left on my contract," Franklin said. "I always pictured myself retiring at the age of 36 or 37. I figure the UFC will negotiate one more contract with me, and that may carry me to the end of my career."
In his last fight in January, he lost a controversial split decision against Dan Henderson at UFC 93. He is still a little bitter about the result.
"I believe I won that fight," he said. "I dominated the standup war, and Henderson was unable to mount any damage while he had me down, let alone even keep me down most of the time. The only damage he did to me in that fight was an accidental eye poke and head butt."
Nevertheless, the loss was a major setback in his attempt to once again have the opportunity to fight for a UFC belt.
The next step in his trek back is a matchup with former Pride middleweight champion Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva.
The two will tussle in the main event of UFC 99 on Saturday in Cologne, Germany. The fight will take place at a catch weight of 195 pounds, because of Franklin's desire to stay at 205 for the rest of his career and Silva's desire to drop to 185 after this fight.
Franklin's training camp included a well-publicized two-week pit stop in Los Angeles to train with Anderson Silva, who remains the middleweight champion.
"Anderson's manager, Ed Soares, gave me a call inviting me to train in L.A. for this fight," Franklin said. "They figured it would be helpful since Anderson and Wanderlei used to be teammates. I checked with my coaches Neal Rowe, Rob Radford and Matt Hume, and they all agreed it was a good idea."
When you have an invitation to train with the best, you take them up on it, and Franklin did without hesitation. This type of deviation from the normal training camp has allowed Franklin to remain relevant and extremely competitive over the years by forcing him to evolve constantly.
Wanderlei, on the other hand, seems unwilling to evolve at this point in his career and it has been evident in his past five fights, in which he has won only once.
Regardless, Silva remains a dangerous and aggressive fighter on his feet who you have to be careful with.
Franklin is excited about facing a guy with Wanderlei Silva's style.
"I hope to be able to take advantage of the fact that I am finally fighting someone who may want to stand with me, unlike all the wrestlers I have recently fought," he said. "Game plan: throw punches!"
Punches will be thrown; there is no doubt about it. They will likely come in bunches from both sides, which should result in an exciting and entertaining Fight of the Night candidate. For that reason, this is a fight many fans have been dying to see for some time.
If Franklin is fortunate enough to win, step No. 1 in a series of final exams will be complete.
