Blog 21

Rich Franklin had to pull out of a UFC 82 fight with Travis Lutter and will be sidelined until approximately June because of a torn meniscus he suffered in his right knee.

Franklin’s camp alerted MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) of the injury earlier today.

In the past 24 hours, Franklin’s fight manager, Monte Cox, alerted UFC officials of the injury, which was identified by a recent MRI exam.

News of the injury came approximately one day after the Cincinnati-based Franklin had signed on to fight Lutter at UFC 82, which takes place March 1 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The Franklin-Lutter fight was expected to earn co-main event status with an Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson title fight also scheduled for the event.

According to J.T. Stewart, Franklin’s publicity manager, the 33-year-old fighter recently experienced swelling of his knee — the same knee in which he tore a meniscus “several years ago” in a UFC match. His doctor determined that floating particles from the first injury had caused swelling, and while examining the knee, he realized Franklin had again suffered a similar tear.

The UFC’s former middleweight champ will fly to Las Vegas for corrective surgery, which will take place during the first week of January.

Franklin expects to return to the octagon sometime in or around June, Stewart said.

Franklin last competed at UFC 77, where he suffered a second-round TKO to Anderson Silva in a hometown event. Franklin initially lost his belt to Silva at UFC 64 in October 2006 but rebounded for victories over Jason MacDonald and Yushin Okami to earn the rematch.

Prior to the UFC 77 fight, Franklin signed a new six-fight deal with the UFC that goes into effect for his next fight.

Franklin debuted with the UFC in 2003 and has fought exclusively for the organization since 2005. He owns a career 22-3 record, which includes a 9-2 mark in the UFC.