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.

Apparently the Travis Lutter fight is rumor... sorry folks...

Hi guys. First off, I would like to thank everyone for the support. Thank you for the support leading up to, and since the fight with Anderson. He is a great fighter and deserves everyone's respect as a fighter, person, and ambassador to our sport. Also thank you for supporting American Fighter.

Todd tries to maintain our Myspace account because of my hectic schedule. Hopefully he is doing a good job for you all. He spends a good amount of time on here and does it for free. Sometimes he gets a t-shirt.

I am told there are rumors of me fighting multiple people in March. I have not signed for a fight in March. I don't believe that I am allowed to fight more than once in a night. I hope this clears up any confusion. I have not signed to fight anyone in March, or any other month.

Happy Holidays

RF

See you at BW3's or Wings N Rings March 2nd.

Some of you are well aware that I am huge Rich Franklin fan, and of course a main part of that is that he is a hometown guy who train minutes from my house and resides in the same neck of the 'Nati. I thoroughly enjoy the UFC and the Ultimate Fighter Reality Show (aka TUF). The UFC is not for everyone (my wife especially) but it has it place. I am of the firm opinion that the UFC is safer than boxing, which is well accepted. Fights are often stopped well before serious injury can occur. Of course if the fighter is "too macho" to refuse to tap (see Marlon Sims of TUF5) that is the fighter's own ignorance. More on Rich Franklin here and check his workout below.