Vitor Belfort may be out of the main event at the UFC 147 fight card in Belo Horizonte, Brazil next month, but he'll still have a long-awaited chance to avenge a loss.
The UFC announced on Wednesday that Rich "Ace" Franklin will take Belfort's place in the main event at Jornalista Felipe Drumond Stadium in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The former UFC Middleweight Champion last faced Silva in June 2009 at UFC 99, scoring a unanimous-decision victory in a bout fought at a catchweight of 195 pounds. Silva made his middleweight debut in his next fight, a unanimous decision win over Michael Bisping at UFC 110 in Sydney, Australia.
Franklin, whose last fight was a loss to Forrest Griffin at UFC 126 in February 2011, was already on his way back down to middleweight, as he was scheduled to face Cung Le at UFC 148 in July. Instead, he'll head to Brazil to face Silva, who is 2-1 as a middleweight after defeating Le via second-round TKO back in November at UFC 139. However, like their UFC 99 bout, this fight will be contested at a catchweight (190 pounds), due to the fact that Franklin is preparing to fight two weeks earlier than his previously planned showdown with Le.
"The Axe Murderer" last fought Belfort at UFC Brazil in 1998, when "The Phenom" tagged Silva with a flurry of punches to score a 44-second knockout victory. It was an early setback for Silva, who would go on to build his legend in Japan as the PRIDE Middleweight Champion before returning to the UFC in 2007. Silva and Belfort were to have their rematch at UFC 147 as a conclusion to their coaching matchup on The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil, where each veteran has been coaching a team of featherweight and middleweight fighters. That matchup was scrapped when Belfort broke his hand in training, and instead, Silva will have a chance to avenge his loss to Franklin.
This isn't the first time that "Ace" has come in on short notice to pinch-hit for an injured TUF coach. Franklin stepped in for Tito Ortiz after the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion was forced to bow out of his UFC 115 battle with rival Chuck Liddell due to a neck injury. In that fight, Franklin suffered a broken left arm during the first round, but used that same arm to knock out "the Iceman" and end his legendary UFC career.
This is a solid choice by Joe Silva and the UFC matchmaking team. Franklin, Silva and Belfort are all at similar points in their careers, where they're out of the title chase, but still have the capacity to offer exciting fights. The combination of "Ace" and "the Axe Murderer" has produced a Fight of the Night before, and they should certainly deliver the goods once again.
