UFC 133: Rich Franklin Interested in Future Bout with Tito Ortiz

UFC President Dana White was finally able to breath earlier this week when the Huntington Beach Bad Boy Tito Ortiz stepped in for an injured Phil Davis to face Rashad Evans at UFC 133 in Philadelphia.

White was in a jam when Ortiz had originally declined the invitation and Lyoto Machida's camp was demanding "Anderson Silva money" to take the fight.

Even though middleweights Chael Sonnen and Chris Leben offered to fight Evans, White wanted to keep it in the light heavyweight division. In the end, Ortiz saved the day.

However, White's relaxation would not last long as yet another injury arose for the August card when Antonio Rogerio Nogueira was forced to pull out of his bout with former middleweight champion Rich Franklin.

Since the UFC's options for Davis' replacement were scarce, it made the decision that Franklin would not fight at UFC 133 and could be placed into a card later this summer.

If the injury to Nogueira had come prior to Davis' knee injury, the main event could have been entirely different with a fight between Franklin and Ortiz. A fight that has been mentioned for quite some time and a fight, according to ESPN.com, that the former middleweight champ would be up for.

"The only time it's been mentioned is by the fans," Franklin told MMA Weekly. "The UFC has never presented me with Tito, and as far as I'm aware they've never gone to him and presented me to him.

"So there's never been anything that's gone close to us signing on the dotted line or anything like that. But it's something the fans have talked about as being an entertaining fight and if it's something the UFC wants to put on, I'm open to that."

A fight between these two former champs was first requested early on last decade, when the light heavyweight champion Ortiz was dominating his division, and Franklin the same as the middleweight champ.

Franklin's days of dominance would come to an end when he ran into Silva, who dominated the Cincinnati, Ohio, native in not one, but two bouts. As long as Silva was champ, "Ace" was no longer competitive at middleweight, and the UFC then requested the move up in weight class.

"The UFC basically has told me that they're not interested in having me fight at 185 anymore, which is the only reason why I made the move to 205 in the first place," Franklin said.

"So rather than being stuck in this no-man's land at 185 pounds, at least being at 205 I can work towards the title or something like that."

Franklin has admitted that it has been a struggle with the size difference that he faces at 205, but strives to make it work.

And if Ortiz comes out of his bout with Evans relatively unharmed, the long-awaited fight between he and Franklin may soon be on the horizon.