Rich Franklin Steps in to Fight Wanderlei Silva at UFC 147

Following UFC 146 this past Saturday night, UFC President Dana White announced that Vitor Belfort had suffered a broken hand in training and was forced to pull out of his UFC 147 bout against Wanderlei Silva. The two had spent time as opposing coaches on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil.

UFC 147 was set to be the culmination of the series, with the two fighters settling their long-time rivalry in the main event. 

Silva went on the attack and said that Belfort breaking his hand was disrespectful. Silva's thought process was that at the highest level, fighters have the best equipment and training available, so there is no reason to suffer any significant injuries while training.

While Vitor has elected to remain quiet, his wife had some harsh words for Silva:

"

The only thing Wanderlei can do is talk too much, he chickened out several times on fighting Vitor… and now he comes to talk my husband is ducking. If you doubt, the next opponent of Wand in UFC147 will beat the record of 40 sec of Vitor Belfort or Chris Leben 20 seconds hahahaha.

"

Today, the UFC announced that Rich Franklin will step up and replace the injured Belfort. Franklin was originally scheduled to face Cung Le at UFC 148. Franklin and Silva have met once before at a bout contested at 195 pounds which fans have affectionately called "Franklinweight." That bout saw Franklin win a hard decision at UFC 99 in Cologne, Germany.

The rematch will be contested at 190 pounds, which from this day forward shall be called "Wanderleight." Rich Franklin stepping up is the best possible outcome as most middleweight and light heavyweight fighters currently have fights scheduled. The ones that don't are either injured or lack the name value to step into the main event role.

While I appreciate the UFC's effort at trying to save UFC 147, I can't help but feel that a bout between Franklin and Wanderlei lacks any kind of intrigue. There was no controversy in their first fight and both fighters are on the tail end of their storied careers.

I hope that this fight becomes another example of an unremarkable contest on paper becoming a candidate for Fight of the Year, as is usually the case in MMA. I say this because as it currently stands, UFC 147 may be the weakest card the UFC has tried to put together in the past four years.

Time will tell. I just hope that Zuffa is ready to handle detractors who won't be pleased with this matchup.