UFC 147: Wanderlei Silva vs. Rich Franklin 2 Main Card Preview

You have to admit: UFC 147 has officially become a promoter's worst nightmare.

As of yet, with the June 23rd event being less than two weeks away, there are only three officially confirmed main card bouts for UFC 147. And when a fading Wanderlei Silva and an all-but-retired Rich Franklin are your headliners for a pay-per-view event, you have a serious problem on your hands.

After all, this current, withered version of UFC 147 is nothing more than the leftovers of what was supposed to be a huge Brazilian show, featuring the highly-anticipated rematch between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen in an Olympic-sized stadium.

Of course, the Silva-Sonnen rematch was eventually moved to UFC 148 on July 7th due to scheduling issues, and instead of  a huge fight, the UFC is stuck with last minute scrap between Wanderlei Silva and Rich Franklin, a decent enough match-up, although both of whom are well past their expiry dates. 

The problem for the UFC, at least in terms of North American sales, is that their upcoming June 23rd card is chock full of lesser known Brazilian fighters that even some of the sport's most hardcore fans do not recognize.

So after the break, we'll take a look at whether or not UFC 147 is actually worth your hard earned dough.

For more in-depth analysis of some of the card's major fights, view the articles below (more will be added in the weeks leading up to the fight):

UFC 147 Preview: Milton Vieira vs. Felipe Arantes
UFC 147 Preview: Hacran Dias vs. Yuri Alcantara
UFC 147 Preview: Fabricio Werdum vs. Mike Russow
UFC 147 Preview: Wanderlei Silva vs. Rich Franklin

A String of Injuries and an Overzealous Schedule Leaves UFC 147 a Mess

Some injuries, and a serious scheduling mishap, and here we are, stuck with a scrapheap of a card.

When the high-profile Silva-Sonnen rematch was moved to UFC 148, Brazilian fans were left with a less than thrilling headlining fight between Wanderlei Silva and Vitor "The Phenom" Belfort, coaches of TUF: Brazil's inaugural season.

Many fans were underwhelmed with the new main event, since it almost seemed like a foregone conclusion that the phenom would score an easy knockout victory over "The Axe-Murderer." The sense of impending doom was pretty staggering. 

But when Belfort went down with a hand injury, things only got worse for the UFC. Suddenly they were missing one-half of their replacement main event.

Thankfully for Dana White and the Zuffa brass, former middleweight champion Rich Franklin agreed to step in on short notice. Franklin has always been a reliable company man, and the UFC should be thankful that he saved an already doomed PPV card from outright disaster (don't worry: I'm sure sure he'll be compensated for his efforts backstage).

After a few mishaps, the UFC was forced to promote a lacklustre pay-per-view event with several minor fights and Silva and Franklin at the helm, an unexpected rematch of their Fight of the Night winning bout from 2009.

TUF: Brazil Middleweight and Featherweight Finales

Given the lack of depth on the UFC 147 roster, the UFC seems to be putting a lot of stock in the two TUF: Brazil finale matches that round out the main card.

That might not be such a bad idea.

By most accounts, the inaugural season of the Ultimate Fighter Brazil had turned out to be a success, with the episodes sporting a number of exciting bouts and a decent rivalry between Silva and Belfort.

The bad news for the UFC?

Most fans outside Brazil are barely even aware of the new Portuguese-incarnation of the popular American television show, and even fewer have actually watched an episode.

The final fighters for the TUF: Brazil featherweight and middleweight finales were both decided on Sunday, June 10, without so much as a mention by most major media outlets (of course, the UFC also began airing TUF: Brazil stateside on Fuel TV that very night, so maybe everyone is just holding back spoilers, as I am doing here).

But if the UFC is expecting these under-promoted TUF bouts to move a lot of pay-per-views, they'll be sadly mistaken, because unless the North American fans tune in en masse for the TUF: Brazil rebroadcasts, most people will have absolutely no idea who these little known Brazilian fighters are. And that's a pretty risky promotional tactic for a pay-per-view card.

Despite the lack of big name intrigue, these TUF match-ups should still be wildly entertaining, even if they won't inspire fans to shell out big bucks for a PPV (especially with Silva-Sonnen 2 looming right around the corner)

Fabricio Werdum vs. Mike Russow a Solid Heavyweight Scrap

You know a PPV card is in trouble when Fabricio Werdum taking on Mike Russow is easily the most relevant fight of the night.

Even so, this is a pretty interesting heavyweight bout, and one that should help show just where Werdum actually stands in the promotion's banner division.

After completely decimating heavyweight gatekeeper (and part-time punching bag) Roy Nelson with a onslaught of brutal knees from the clinch, Werdum's stock right now is almost as high as it was when he stunned the world by submitting the once immortal Fedor Emelianenko. It was armbar victory that prematurely launched Werdum to the top of some heavyweight rankings.

His next fight, however, was a horrible decision loss against Alistair Overeem in the doomed Strikeforce GP that saw Werdum spent a ton of time lying on his back, practically begging the Dutch kickboxer to jump into his guard.

Although Russow's record seems great at a glance (15-1-1), his level of high-quality opposition is much lower than Werdum's (15-5-1). Russow's most spectacular win came in the form of a brilliant come from behind knockout against Todd Duffee back in 2010.

Russow has decent power in his hands, solid wrestling, and a granite chin (making him almost impossible to finish via strikes). He could definitely pull off an upset.

With that said, Werdum should be the clear favourite here, due to his world-class jiu-jitsu on the ground and an ever improving arsenal of muay thai strikes.

But don't forget: Mike Russow is one of the toughest fighters in the world, and he'll likely try to grind out a sloppy decision victory in hopes of neutralizing his opponent's superior skills. 

The fight is an interesting match-up that should help rank a pair of 265-pound fighters knocking at the doorstep of the heavyweight division.

Wanderlei Silva vs. Rich Franklin (190-Pound Catchweight)

I mean no disrespect when I say that Vitor Belfort pulling out of the Wanderlei Silva rematch was the some of the best MMA-related news I've heard in months.

That fight had no business being made, and it looked all the more crazy when you consider Wanderlei's quickly fading chin and Belfort's world-class punching power. What the UFC needed was a compelling coaching match-up for their first season of TUF: Brazil, and that is exactly what they got.

Watching Wanderlei Silva crumple to the mat beneath Leben's sloppy hooks last summer was a truly depressing affair, and I was not eager to relive the scary moment when you have to watch a legend just lie there, stiff as a board.

In all honesty, Silva-Franklin 2 is a much more competitive fight that should turn into another great scrap between a pair of fading stars. Both men are always game, and the fight could end up being one of those rare retirement-home classics, like we saw between Wanderlei and a past-his-prime Chuck Liddell back at UFC 79.

Still, a match-up between Franklin and Wanderlei in 2012 isn't even suited as a co-main event on most PPV cards, let alone can it carry an entire card by itself.

UFC 147: Final Impressions

Whether or not UFC 147 warrants a purchase, it does promise some pretty solid fights. But it only takes one look at the line-up to realize that the card is probably more suited to be a free showing on FX or Fuel TV.

But what the card lacks in big names, it makes up for in intrigue. On top of the bouts I've just mentioned, there are a few other intriguing scraps between some promising, though relatively unknown Brazilian fighters, including Milton Vieira vs. Felipe Arantes and Yuri Alcantara vs. Hacran Dias (for more information concerning these match-ups, including fight predictions, please click the links to be redirected to in-depth UFC 147 previews)

Despite having a few truly solid fights on the card, the question still remains: with the Sonnen-Silva rematch just a few weeks away, will fight fans be willing to open their wallets for what can only be considered an extremely weak card?

For the sake of the UFC, you have to hope so.