Danny Acosta has a nice (if not slightly fluffy) piece on Rich Franklin up over at Sherdog. It covers the familiar teacher to fighter story but also touches a bit on the move back to the Light Heavyweight division and also features a rather curious quote from Franklin:
“This is definitely a tough test to see if this weight class is going to be a good fit for me or not,” Franklin says. “I’m in the process of trying to gain weight, and that’s not all going to come in this one fight. It’s going to take me several months to continue to put weight back on to be one of the bigger competitors again at 205 pounds. I know on the spectrum of things I’m going to be smaller. I think the next couple months of my career is definitely going to answer that question.”
In Hamill (4-1), Franklin sees a perfect way to re-enter the fray.
“Well, I’ll say this,” he says. “Matt’s not one of the top 10 205-pound fighters.”
The article goes on to say that Franklin doesn't plan on coasting in the fight. But I still think that if Franklin thinks it is going to take him time to get to the point of being a real 205'er then he may need to focus a bit more on Hamill who is a big, strong 205 pounds. I consider this a fight that Franklin should certainly win but something about the idea that he sees this fight as something of an easy entry into the shark filled waters at light heavy has me a little bit worried.
Get the latest gear
