Fall Reruns: Henderson-Franklin 2 on Deck for September
Jake Rossen Jul 21, 2009
The fallout of the top-heavy UFC 100 begins: In one of the more
lackluster main events of recent memory, Rich
Franklin and Dan
Henderson are
set to rematch one another Sept. 19 at UFC 103 in Dallas.
The problem: Three of the organization’s five divisional titles were/are contested over the summer, leaving Anderson Silva’s middleweight title shelved until a 205-pound bout with Forrest Griffin transpires on Aug. 8. (Lyoto Machida’s light heavyweight title defense against Mauricio Rua comes in October.)
If Henderson is angling for that title bid with Silva, this is a shaky foundation: If Franklin beats him, he’s not going to challenge Silva for a third time. And if Henderson wins a 205-pound fight, what relevance does that have at 185? And what more could he gain, having already beat Franklin once?
Wheezy fight. UFC 103 is suddenly looking a lot like a card that the promotion posts up for free on Spike as a fan gratuity, a move that now might not be practical considering Floyd Mayweather’s bout with Juan Manuel Marquez airs on pay television that same night. If the event is given away, you can expect boxing’s louder mouths to crow that MMA was “chased away” or some similar manic episode.
But, hey -- they can’t all be winners.
The problem: Three of the organization’s five divisional titles were/are contested over the summer, leaving Anderson Silva’s middleweight title shelved until a 205-pound bout with Forrest Griffin transpires on Aug. 8. (Lyoto Machida’s light heavyweight title defense against Mauricio Rua comes in October.)
If Henderson is angling for that title bid with Silva, this is a shaky foundation: If Franklin beats him, he’s not going to challenge Silva for a third time. And if Henderson wins a 205-pound fight, what relevance does that have at 185? And what more could he gain, having already beat Franklin once?
Wheezy fight. UFC 103 is suddenly looking a lot like a card that the promotion posts up for free on Spike as a fan gratuity, a move that now might not be practical considering Floyd Mayweather’s bout with Juan Manuel Marquez airs on pay television that same night. If the event is given away, you can expect boxing’s louder mouths to crow that MMA was “chased away” or some similar manic episode.
But, hey -- they can’t all be winners.
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