Who headlines UFC 103?

by Zak Woods on Jul 3, 2009 10:14 AM EDT Comment 4 comments

The steady stream off UFC news and rumors have given UFC fans and observers a good picture of the next several months.

UFC 101 - B.J. Penn vs. Kenny Florian in lightweight title fight. Forrest Griffin vs. Anderson Silva.
UFC 102 - Antonio Rodrgio Nogueira vs. Randy Couture and Keith Jardine vs. Thiago Silva.
UFC 103 - Trigg vs. Koscheck and Swick vs. Kampmann
UFC 104 - Lyoto Machida and Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua in a light heavyweight title fight. Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez will also fight on the card.
UFC 105 - ?
UFC 106 - ?
UFC 107 - Rampage vs. Rashad
UFC 108 - ?

The big question is how fast will the UFC want to turn around the welterweight and heavyweight champions. It seems unlikely that any could fight at UFC 103 as neither division has a clear number one contender. Also the middleweight division is up in the air since Anderson Silva is fighting at 205lbs. at UFC 101. Essentially UFC 103 will need a non-title fight main event as all the divisions will be on stand still at that point.

That has left speculation that RIch Franklin will be put in position to headline the card. Franklin still wants a new contract, which could block him from competing in Dallas. Now who could Franklin fight. Initially there were rumors that Chuck Liddell and Rich Franklin could fight but now Luiz Cane has made it public that he wants to fight Franklin.

I put the question forth to you, does Rich Franklin headline UFC 103 and if so, then who does he fight?

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I think if Franklin doesn’t get the new contract we will get Wanderlei vs. Chael Sonnen or another middle of the pack 185lbs.

watchkalibrun.com

by Zak Woods on Jul 3, 2009 10:17 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

What if… one of the big announcements they have set for UFC100 is the creation of a new weight class, either a cruiserweight (like a 195, bumping LHW to 210) or bringing in one of the WEC classes (less likely, I think). THey’d immediately create a bunch of really interesting matches, especially if they had already contacted a bunch of fighters about it. Given the way Frankling and Silva looked at their catchweight, it’s not impossible.

"I'm AJB and I endorse this nut-puncher."

by AJB on Jul 3, 2009 6:02 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

See I think the WEC should just completely merge with the UFC. That way we can have a ton of title fights all the time.

This requires a TV deal so you can still have consistent fights that build up fighters bc the PPV cards could become too crowded. That deal would have to be with ESPN (IMO). But I would love to see it happen

watchkalibrun.com

by Zak Woods on Jul 4, 2009 1:18 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs