Article on Rich and his upcoming fight with Silva!!!
Franklin looks for redemption - 10/17/2007
by John Buhl
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Rich Franklin has a lot to think about going into his October 20 rematch with Anderson Silva at UFC 77. Not only does he have to face the man that dominated him on the feet -- where Franklin's usually at his best -- and handed him his first loss in nearly three years, but he also has the pressure of fighting in front of his hometown crowd in Cincinnati, Ohio.
So it's no wonder that Franklin decided to head out of town and train somewhere far away -- venturing all the way to a small town in Wyoming -- to get away from the distractions of the local media.
While his usually brutal training regimen hasn't changed much, the change of scenery has helped him focus.
"For this fight I took an entire camp out of Cincinnati," Franklin says during a recent media conference call. "It was very distracting being in my hometown. So we left my hometown, came out to the mountains, changed some altitude. I brought Matt Hume out to work with me which is something to an addition as well as the coaches that I've been working with. And we've made some changes and that's a little bit better."
He adds, "There's a lot of local media and things [in Cincinnati] that were taking up my time. But being out here in Wyoming where it's a small town and I'll tell you what, honestly there is not anything to do out here but train. So, you know, we basically train each week and then train again. And we're very focused."
Of course Franklin is no stranger to handling media obligations with the sport's recent surge in popularity. While he doesn't believe that interview obligations have affected his previous performances, Franklin knew the additional hometown buzz would be difficult to ignore.
"The amount of PR work that I had to do for [UFC 68 in] Columbus was a lot in comparison to something that I would do when I was fighting in Vegas. And the difference is that even in Columbus I'm still an hour and a half away from that city," Franklin says. "Here everything is in my backyard. So even if I don't pick up the phone and stuff like that, I still have media outlets showing up to workouts and fans coming in and stopping by and things like that. And all that stuff becomes a distraction so. It's just, it's easier to get out of town and shut it all down than it is to be there." 
Besides the remote training location, Franklin has also spent more time studying Silva's recent fights and putting together a strategy. Many observers noted how unprepared Franklin looked for Silva's dominating Muay Thai clinch in the first fight, and Franklin is working hard to make sure he doesn't get overwhelmed this time around.
"I think that in the initial fight, at the time I believed that I put the amount of time that I should've to study him, and I didn't," Franklin says. "So we've done a lot better job this time breaking down film and everything."
That's included looking at Silva's title defenses against Travis Lutter and Nate Marquardt. Silva dispatched of the usually durable Marquardt in the first round and beat Lutter -- a respected Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt -- at his own game, submitting him with a triangle choke in the second round. Now Franklin knows that Silva's submissions could be just as dangerous as his striking.
"I think that Lutter's a great ground guy and I think that Silva showed some resilience on the ground," Franklin says. "A lot of people might think that his ground game is his weakness but that's not necessarily so. So I think that watching the Silva, or watching the Lutter fight obviously showed that he's definitely versatile in all aspects of the fight game."
Franklin won't be holding anything back against Silva
Having faced Silva once before and studied the Lutter and Marquardt fights, will Franklin forego his usual striking-first strategy and try and outwrestle the champion? It's possible, but Franklin isn't going to be gun shy.
"I'm going to walk out there and start throwing punches like I always do," Franklin says.
"And of course I have a game plan, but ultimately I'm just going to take the path of least resistance, and if that means keeping it up, fine. If we end up on the ground then that's fine as well."
Given Silva's recent impressive performances, including his dominating win over Franklin, the current middleweight champion is considered a strong favorite by many to keep the belt. Although Franklin isn't intimidated, he did have to do some soul searching after losing his title and getting his nose broken by the Brazilian.
"You just sit, honestly, you just sit after the fight, and I did a lot of staring out the window wondering where I went wrong and what happened and why," Franklin says, reflecting on his loss to Silva. "And you keep asking yourself why and why and why. And you could do that for days and days upon end and really you just come to the same conclusion you came to before you even thought of the question anyway which is pretty much nothing."
This rematch isn't necessarily about the championship or proving the doubters wrong, though. Franklin wants to erase his previous performance against Silva and prove something to himself.
"[It] wouldn't matter [if this fight] was for a belt or not. Anderson right now is number one in the weight class and obviously you always want to look to fight some of the best, [and I'm] aiming for the best. And for defeating me the way that he did, I think that [I'd] definitely like to get back in the ring, [and] not just to prove something. That's not my motivation, but just to try to set things straight in my own mind."
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