UFC’S Franklin eager for one last title shot

BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil — Former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin has his eye on one more run to the top.

While UFC officials have long downplayed the potential for “Ace” to get another crack at the title, Franklin is hoping his string of favors for the promotion has earned him a bit of leverage.

“That was my intention when I moved back down to 185 (pounds),” Franklin said after his victory in Saturday’s UFC 147 pay-per-view event. “I’m glad that you and probably everybody else notices that I’ve bailed the UFC out a lot. I hope that’s going to pay off in the future.”

Franklin (29-6 MMA, 14-5 UFC) defeated Wanderlei Silva (34-12-1, 4-7) in the main event of UFC 147 in Brazil. Franklin survived a second-round scare and cruised to the clear-cut win.

Of course, Franklin wasn’t originally scheduled to fight in UFC 147. Instead, he was supposed to meet kickboxer Cung Le two weeks later at UFC 148. But when Silva’s original opponent, Vitor Belfort, was forced off the card a month ago with an injury, UFC officials, as they’ve done many times, turned to Franklin for help.

It’s not the first time they’ve looked to the marketable 37year-old. In 2010 UFC officials asked Franklin to replace injured light heavyweight Tito Ortiz as a coach on The Ultimate Fighter reality series and as a PPV headliner against Chuck Liddell, whom he defeated and sent into retirement in UFC 115.

With the late notice for UFC 147, he successfully petitioned officials to fight Silva at a catchweight of 190 pounds. Franklin says he wants another crack at his middleweight title.

“Moving back down to 185, the idea was that enough time has passed since my title fight, and perhaps if I could put a couple of wins together, I could make another run at the title before I retire,” Franklin said.