UFC 103 will take place on September 19 in Dallas, Texas. It will feature 195-pound king Rich Franklin against returning Vitor Belfort. Franklin is a former middleweight champion while Belfort is a former light heavyweight champion.

Rich Franklin

This will be Franklin’s second fight at 195-pounds. In his first fight at this weight, Franklin beat Wanderlei Silva. He took every punch Silva gave him and won by unanimous decision. Franklin showed that he could go toe-to-toe with heavy handed hitters like Silva even though it was not very smart of him to do so. There is no doubt that Franklin can take everything Belfort throws at him.

Franklin is very well-rounded and has superb conditioning. His four losses were against top-tier fighters. Two of those losses came at the hands of Anderson Silva, one against PRIDE champion Dan Henderson and one against current UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida. Franklin has nothing to be ashamed of losing to these guys. It is clear that as long as Anderson Silva is middleweight champion, Franklin has no chance to win it again. It seems that Franklin has trouble winning against highly-skilled fighters.

Vitor Belfort

Early in his career Belfort was a highly-regarded UFC fighter. He beat the legendary Randy Couture once during their three fights, knocked-out Wanderlei Silva and Tank Abbott. Belfort is known for his superb hand-speed early on his career but may have lost some speed as he got older.

Belfort trains under Xtreme Couture. Three members of Xtreme Couture have suffered losses recently lately; Forrest Griffin was taken to school by Anderson Silva, Gina Carano was beaten down by Gina Santos and Xtreme Couture founder Randy Couture was beaten by Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Not a good year for Xtreme Couture fighters.

Comparing Franklin’s and Belfort’s fights against Wanderlei Silva, Belfort was much more explosive than Franklin. Belfort knocked out Silva in 44 seconds but Franklin showed that he has a solid chin by standing and trading with Silva.

Both Franklin and Silva lost to former PRIDE champion Dan Henderson. Franklin lost by split decision while Belfort lost by unanimous decision.

It is highly-unlikely that Belfort will knock-out Franklin. Expect Franklin to stand and trade with Belfort. Belfort should try to take the fight to the matt. Belfort should take full advantage of his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu skills and try to lure Franklin into a submission.

UFC president Dana White should really consider adding a 195-pound division. If Franklin gets by Belfort, Dana White must name Franklin as its champion.