Following UFC 146, it was announced that the main event for UFC 147 had been put in a murky situation. Vitor Belfort unforunately had to withdraw from the fight due to injury. UFC President Dana White announced at the post-fight press conference that Wanderlei Silva would stay on the card as one half of the main event.
Earlier today the UFC officially announced that Vitor Silva would be replaced by former UFC middleweight champion, Rich Franklin (28-6-1).
UFC 147 now has a new five-round main event, as former middleweight champion Rich Franklin will face “The Axe Murderer” Wanderlei Silva in a 190-pound catchweight feature. The two first met at UFC 99 in Germany, where Franklin earned a decision win and both men took home Fight of the Night bonuses.
Silva was originally set to face fellow TUF Brasil coach Vitor Belfort in a rematch of their 1998 UFC Brazil bout, but a hand injury forced Belfort to withdraw from the event.
Franklin has been on a bit of a roller coaster ride since he lost his middleweight title to Anderson Silva back at UFC 64 in October of 2006. He has gone 5-5 since that fight.
Their first fight back at UFC 99 was all out fireworks and as mentioned above earned them fight of the night honors. Look for this one to go the same way.
Hopefully this is the last change we see to the UFC 147 card.
