How much impact will Rich Franklin have on the light-heavyweight division?
Fowlkes: I feel for Rich Franklin. I really do. He’s the second-best middleweight in the UFC. Too bad the gulf between number two and number one in that division is so painfully, face-smashingly wide. There are two options for Franklin as a light heavyweight, depending on what he does against Hamill on Saturday night. Neither is particularly great, but that’s life. If Franklin wins and wins decisively, he suddenly becomes the newest title-picture sweepstakes member. He won’t get the big check and the balloons, but he’ll get a few encouraging letters telling him he may already be a winner. He’s just too small at light heavyweight, and his punching power goes from potentially devastating to mediocre against the bigger guys. He’s still technically sound, still a smart fighter, but he isn’t going to beat the Chuck Liddell’s or Lyoto Machida’s of the world, though the UFC will briefly try to convince us otherwise. If Franklin loses, which seems less likely but still possible, he can either
