Rich Franklin Moves to Light Heavyweight to Fight Matt Hamill at UFC 88

By Tim Ngo | July 02, 2008

The rumor began earlier last week and now it’s official, Rich Franklin is moving back up to the weight class that he started in when he made his UFC debut. His return to the Light Heavyweight division will take place at UFC 88 against a very tough Matt Hamill. MMARated first broke the story earlier today, which we confirmed through sources close to both camps.

Something interesting to note is that Anderson Silva is also moving up to 205-lbs for his fight against James Irvin. Of course how long his stay will be would depend on how good he looks against Irvin on July 19th.

Franklin had originally moved down to the Middleweight division because he felt that by cutting weight and getting it back before fight time would give him a power advantage, which it did. Unfortunately Anderson Silva was a much stronger competitor with better technique which put Franklin in a quandary. Even if he could string together a few wins at Middleweight, could he really compete with Silva? Probably not, and that’s why the move up.

Matt Hamill will pose as a very tough return to Light Heavyweight as his wrestling and strength is arguably the best in the weight class and will crowded division.