With Martin Kampmann (15-2 MMA, 3-0 UFC) off the UFC 72 card because of a knee injury, former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin (21-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) has confirmed that he’ll instead fight Yushin Okami (20-3 MMA, 4-0 UFC) in the main-event bout.
Franklin made the announcement at his official site, richfranklin.com, this morning.
UFC 72 takes place June 16 at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast, Ireland. The event airs on Spike TV.
According to richfranklin.com:
I spoke with Monte (my manager) Saturday evening and that conversation eluded to the fact that Kampman may be out. Monday,I was told he would be replaced with a top 10 opponent, and Okami was presented as the likely possibility. Later that day we found out Okami signed. From my end, the contract remains the same, and I’m still excited to fight June 16th in Belfast. My camp will make some changes in my training as well as develop a new strategy to approach this fight. However, I was and will continue preparing a fight…not a person.
UFCjunkie.com (
UFCjunkie.com - UFC blog for MMA news, rumors, gossip, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps) mentioned Okami as a likely opponent yesterday.
Okami is perhaps one of the UFC’s most underrated and accomplished fighters. The MMA veteran owns a 20-3 MMA record (and an undefeated 4-0 mark in the Octagon) and has been stopped just once since he began competing professionally in 2002. A split-decision loss and a majority-decision loss are the only other blemishes on an otherwise perfect record.
The Japanese fighter defeated Mike Swick via unanimous decision at last month’s UFC 69 event. He has previous UFC victories over Alan Belcher, Kalib Starnes and Rory Singer.
After just a two-month layoff, he’ll face Franklin, who scored a TKO victory over Jason MacDonald at UFC 68 in March. It was his first stop on the comeback trail since losing his title to Anderson Silva this past October.
Prior to the loss, Franklin had won eight consecutive fights, which included two successful title defenses over Nate Quarry (UFC 56) and David Loiseau (UFC 58).
Great. Im more interested in this fight than Kammpman. Hope Okami is ready on such short notice.