MMA Weekly radio had Monte Cox on, and he confirmed that Rich is considering a move to 205.
“We’ve talked about going to 205 and how would he match up with some of those guys, with a Forrest Griffin or a Keith Jardine. I think there’re some really good fights. There’s a whole bunch of 205’s that I think would be interesting.”
He continued, “In the end, we do what the UFC wants. If they want us to try 205, we’re up for it. If they want to keep us at 185, then we’ll do that too.”
I think this would be a great move for Franklin. Right now the only interesting fight for him at 185 is Henderson, and it is a tough fight with no real career upside for him. Frankly, I think he can beat a lot of guys at 205, and can at least be competitve with guys like Forrest, Jardine, Shogun, Rashad, etc.
The big money fights are still at 205. He’s not going to make jack fighting Maia, but he may do very well in a big name fight with Chuck Liddell. If Wand does move down, Rich moving up sounds like a nice tradeoff for the divisions.