Age is just a number when it comes to the world of combat sports in 2025.
Mike Tyson recently made $20 million to face Jake Paul in a fight that attracted over 60 million people to Netflix, despite being a 58-year-old former heavyweight champion who hadn’t fought professionally in nearly two decades.
The Global Fight League [GFL] has offered Tony Ferguson and a slew of older MMA legends a home after launching a new team-based league to rival the UFC.
Now a former UFC middleweight champion is contemplating fighting again at 50.
Rich Franklin open to MMA comeback
Rich Franklin hasn’t fought in MMA since being knocked out by Cung Le at UFC Macao in 2012.
‘Ace’ ratified his retirement in 2015 and four years later he was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame, which will soon add another ex-middleweight champion in Israel Adesanya, who has been honored for his 2019 scrap with Kelvin Gastelum.
At the peak of his powers, Franklin beat the likes of Wanderlei Silva, Chuck Liddell, and Matt Matt Hamill to become one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the UFC.
Franklin understands he’s not physically or mentally the man he was when during his world champion peak – but that doesn’t mean he’d pass on the opportunity to have another fight.
“I’m 50, and that window, if I was interested, that window is closing pretty quickly,” he said on the Ariel Helwani Show.
“Under the right circumstances, the right kind of money, the right kind of opponent I could be definitely talked into a match for the right decimal place as well.
“But I’m not hungry like I was when I’m 25. I could probably get my body through another camp or two, but that grind when you’re 25, 30 years old, you don’t have it at this age like you did then.
“It would be fun. The camaraderie of being in a camp and focusing on that target or that goal, I enjoy doing that.”
Rich Franklin discusses relationship with Dana White
Franklin became the Vice President of ONE Championship two years on from his final UFC fight.
After joining one of the UFC’s main rivals, many fans assumed that Franklin’s relationship with UFC boss Dana White had soured – but the man himself insists that couldn’t be further from the truth.
“I have a good relationship with UFC,” Franklin insisted.
“Dana and I have talked several times since I’ve retired, and obviously they inducted me in the Hall of Fame as well.
“There was a time when I was headed out to Las Vegas for some other business, and I reached out to Dana and said, ‘Hey, you got time for lunch?’ He happened to be out of town, so we didn’t.
“Nonetheless, no bad blood or anything like that.”