UFC light heavyweight Rich Franklin got some good news from doctors on Monday.
The former champ, who broke his arm in a UFC 115 main-event victory over Chuck Liddell, does not need surgery on the left limb, and a targeted December or January return date is still a possibility.
Franklin's business manager, J.T. Stewart, today told MMAjunkie.com that the fighter's full-arm cast was removed and replaced with a smaller, lighter forearm cast.
"He needed to make sure it healed correctly," Stewart said. "He was feeling good. A few days before (the doctor's appointment), he was telling some people, 'I don't think I'm going to need surgery. It's feeling pretty good.'"
It was a bit of good luck for a fighter who experienced some bad in 2009.
"If it hadn't healed correctly, they would have had to probably re-break or reset it and put it back in a big cast," Stewart said. "It would have been a setback."
Franklin will be in the lighter, removable cast for another month or so. He can't lift weight with the arm, and he's still limited in what he can do at the gym.
"He's not real happy about that," Stewart said. "But it could have been worse."
As we reported last week, Franklin is raffling off the pink cast. It's been autographed by both Franklin and Liddell, and the $5 raffle tickets benefit breast-cancer research through the Susan G. Komen for the Cure charity. Tickets can be purchased at
www.americanfighter.com.
The Liddell victory, which came about after Franklin replaced injured "The Ultimate Fighter 11" coach Tito Ortiz, got 2010 off to a good start for "Ace." In 2009, he suffered a close split-decision defeat to Dan Henderson at UFC 99, and a headbutt and eye poke required surgery and extended recovering time. Rather than a rest, though, he returned to the cage. After edging Wanderlei Silva in a second straight overseas card, Franklin suffered a KO loss to Vitor Belfort at UFC 103 in September.
After Franklin's busy fight schedule – which was compounded by his many business endeavors – Stewart said the Liddell (21-8 MMA, 16-7 UFC) victory has "Ace" (26-5 MMA, 13-4 UFC) anxious to get back in the cage and moving toward light-heavyweight title contention.
"I think he's definitely motivated," Stewart said. "I think he was excited about how the (UFC 115) fight ended and that it was Chuck Liddell, a legend and Hall of Famer who's so well-respected. Rich respects him a lot."
by MMAjunkie.com Staff on Jul 13, 2010 at 10:10 am ET
And it is nice to see he does not need surgery but that kick from Liddell still did some major damage!!
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