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When Rich Franklin and Vitor Belfort fight on Saturday in Dallas, Texas as the main event of UFC 103, they'll do it at a catchweight of 195-pounds.
For Franklin, the former middleweight champion who's spent much of his career bouncing between 185 and 205-pounds, it will be his second consecutive fight at the weird tweener weight. Franklin fought Wanderlei Silva at 195 at UFC 99 back in June and – though he says it was at Belfort's request – a second time splitting the difference between the two weight classes makes some wonder if he's single-handedly trying to create a super middleweight division in the UFC.
Frankly, for guys like Belfort and Franklin it makes sense, since each has spent the majority of his fighting life trying to figure out which existing division gives him the best chance to win.
As heavyweights continue to push the envelope of the 265-pound limit, the UFC threatens to absorb the lighter divisions of the WEC and Belfort and Franklin forging ahead at 195, are more weight classes the inevitable future for MMA?
The answer, it seems is complicated. Not even Franklin is convinced that adding more weight classes is the right option.
" I think if they made a 195-pound class they would have to restructure the entire weight class system and do one weight class for every 10 pounds: 155, 165, 175, 185, 195, 205 and so on," Franklin told AOL's Michael David Smith recently. "But the problem is, once you start creating weight classes like that, the same thing can happen that has happened in boxing, which is that fans have a hard time keeping track of things. I don't know if adding more weight classes is the smartest thing to do or not."
For years, MMA fans have spurned the creation of more weight classes in an attempt to avoid diluting public interest. As Franklin rightly points out, one of the many problems currently hampering professional boxing is that there are so many weight classes that it's often difficult to even know who the champion is. No one wants that in our sport.
But in MMA, where one or two major companies currently dominate the marketplace, it seems far less likely that the situation would become as confusing. Furthermore – even by splitting the weights up in 10-pound increments – you're still only talking about seven weight classes between lightweight and heavyweight. That doesn't seem like too many, does it?
Ironically, despite the fact that the Franklin-Belfort conversation frames the question of more weight classes around the difference between 185-pounds and 205-pound, the biggest disparity – and the best argument for more classes – is in the heavyweight division.
Current UFC champion Brock Lesnar is a mountain of a man. When he captured the heavyweight title from Randy Couture at UFC 91, color commentator Joe Rogan repeatedly pointed out that they appeared separated by multiple weight divisions. Even when Lesnar fights larger heavyweights like Heath Herring or Frank Mir, they seldom if ever look like they belong in the same cage with him.
The emergence of true giants like Lesnar – and upcoming opponent Shane Carwin – seems to underscore the need for a cruiserweight division. Adding an extra dividing line around 225-235-pounds would give smaller guys like Couture and Herring the ideal place to play their trade.
But perhaps it's a simply slope. Perhaps if you start adding more weight classes you create a snowballing effect that eventually results in more divisions than a high school wrestling meet.
As the athletes continue to evolve and MMA keeps growing, this weighty situation will certainly be one to watch during the next decade or so.
One thing is clear right now: The road to the title at 195-pounds runs through Rich Franklin.
Chad Dundas is a daily contributor to The Sporting News' combat sports blog, The Rumble and writes a weekly MMA column for CraveOnline. He lives in Missoula, MT.
