Wanderlei Silva gets second shot at Rich Franklin in new UFC 147 contest

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(Former UFC champion Rich Franklin)

Wanderlei Silva will get a rematch at UFC 147 after all, even if it is not therematch he originally wanted. The former Pride FC middleweight champion willtake on former UFC champion Rich Franklin in a 190-pound catchweight bout.

Franklin defeated Silva via unanimous decision in another catchweight encounterat UFC 99. Silva had been set to face Vitor Belfort after the two coachedagainst each other on the first season of "The Ultimate Fighter:Brazil," but news broke earlier this week that Belfort was forced out witha knee injury.

The former UFC middleweight champion has alternated wins and losses sincedefeating Matt Hamill at UFC 88. During the stretch he also defeated Silva andformer UFC champion Chuck Liddell. Franklin won the middleweight belt with astoppage victory over Evan Tanner at UFC 53. He defended the belt twice againstNate Quarry and David Loiseau.

Silva won the first-ever Pride middleweight title over Kazushi Sakuraba atPride 17 in 2001. He defended the belt against Kiyoshi Tamura, HiromitsuKanehara, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Ricardo Arona. In his lastfight, Silva defeated former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le at UFC139.

UFC 147 is still very much in flux. This matchup between Silva and Franklincould end up being the main event.