Former UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin, who lost convincingly to Anderson Silva just over one year apart in 2006-2007, was guest on Submission Radio this week and when asked about whether or not he would like to step in the cage with Silva for a third time he was adamant that if the opportunity presented he could beat him.
“Would I fight Anderson a third time? Absolutely. Is it because I feel like I have some unfinished business? Not at all. It’s just, in my mind as a champion and to have the mentality of a champion I 100% wholeheartedly believe that I can beat Anderson in a fight. Not just Anderson but just anybody like that’s the mentality you have to have. If somebody says “Rich do you think you can beat Anderson Silva in a fight?” Absolutely, yes. “Rich do you think you could beat Jon Jones in a fight?” Absolutely yes. Like, you have to answer yes to those questions and not just because it’s a formality, but because you believe that stuff, because you believe in yourself and if you don’t believe in yourself then you don’t have any business pursuing a title in a sport or something like that, you don’t have any business in the pursuit of being the best.
And so yeah I would take a fight with Anderson. It wouldn’t be for any reason like redemption of vengeance or retribution or any other kinda cool word that we’ve seen on a UFC poster before, but yeah I would fight him and I believe I could beat him and that’s just me with the champions mentality.”
You can hear more from the interview with Franklin in the clip below:
