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Training for rematch refreshes Franklin
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Rich Franklin is giving new meaning to the phrase: "Getting up for the fight."
Franklin and the rest of his camp left Cincinnati three weeks ago to head for the mountains of Wyoming to train for Saturday night's Ultimate Fighting Championship 77 title fight against middleweight champion Anderson Silva in Cincinnati.
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Camp Franklin had two reasons for picking Wyoming as the training site — isolation and elevation.
"I felt like I was in good shape when I arrived out here," Franklin said during a conference call Thursday. "But it really doesn't matter what kind of shape you're in when you come to (altitude) like this. Your body is not prepared for it.
"This is the first time I've ever left for this period of time to train in some altitude. I've trained in Salt Lake City with Jeremy Horn, but the altitude there (4,226 feet) is still about 3,000 feet lower than it is here in Wyoming. So we'll see how that affects me in the fight."
The trip west marked the first time Franklin has left his home gym — the JG MMA Academy in West Chester Twp. — to train for a fight.
One of the most popular fighters in UFC history, Franklin does massive amounts of public-relations work prior to any fight.
But the appearances and distractions reached new heights in March prior to the UFC 68 event in Columbus.
"The amount of PR work I had to do for Columbus was a lot compared to something I would do when I'm fighting in Vegas," Franklin said. "Even in Columbus, I'm still an hour and a half away from that city. Here, everything is right in my backyard.
"So it's been refreshing to get out of the city and get away from all the distractions. Being out here in Wyoming, it's a small, little town, and I'll tell you what, there is not anything to do out here but train."
Franklin, of course, is hoping his post-fight reaction will be as vastly different to his pre-fight routine.
One year ago, Silva took Franklin's middleweight belt with a first-round knockout at UFC 64 in Las Vegas.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2193 or jmorrison@coxohio.com.
