DaytonDailyNews.com

CINCINNATI — In a way, Rich Franklin said he'll be reliving his childhood Saturday night at sold-out U.S. Bank Arena:

"These are the kind of moments you dream of when you're a kid. You're shooting basketball in the back yard and, in your head, there's three seconds left on the clock and you take the shot. You miss it, but you're like, 'Wait! He was fouled!' and you picture yourself standing at the line.

"Well, this is my moment now. Fighting for the championship in front of a hometown crowd — how cool is that?"

If you don't mind getting kicked in the nose, kneed in the gut and choked, it has to be about as cool as it gets.

Franklin — former Cincinnati-area school teacher, former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champ — is the headline attraction at UFC 77.

One of the UFC's most popular stars ever, Franklin is fighting champion Anderson Silva — the Brazilian who took the title last year with a first-round knockout — and he's doing it in an arena where he's one of the show's marquee names, same as he was when the UFC jammed Nationwide Arena in Columbus last March.

And yet when someone at Thursday's press conference in downtown Cincinnati suggested Franklin could be a local sports icon the way Ken Griffey Jr. and Carson Palmer are, he shook his head:

"I really wake up in the morning and view myself as an average guy. I'm just some kid who grew up in Harrison, didn't even start for his high school football team, went to college to become a teacher and somehow the Lord blessed me with a gift for fighting ... and I'm using it."

While uncharacteristically overwhelmed by Silva last October, Franklin approached this rematch much differently. Rather than train locally, he left distractions behind and went to Wyoming to work at altitude. Returning Tuesday night, he moved into a Cincinnati hotel rather than go to his West Chester home on 13 acres where, he said, "I'd be sleeping in the same bed with my wife. There'd be a lack of focus."

Not to mention he'd be right near his favorite Big Dogs Pizza on Cincinnati Dayton Road.

And with that he started talking about the jalapeno poppers and the supreme pizza he gets there and soon, the guy who's all business was letting his defenses down.

Franklin — who walks around at 210 pounds, but must weigh in at 185 today — is fanatical when it comes to food: "All week long I weigh out all my food. I eat healthy, a lot of organic, a lot of raw stuff."

But once a week — Saturday usually — he has a "cheat-food day." Just mentioning it made him grin: "You wouldn't think I'm the same person. I'm like Jekyll and Hyde, especially with dessert."

Like what?

"Oh God, what wouldn't I go for? Krispy Kreme doughnuts, Reese's Cups, Kit Kats. My wife makes brownies, and I put cookies-and-cream ice cream on them.

"And Triple Chocolate Meltdowns at Applebee's are always good. Apple cobbler, soft cookies, and then there's all the gummy stuff ... Juju Beads, Gummi Worms, Mike and Ike's, Twizzlers."

He went on and on and as he did, I realized sometimes dreams change.

Sometimes a last-second shot gives way to a Triple Chocolate Meltdown.