Fans Don't Want To See Franklin Vs. Henderson II

The UFC surprisingly announced that the main event at UFC 103 will be a rematch between Dan Henderson and Rich Franklin. These two fought a close fight this past January in Dublin, Ireland at UFC 93, with Henderson winning the fight by split decision.

What was UFC matchmaker thinking in signing this rematch for Sept. 19 in Dallas? The fans on the MMA Web sites and forums are chastising the UFC for having these two fighters as the headliners for UFC 103.

BloodyElbow.com, a very popular MMA Web site, polled their readers asking them if they thought this fight is a good headliner for UFC 103 and 78 percent of the readers voted "no."

Franklin is coming off a nice win over Wanderlei Silva at UFC 99 and Henderson brutally knocked out Michael Bisping at UFC 100.

I would rather see a Franklin vs. Silva rematch or a Henderson vs. Bisping rematch than have Franklin and Henderson go toe-to-toe once again.

Franklin wants this rematch because he wants to avenge his close loss to Henderson. I don't see a good reason why Henderson would want the rematch, though.

Henderson should be fighting a top contender in the middleweight division or having a rematch against UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva. I would even rather see Franklin vs. Silva for the third time than Franklin vs. Henderson again.

There are close to 40 light heavyweights in the UFC and this is the best main event the UFC could get for their first show in Dallas in years?

I would have loved to see Chuck Liddell come back to fight Franklin but Liddell is still taking a break from MMA.

The hardcore MMA fans might be somewhat interested in Franklin vs. Henderson II but the average fan will not be buying the pay-per-view to watch these two guys duke it out again. There is a very good chance that this rematch will once again go three rounds and end up in the judges' hands.

The good news for the fans in Dallas is that the co-main event between Mike Swick and Martin Kampmann should be very exciting and action-packed. The winner of this fight will probably get the next crack at UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre.

I am disappointed in the UFC having Franklin vs. Henderson II as a main event in the United States and fans can tell the UFC how disappointed they are by not buying the show in September.