Franklin Going To Retire?

Perhaps it's the recent win over Chuck Liddell. Or his newfound title contention.

Or, perhaps most likely, it's the layoff that's given him his first extended break to recover from an assortment of injuries that have dinged the fan favorite during his dozen years of professional MMA competition.

Whatever the reason, don't expect UFC 126 co-headliner Rich Franklin to call it quits anytime soon.

Franklin (28-5 MMA, 13-4 UFC), of course, co-headlines Saturday's UFC 126 event at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. He meets fellow ex-champ Forrest Griffin (17-6 MMA, 8-4 UFC) in the co-main event of the night's pay-per-view main card.

The bout is Franklin's first since a bittersweet victory over UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell this past June at UFC 115. It was sweet because Franklin picked up a dramatic first-round knockout win that helped him avoid the first back-to-back losses of his career. It was bitter because it resulted in the southpaw's broken left arm and a lengthy recovery process.

Still, even the bitter part of the equation had a silver lining.

"Fortunately everything went as planned," Franklin recently told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "Now, breaking an arm is not like messing up a joint [or] tearing a ligament and a knee or messing up a shoulder or something like that.

"I didn't really have any real rehab; the only thing with a break is that you have time down. So for me it was the fact of sitting for 10 weeks and not really being able to do much with the arm until I got the cast off and was able to work it out and stuff like that again. ... And often times it takes an injury for guys like us to take some time off. And it is mentally refreshing at times ... just to relax a little bit."

While he would have rather been in the cage, Franklin was forced to get a break. Although initially reluctantly, he finally realized the break might do him well. The 36-year-old turned pro back in 1999, and with a steady stream of fights, he rarely had extended time off to heal.

So what if Franklin had lost? If he had suffered back-to-back losses and dropped a bout to Liddell, a fighter on the tail end of his career? Would that have been it for Franklin?

"Those are big what ifs," Franklin said. "If I had lost the fight and if I would have broken my arm, I can't really put myself in that kind of mindset. But I doubt that I would have been contemplating retirement at that point in time."

Did a win over a notable such as Liddell make influence that decision?

"If winning a fight is not enough motivation for you to continue competing ... then you really just shouldn't be fighting in the first place." he said. "I'm a competitor, and I'm motivated to win regardless of who I'm contracted to fight at that given time.

"A win over a specific person doesn’t necessarily motivate me to continue going. It's just I'm a competitor, and I like to win period."

Now healthy and anxious to fight Griffin – a fighter he considers a bigger version of himself – Franklin's future path could veer in a few different ways. In addition to Franklin's bout with Griffin, a UFC 126 main-card bout between Jon Jones and fellow prospect Ryan Bader, as well as an upcoming fight between Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Thiago Silva, all could determine the next light-heavyweight title challenger.

So not only is important for the winners of those three fights to get the victories, but they need to do it in impressive fashion. UFC president Dana White recently said "Rampage" is the frontrunner should he beat Silva at UFC 130. But that's hardly set in stone.

So Franklin plans to go out there and make his case. The former middleweight champ wants to run through Griffin and stake him claim to a title shot in a new division.

But once the bell rings, the upbeat and friendly Franklin will be his usual self.

"I would consider him a friend," Franklin said of Griffin. "And I'd say that we have the kind of relationship that after the fight, it doesn't really matter who wins or loses. You could see the two of us possibly hanging out together – grabbing a drink together or something like that. I don't drink or anything but, the point is made."