UFC Rich Franklin's best times

Rich Franklin's best times may be behind him, but the expert combined martial specialist still has a sparkle for the extraordinary.

The former middleweight champ live through a second-round knockdown and rallied to outpoint B razil tale Wanderlei Silva in violent area at Saturday's UFC 147 occurrence.

The 190-pound catchweight battle headlined UFC 147's pay per perspective collection and took position at a sold-out Estadio Jornalista Felipe Drumond in the B razil town of Belo Horizonte.

Franklin, who took the battle on four weeks' observe for damaged Vitor Belfort, silenced a very pro-Silva audience with a five circular unanimous-decision achievements (49-46 on all scorecards). Franklin also outpointed "The Axe Murderer" three decades ago at UFC 99.

The 37 season old Franklin and 35 season old Silva joined UFC 147 a combined 5-9 in their past 14 battles. It's hardly the achievements that should get headlining areas, but the fan preferred have been confirmed attracts. So with few other alternatives available, authorities reserved the rematch and expected to utilize Silva's popularity in his house nation.

Franklin, though, confirmed much better to the impact throughout the battle, and despite a 16 1 month layoff due to neck medical procedures restoration, his training and strength were fantastic. Both assisted him endure Silva's second circular knockdown and following ground-and-pound attack that had "Ace" in achievements function until he was stored by the gong.

The sequence, actually, granted sapped Silva (34-12-1 MMA, 4-7 UFC) of power, and Franklin (29-6 MMA, 14-5 UFC) capitalized in the later units to set up the choice win.

"I honestly don't remember it," Franklin said of the second-round right hook that floored him. "When that kind of stuff happens, you remember bits and pieces. ... I was operating on auto-pilot for a while."

Franklin, who had been toiling in the light-heavyweight division after losing his middleweight belt to dominant champ Anderson Silva, said he's planning a return to his former weight class for one final title run before retirement.

-- Ferreira, Bezerra win 'TUF: Brazil'

In the night's other featured bouts, two tournament winners were crowned as part of the conclusion of "The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil."

The first international edition of the UFC's long-running reality series drew big ratings in Brazil, so it was fitting the tourney conclusions were booked for the UFC's Brazilian event.

In the middleweight-tournament final, Cezar "Mutante" Ferreira (5-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) topped Sergio "Serginho" Moraes (6-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) via unanimous decision. In the featherweight final, Rony "Jason" Mariano Bezerra (10-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) did the same to Godofredo "Pepey" de Oliveira (8-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC).

Both winners receive long-term UFC contracts and will feature prominently on future cards.