Refreshed Franklin gladly back in cage

The former high school math teacher has always been the consummate company man, willing to do whatever his bosses at the Ultimate Fighting Championship asked of him.

Franklin had taken fights on short notice and in different weight classes, in addition to serving as one of the leading ambassadors of the sport and the organization.

The loss to Belfort at UFC 103 in September made Franklin take a step back.

“Looking back at the tapes of that fight, I didn’t fight well, and for me, honestly, I think that fight (was) lost before the fight even began,” Franklin said on a conference call this week. “I was mentally cashed, and when we start coming into the gym and the moment you walk in you look at the clock and count down the minutes (until) the time that you leave, that’s never a good thing.”

Nine months later, Franklin is rejuvenated and ready to take on Chuck Liddell in the light heavyweight main event of UFC 115 tonight in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Franklin said he had wanted to take some time off after beating Wanderlei Silva last June but once again found himself stepping in for the company.

After UFC 100 in July, Franklin said, the UFC “really left themselves kind of barren with nobody to headline their show.

“They needed me for 103,” he said, “and although I would have rather taken some time off, they called me and asked me to take the fight and I said yes.”

After reflecting on what went wrong that night, Franklin decided it was time to slow down, rejecting a few more UFC requests to fight.

Now he’s ready to return, although Franklin is again coming to the UFC’s aid by stepping in for Tito Ortiz, who dropped out of this fight. Franklin replaced Ortiz for the final week of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality show and on Saturday’s card.

“This was about the time frame I wanted to jump back in anyway, so (after) some time off, I had the ability to physically reset, mentally reset and the timing was perfect,” he said.

Franklin said with his mind refreshed, the decision to fight Liddell was an easy one.

“When you have an opportunity to fight somebody like Chuck, that’s just not something you can turn down,” he said. Look at both mine and Chuck’s track record, we like to put on exciting fights and we have similar styles. I think that’s going to (make) for a good show for the fans and they know it.”

Fans are probably just as excited for a heavyweight bout between Pat Barry and Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic. Barry has burst onto the scene with two knockout victories in three UFC appearances and will now get a chance to face his idol.

Both fighters are former kickboxers, and Barry said just being in this fight is an accomplishment so early in his mixed martial arts career.

“We’ve got to keep in mind I’ve been doing (MMA) for a year and a half now,” he said. “I had three MMA fights and I was in the UFC. I had three UFC undercard fights, and now my fourth fight is against Mirko Cro Cop as the co-main event.”

Las Vegan Martin Kampmann will meet Paulo Thiago in a key welterweight bout, and Carlos Condit takes on Rory MacDonald.

The main card, which also features a heavyweight fight between Gilbert Yvel and Ben Rothwell, airs live on pay per view at 7 p.m.

At least two undercard bouts, including a matchup of Xtreme Couture teammates Tyson Griffin and Evan Dunham, will air live on Spike (Cable 29) at 6.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509.