UFC 103 Main Event =........

Chuck's taking a year off to heal his infamous mo-hawked dome, leaving UFC 103 without a main event as of now. His opponent was supposed to be Rich Franklin, who seems to be the de facto go to guy when they cannot pull a title fight onto a card. While not the most digestible of main eventers in the UFC's arsenal, using "Ace" in the top spot certainly does not hurt the UFC as Franklin is actually a bigger PPV draw than their middleweight champ and p4p juggernaut, Anderson Silva. If they are dead set on putting Franklin back into the top slot for 103, here are some ideas that could be intriguing if not meaningful within the light heavyweight ranks.

vs Keith Jardine:

A Jardine vs Franklin scrap would certainly be a fight that would have rankings ramifications and would help flesh out a possible contender. Jardine's jittery "I'm having a seizure" style against Franklin's loopy punch stand up would be, if nothing else, an interesting visual. While it's a close fight and either professional ass kicker could pull out a win, I would pick the perennially black eyed Franklin to win this fight. Franklin does not have the same oomph in his punches as Jardine, but Jardine has been known to be more inconsistent and way more chinny than the former middleweight champeen of dah worl'. Franklin has better footwork that would allow him to stay away from Jardine and seems to have a better ground game, not that we've seen Jardine on the ground, but the hyperbole the Jackson camp spits about how good he is on the ground is just that until he proves it. In either case, a win for either guy would help push a new contender forward in a division suddenly put on hold for another season of TUF.
***Note: (Just realized Jardine will be fighting Thiago Silva at 102, but I'm keeping the analysis because it's the UFC, who knows?)

vs Luis Cane

While not exactly a marquee fight if it happens, pitting "Banha" against Rich Franklin would definitely have rankings implications and would no doubt be an entertaining fight. Not a fight the UFC would necessarily be pushing real hard for, but if they need a main event for 103, they could certainly do worse than a fight between two top ten fighters in Cane and Franklin. If Franlkin can keep away from Cane's power and use his foot work to work his jab and kicks, I can see Franklin working towards a decision. I cannot see Franklin cracking Cane's nut though as both Sokodjou and Steve Cantwell landed flush and could not put him away. Franklin has a well rounded enough game to win an entertaining decision. However, if Rich gets clipped by one of "Banha's" power shots, it could be a short night for "Ace." Not a main event level fight, not really worth 45 bucks, but a very good fight regardless.

vs Wanderlei Silva

If push comes to shove and shove comes to sucker punch in the grill, I wouldn't put it pass Zuffa to put on an immediate rematch between these two for the sake of a main event. Obviously they would market it as the first fight being "hotly" contested and Wanderlei thought he won the fight. Okay by me as I am one in the few that had the school of thought that the first fight was fun to watch and fairly entertaining. As long as it was not a catch weight bout I'd be okay with this fight going down again. Would I rather see something else, sure. Would I jump Dana's sh$%# for letting Franklin/Silva 2 go down? No, not really. This fight would most likely go down the same way as the first one, unless Wanderlei went head hunting the entire fight. If that happened, I would put money on a finish one way or the other. As it stands though, Franklin by decision.