Rich Franklin and Forrest Griffin will face off on the main card of UFC 127. The card will take place on Feb. 5 in Las Vegas. Several media outlets have confirmed the fight.
Both fighters have previously held UFC gold. Franklin won the middleweight title when he bested Evan Tanner at UFC 53. Griffin took Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s light heavyweight title at UFC 86.
Franklin has been trying to revive his career at light heavyweight. In his last fight, he scored a surprising knock out of another former champion, Chuck Liddell. He also holds victories over Wanderlei Silva, Yushin Okami and Ken Shamrock.
Griffin is just 1-2 since winning the title from Jackson. In his first title defense, he dropped the belt to fellow TUF winner Rashad Evans. Then, middleweight champion Anderson Silva knocked Griffin out at UFC 101. He got back on the winning track at UFC 106 by taking a split-decision victory over Tito Ortiz.
Also on the card, Anderson Silva will defend his middleweight title against Vitor Belfort. Originally Silva was set to face Chael Sonnen, but the promotion replaced Sonnen with Belfort when Sonnen’s positive substance test surfaced.