What’s next for Rich Franklin (and the rest of the UFC 103 card)?

There were a few questions arising from Saturday’s UFC 103:

Should Vitor Belfort fight Anderson Silva next for the middleweight belt? Until he’s proven himself at 185 pounds, I don’t think so.

Is Frank Trigg’s UFC comeback over just as it’s starting? I’d say so, although I wouldn’t rule out him getting a reprieve against someone like Matt Serra.

What about Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic? I think that’s pretty obvious from his comments here.

Do I ever want to see Hermes Franca and his cotton candy hair ever again? Not really.

What about Paul Daley? He dismantled Martin Kampmann so I’d love to see him tested against a Muay Thai striker like Thiago Alves, although the less-experienced Anthony Johnson is more likely.

Who does Junior dos Santos get next? Brock Lesnar’s still way out of reach but someone like Cain Velasquez would be a great test for both fighters.

But the biggest question mark without an easy answer is Rich Franklin. His TKO loss to Belfort certainly puts his future in doubt.

No, the UFC won’t cut him. He’s one of the promotion’s poster boys, he steps in to take big fights as an audience draw even if there’s no belt on the line (his last three fights have all been against former champs), and he’s still got some fight left in him. But where does he go from here?

He’s abandoned the middleweight division because all roads there lead to Anderson Silva and he’s been there twice already and ended up in the ditch. He’s now had back-to-back fights at 195 pounds but that’s a dead end. And moving up to 205 pounds, which has been his plan, well, all roads lead to Lyoto Machida, and he’s lost to him already as well. And of course, Silva is lurking in the shadows at light heavyweight, as well.

The only option, as I see it, is for Franklin to continue to take big-money bouts, not worry about vying for the belt, and see how his cards play out. Tito Ortiz would be a good match-up and a very marketable one, too. So would Forrest Griffin, who is in a similar position of trying to figure out what to do next. After that, he can just keep fighting whoever loses against Machida until he decides to retire.