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Former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin has officially joined the ONE FC promotion as vice president.
Franklin and ONE FC officials today confirmed the move with Yahoo! Sports.
MMAjunkie previously reported that Franklin was in talks with the Singapore-based promotion about the executive role. UFC President Dana White subsequently gave “Ace” his blessing.
“He’s still under contract to fight, if he ever wanted to fight,” White said this past month. “We have a good relationship with Rich. Rich got offered a really good opportunity to go work with those guys, and I’m happy for him.”
Although Franklin hasn’t officially closed the door on a return to fighting, he hasn’t competed since a November 2012 loss to Cung Le, due in part to some outside business ventures. It’s been eight years since the 39-year-old last held the belt, but in his post-title days, he’s fought some of the sport’s biggest names, including Wanderlei Silva, Forrest Griffin, Chuck Liddell, Vitor Belfort and Dan Henderson, with a recent 4-4 mark.
Franklin said the new job – which will include media work, public relations, business/global expansion and eventually fighter development – is a perfect fit.
“The offer was definitely something that appealed to me, and I like the people at ONE FC, so it was a no-brainer decision,” he told Yahoo! Sports. “There is no convincing needed for me to join the team. I’m a ONE FC member, and I’m here this week to discuss how I can optimize my expertise and experience.
“I am here to learn the culture of the organization – how it operates, how it functions. They have an aggressive growth plan over the next couple of years, and it will be about me learning how that growth plan is going to execute,”
Franklin will continue to live in the U.S. and will travel to Asia for a few weeks around each show, including Friday’s “ONE FC 16: Honor & Glory” event in Singapore.
http://ift.tt/1mGAj2D
Former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin has officially joined the ONE FC promotion as vice president.
Franklin and ONE FC officials today confirmed the move with Yahoo! Sports.
MMAjunkie previously reported that Franklin was in talks with the Singapore-based promotion about the executive role. UFC President Dana White subsequently gave “Ace” his blessing.
“He’s still under contract to fight, if he ever wanted to fight,” White said this past month. “We have a good relationship with Rich. Rich got offered a really good opportunity to go work with those guys, and I’m happy for him.”
Although Franklin hasn’t officially closed the door on a return to fighting, he hasn’t competed since a November 2012 loss to Cung Le, due in part to some outside business ventures. It’s been eight years since the 39-year-old last held the belt, but in his post-title days, he’s fought some of the sport’s biggest names, including Wanderlei Silva, Forrest Griffin, Chuck Liddell, Vitor Belfort and Dan Henderson, with a recent 4-4 mark.
Franklin said the new job – which will include media work, public relations, business/global expansion and eventually fighter development – is a perfect fit.
“The offer was definitely something that appealed to me, and I like the people at ONE FC, so it was a no-brainer decision,” he told Yahoo! Sports. “There is no convincing needed for me to join the team. I’m a ONE FC member, and I’m here this week to discuss how I can optimize my expertise and experience.
“I am here to learn the culture of the organization – how it operates, how it functions. They have an aggressive growth plan over the next couple of years, and it will be about me learning how that growth plan is going to execute,”
Franklin will continue to live in the U.S. and will travel to Asia for a few weeks around each show, including Friday’s “ONE FC 16: Honor & Glory” event in Singapore.
http://ift.tt/1mGAj2D
Statistics: Posted by moose84 — May 28. 2014, 14:52 — Replies 0 — Views 1
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