From MMAJunkie.com:

Former UFC middleweight champion and UFC 93 headliner Rich Franklin has joined the Disabled American Veterans organization as a spokesperson and ambassador.

"I believe that no one should ignore, forget or disregard the sacrifice that the men and women who go to battle give," Franklin stated. "When I visit a disabled veteran who has lost a limb or has an injury so severe that their life is changed forever, I think we all need to get on our knees and thank God for these real American fighters."

Yet another great move by Franklin -- this guy is tireless in his efforts to help out anybody he can. Taking this step to help the Disabled American Veterans is awesome. We need more people like him -- not just in the MMA community, but in the country as a whole -- to step up and do their part.

-PreView

Rich Franklin discusses TUF 9, the Dan Henderson fight, Anderson Silva and GSP.

From Sherdog.com:

Announced as a coach for season nine of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series, Bisping will meet the winner of the UFC 93 bout between one-time middleweight champion Rich Franklin and former dual Pride Fighting Championships titleholder Dan Henderson. The Franklin-Henderson victor will also coach against Bisping on TUF; a Spike TV representative on Sunday confirmed shooting on the show’s ninth season would commence in late January.

Speculation is rampant that the winner of the TUF 9 showdown between Bisping and Henderson/Franklin will face Anderson Silva for the title. Heady stuff for Bisping, who is fresh off his UFC 89 victory over Chris Leben. Right now, at least, Bisping doesn't believe he's ready for a title shot:

“All people seem to be talking about is a title fight,” Bisping said. “You’ve got to earn that right for a title shot. Whenever it comes, I’ll be happy. I don’t want to get ahead of myself. Have I done it yet? I probably haven’t yet. I don’t think I have. I don’t just want to be given it because I’m from the UK. I want to earn that right.”

Leben, for one, is impressed with Bisping:

“I can’t tell you if he’s going to do the right things or the wrong things, but if he does the right things, he’s definitely got the tools to get where every one of us wants to go. He beat me, and I thought I was going to the top.”

Either Henderson or Franklin will be a major step up in competition for Bisping. And, if he somehow figures out a way to get past that hurdle, I can't see him being more than "The Spider"'s latest sacrificial lamb.

Franklin should stick to fighting. On a positive note, at least he gets to play alongside Tiffany Amber Thiessen aka Kelly Kapowski of Saved by the Bell fame!!

From MMAJunkie.com:

Former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin (24-3 MMA, 11-2 UFC) could meet former PRIDE title-holder Dan Henderson (23-7 MMA, 3-2 UFC) at a UFC event tentatively scheduled for Jan. 17 at The 02 in Dublin, Ireland.

That report stated that Franklin could meet Chuck Liddell or Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in the event's headline bout. But sources close to the fighters said that a Franklin-Henderson fight may be the most likely option.

The sources were not sure if this would be at 185 or 205. I would have to guess, with Henderson as a possible coach on TUF against Bisping, that the fight would be at 205. This would definitely be an all-out slugfest.

This card is also rumored to feature the grudge match between Matt Hughes and Matt Serra. If this match happens then the card could be a ratings goldmine.

UFC 93 would be very effective counterprogramming against the rumored Jan. 17th Affliction show. A free UFC PPV-quality show would kill any potential buy rates for an Affliction PPV card.

In the aftermath of Matt Hamill's third-round TKO loss to Rich Franklin, Hamill's trainer Duff Holmes has decided to express his displeasure with his fighter's execution of their gameplan in an interview with Fightline.com.

This is what Holmes told Fightline.com before the UFC 88 bout:

"No way Matt Hamill stands with a guy like Franklin. Matt is, by far, the best wrestler in the UFC's light heavyweight division so our plan is simple; we're going to take Rich down and work the ground and pound while avoiding submissions."

This is how an apparently angry Holmes reacted to Hamill's performance after UFC 88. Hamill did not attempt a single takedown in their bout:

"I practically begged Matt to take Rich down. I was screaming at him to stop fighting Rich's fight and fight his fight. I can't explain it. He just had this blank look on his face. I don't know where he was, but the Matt Hamill that I know and trained for the past 11 weeks was not in that octagon on Saturday."

One potential problem for Hamill may have been his friendship, allegiance, and loyalty to Franklin, his onetime mentor. Holmes recognized that this might be a problem before the fight:

"Matt got his start helping Rich work on his takedown defense. Those two go way back and Matt has a deep respect and allegiance to Rich. He vouched for Matt to join 'The Ultimate Fighter' and helped get Matt on the show. He's sponsored Matt with his company American Fighter and has been a kind of mentor to him, and to be honest, that has me a little concerned."

This isn't the first time we've seen student face teacher or starstruck fan face idol. We saw the same thing with Georges St. Pierre in his first bout against Matt Hughes. The mental game is very important in MMA and many fighters psyche themselves out -- essentially painting their opponents as vile enemies -- to get ready to go to war. It seems like it would be difficult to bash your opponent's face in if you have too much respect for him/her.

I keep trying to process my thoughts about UFC 88: Breakthrough but keep dwelling on the wreckage of Chuck Liddell and shake myself from staring pensively into oblivion. Not from shock but from disappointment. The simple fact is: I hate seeing Chuck lose. I don't give a crap about the hype machine which follows him around but I do give a damn that Chuck is an inimitable character, a true fighter for the love of the game, win or lose, and he'll fight anyone, fearlessly. And that's what it's about, the raw emotion and energy exchanged to survive within the parameters of an open-ended sport, one with infinite possibilities.

Despite this, I thought Rashad had just as good a chance of finishing Chuck (albeit not in such spectacular fashion) than Chuck did of him. I think he's been underrated and still might even be—as some people are spouting rubbish that he didn't deserve to win because he was fighting almost Machida-esque and got a lucky punch. Nonsense. And for what it's worth, I am pro-Machida (although I'm inclined to believe that no one should be able to claim an undefeated record for too long, in the UFC in particular).

And just as Rashad had a good chance against Chuck, he's got a good chance against Forrest and it isn't so unlikely that Rashad will be holding up the Light Heavyweight belt. People laugh and think it's preposterous but he's that close. Personally, I'd prefer to see Forrest retain it but the beasts are beating at his door and they want what he's got so he might soon get ripped to shreds.

FightTicker.com's guest panel is back to break down two UFC 88 bouts -- Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans and Rich Franklin vs. Matt Hamill.

The members of the panel are Tom Kim of the Seattle PI, Jared Barnes of the Houston Chronicle and Mark Chalifoux of The Baltimore Sun.