Henderson finally meets up with Franklin

A few years ago, Dan Henderson and Rich Franklin's names were right in the middle of every PRIDE vs. UFC debate, as fans talked about which of the two major promotions of that era had the best champions.

Henderson was the longtime PRIDE welterweight (183-pound) champion at the same time Franklin held the UFC's 185-pound middleweight title.

There are no championships at stake on Saturday in Dublin, Ireland, when the two square off some three years after the arguments were at their most intense. And they aren't even fighting at middleweight, as UFC 93's main event is a light heavyweight matchup.

Instead, the stipulation is that the winner will coach the United States team on the next season of "The Ultimate Fighter" reality show, which has a U.S. vs. United Kingdom theme. The show, which begins airing April 1 on Spike TV, started filming this past week with both Henderson and Franklin on the set in Manchester, England, for elimination fights to determine the members of the U.K. team.

The winner of Saturday's fight will fly home, get a day with their family, and then it's off to Las Vegas for five weeks straight of filming the show's ninth season, where the winner will coach opposite Michael Bisping. This will lead to a battle of the coaches, at 185 pounds, most likely in July.

"That's the plan," said Henderson. "That's the way it had better work out."

A win over Franklin followed by a victory over Bisping would likely put Henderson very close to a rematch with current champion Anderson Silva, who defeated Henderson in a title unification match at UFC 82 last year.

"Before I'm done with the sport, I want to have another championship or two, and I think it's definitely attainable," said Henderson, who turned 38 last summer. "I'm feeling great."

Even though it means a long time away from his wife, who he said he'll fly to Las Vegas a few times during filming, his children and his Team Quest gym business in Southern California at a time when several members of his team have fights to get ready for, Henderson, far more than Franklin, embraces the idea of doing the show.

In particular, Henderson noted he liked the idea of coaching Team U.S. This stems from his wrestling background, where he represented the country internationally for years, including in the 1992 and 1996 Olympics.

Franklin, who coached the second season of "The Ultimate Fighter" in 2005, at first was negative about doing the show again, but has agreed to do it if he wins.

"I was really excited to do the first season," said Franklin, who coached season two in 2005, where people like Rashad Evans, Keith Jardine and Joe Stevenson got their first breaks and Franklin became one of UFC's first television-created stars. "Going back and doing it again, I'm not excited about it. It's six weeks in Las Vegas. I could care less about staying in Las Vegas for that length of time. It's time away from my family and time away from making money. It's not a lot of money to do the show, but anything the UFC asks me to do, I'm on board for."

Henderson was the first and only PRIDE 183-pound champ, the highest-profile MMA organization ever in Japan, which was purchased by UFC and then folded in 2007. Henderson won a split decision of Murilo Bustamante on Dec. 31, 2005, in Saitama, Japan.

Franklin was already UFC's middleweight champion at the time, having stopped the late Evan Tanner on June 4, 2005, in Atlantic City, N.J. Henderson eventually lost a title unification match this past March 1 to Anderson Silva, the same Silva who destroyed Franklin in handing the Jim Carrey look-alike his only two career blemishes in the past five years.

Franklin, 34, is a few years younger, with the better boxing technique, more versatile stand-up with more of a variety of kicks. At the peak of the debates over who was better, Franklin had only one loss on his record.

Henderson's strength is he's got knockout power in his right hand, Olympic-caliber wrestling and more experience against a higher quality of competition.

"I think I've got more power than him," said Henderson, now 23-7. "I'm a better wrestler and better in the clinches. I'd like to think I'm better in every aspect of the fight.

"He's got a little bit of reach on me. He's a southpaw, and it's an advantage being a southpaw and fighting a righty because he would be more used to it."

Saturday's match will be fought at light heavyweight. The jump in weight will probably benefit both in conditioning because it eliminates late-weight cutting. Henderson blamed the cut for getting tired and losing in round two against Silva last year. Henderson had won the first round, making him the last fighter to win a round over the current No. 1-ranked pound-for-pound fighter, before slowing down.

With several days to spare, Henderson already is under the light heavyweight limit of 205 pounds, hovering between 200-202. Franklin has an easy cut of less than 10 pounds.

"I really don't know how much effect it has on me in the octagon," said Franklin, 26-3, a former high school math teacher in Cincinnati, who started his career as a light heavyweight. "When I have to cut to 185, I feel a little lethargic. It takes an effect on my body, but the advantage is, I'm facing smaller opponents. I feel much better the week of the fight at 205, but the tradeoff is I'm facing guys who are a little bigger than me."

That isn't the case with Henderson, who has given up size in the majority of fights in his career, as he gained his first taste of stardom in Japan in 2000 in winning a 32-man open weight class tournament in which he won close decisions over the likes of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and a then-heavyweight Renato "Babalu" Sobral.

"I've never felt the need to cut weight," he said. "It's a mental thing, but I've never felt like I'm the smaller guy when I'm out there fighting.

"I've never felt weak and felt I couldn't do what I needed to do to my opponent, so I'd rather not cut to 185 if I don't have to. But the weight cut's not bad for me."

Franklin, who has gained size to compete with bigger fighters at 205, also really doesn't figure how a fight with Bisping at middleweight advances his career where the next goal looks to be a light heavyweight title shot.

Henderson, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have a problem moving up or down in weight. He was, after all, the only person in major MMA history to simultaneously hold titles in two weight classes (after beating Wanderlei Silva for the light heavyweight title in 2007).

"I view it as it gives you more opportunities for more and different match-ups, that if I'm stuck in one weight class, you wouldn't have a chance to see," he said.