On Saturday, September 19, 2009, the UFC returns to the Lone Star State with UFC 103 - Franklin vs. Belfort. This marks the second show the UFC has held in the state of Texas, after making its first foray into the state nearly two and a half years ago. The event will take place at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, home to the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, thus making it the largest MMA event ever to take place in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area. The main event will be headlined by two former UFC champions. Former UFC middleweight champion Rich "Ace" Franklin will meet former UFC light-heavyweight champion Vitor "The Phenom" Belfort in a 195-pound catchweight bout. Ironically, this bout has title implications for each fighter in the divisions the other used to be the champion in. Franklin will look to put himself in line for a light-heavyweight title shot with a win, whereas Belfort will look to challenge for the middleweight title.

The co-main event of the evening will take place in the heavyweight division, as former PRIDE Openweight Grand Prix champion Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic takes on the heavy-handed Brazilian bruiser Junior "Cigano" dos Santos. This bout has all the ingredients for a "KO of the Night" candidate if not a "KO of the Year", as both men are feared for their devastating KO power. Cro Cop has had one of the most electrifying MMA careers of any K-1 crossover, while Cigano has made quick work of his first two UFC opponents, leveling Fabricio Werdum and Stefan Struve in brutal fashion. The question surrounding this bout is if Cro Cop still has enough in the tank to add one more KO to his highlight reel, after the numerous wars he's been in throughout his career. On the other side of the Octagon, the less experienced Cigano will look to capitalize on his youth and the firepower he possesses in both hands.

In welterweight action, what was supposed to be a #1 contender bout between Martin Kampmann and Mike Swick was scrapped earlier this month after Swick sustained a concussion during training. Now the Danish hitman will set his sights on MMA veteran and UFC newcomer Paul Daley. Since dropping down to welterweight earlier this year, Kampmann has earned a pair of wins over Alexandre "Baixinho" Barros at UFC 93 in Dublin, Ireland and former WEC champion Carlos Condit at UFC Fight Night 18 in Nashville, Tennessee. His opponent Daley is an experienced Englishman known for his powerful Muay Thai background. Daley is a veteran of 31 bouts, having fought all over the world, which includes winning the Cage Rage welterweight title almost two years ago to the day in his home country of England.

Also in welterweight action, will be an interesting matchup between the über-talented former NCAA Division I wrestling champion Josh Koscheck from the American Kickboxing Academy vs. former two-time UFC welterweight title challenger Frank Trigg, who is returning to the Octagon for the first time since losing to Georges St-Pierre at UFC 54 over 4 years ago. In that time, Trigg has competed for nearly every top MMA organization outside of the UFC, including a stacked Rumble on the Rock tournament, Icon Sport where he became the middleweight champion, the late great PrideFC, HDNet Fights, World Victory Road, and Strikeforce. He will have one of the UFC's toughest and most promising welterweight contenders waiting for him upon his return to the UFC. Many consider Koscheck a younger and more talented version of Trigg in his prime, but inexperience and inconsistency in his last bout cost him a costly upset at the hands of the relatively unknown Paulo Thiago. Needless to say, both men will be looking for a win to prove their detractors wrong as they look to get back into the thick of the welterweight title contention.

The final bout on the main card, that is guaranteed to be aired during the PPV broadcast, takes place in the lightweight division. The bout has "Fight of the Night" possibilities written all over it, as Tyson Griffin takes on Hermes Franca. Griffin has won "Fight of the Night" honors in 5 of his last 7 bouts in the UFC, as well as a "Submission of the Night" honor in his UFC debut. His last four wins have also come against Brazilian opposition. He will look to continue that winning streak against Brazilian opposition, when he takes on the multi-faceted jiu-jitsu expert Hermes Franca. Franca made his UFC debut in April 2003 at UFC 42 and has had and holds a 6-4 record in the organization. In his career, he also holds notable submission wins over the current WEC lightweight and featherweight champions Jamie Varner and Mike Thomas Brown, a submission win over TUF 5 champion Nate Diaz, and a TKO wins over Spencer Fisher and Caol Uno. UFC 103 will air on PPV starting at 10 p.m. EST / 7 p.m. PST. Two of the preliminary bouts will also air live on Spike at 9 p.m. EST / 6 p.m. PST.


Main Card:

-Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort (195-pound Catchweight Bout)

-Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic vs. Junior dos Santos (Heavyweight Bout)

-Martin Kampmann vs. Paul Daley (Welterweight Bout)

-Josh Koscheck vs. Frank Trigg (Welterweight Bout)

-Tyson Griffin vs. Hermes Franca (Lightweight Bout)


Preliminary Card:

-Efrain Escudero vs. Cole Miller (Lightweight Bout)

-Drew McFedries vs. Tomasz Drwal (Middleweight Bout)

-Jim Miller vs. Steve Lopez (Lightweight Bout)

-Rafaello Oliveira vs. Nik Lentz (Lightweight Bout)

-Rick Story vs. Brian Foster (Welterweight Bout)

-Jason Brilz vs. Eliot Marshall (Light-Heavyweight Bout)

-Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Igor Pokrajac (Light-Heavyweight Bout)

-Robert Emerson vs. Rafael dos Anjos (Lightweight Bout)