''UFC 103: Franklin vs. Belfort'' was a

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

event held by the

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

(UFC) on September 19, 2009 in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

at the

American Airlines Center The American Airlines Center (AAC) is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the Victory Park neighborhood in downtown Dallas, Texas. The arena serves as the home of the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association and the Dallas S ...

. The event was broadcast on

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...

Background

This was the first UFC event to air a portion of the preliminary card live and commercial-free during an hour long block on

Spike Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter F. Hamilto ...

. The

Efrain Escudero Efraín Escudero (born January 15, 1986) is a Mexican mixed martial artist. He trains under Drew Fickett and competes in the 155 lb (70.3 kg) weight class. Efrain was the winner of season eight of Spike TV's reality show ''The Ultimate ...

vs.

Cole Miller Cole Miller (born April 26, 1984) is a retired American mixed martial artist, who most recently competed in the featherweight division in the UFC. His nickname "Magrinho" means "skinny" in Portuguese. Mixed martial arts career Before giving ...

Drew McFedries Michael Andrew "Drewbie" McFedries (born July 27, 1978) is an American retired mixed martial artist. McFedries formerly competed for the UFC, Titan FC and Shooto. Background McFedries was born in Ames, Iowa and raised in Bettendorf, Iowa. His mo ...

vs.

Tomasz Drwal Tomasz is a Polish given name, the equivalent of Thomas in English. Notable people with the given name include: *Tomasz Adamek (born 1976), Polish heavyweight boxer *Tomasz Arciszewski (1877–1955), Polish socialist politician and Prime Minist ...

Rick Story Rick Thomas Story (born August 28, 1984) is a retired American mixed martial artist. A professional from 2007-2018, he last competed for the Professional Fighters League, but is better known for his 19-fight tenure with the UFC. Background Story ...

vs. Brian Foster, and the Jim Miller vs. Steve Lopez fights were shown on Spike. As a part of the UFC/ESPN UK regionalization strategy the bout of

Paul Daley Paul Anthony Daley (born 21 February 1983) is a British former mixed martial artist and kickboxer. A professional competitor from 2003 to 2022, Daley competed for the UFC, Bellator MMA, Cage Rage, Final Fight Championship, Strikeforce, Elit ...

vs. Brian Foster was to air on

ESPN (UK) BT Sport 4 is a British sports television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA and the BT Group. It is part of the BT Sport group of channels in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and is predominantly focused on sports from North America. ...

prior to Daley replacing

Mike Swick Michael Timothy Swick (born June 19, 1979) is a retired American professional mixed martial artist, who spent most of his career competing for the UFC's middleweight division. Swick, who trains at American Kickboxing Academy alongside fellow welt ...

against

Martin Kampmann Martin Kampmann Frederiksen (born April 17, 1982) is a retired Danish professional mixed martial artist who competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is a former Cage Warriors World Middleweight Champion. Background Originally from Aar ...

. The event was aired the same time Floyd Mayweather fought Juan Manuel Márquez. Mayweather/Márquez drew a smaller crowd (13,116) but its gate was considerably higher at $6,811,300. It also sold more PPV buys (1,000,000). To date, this PPV had the largest amount of fights broadcast by the ''UFC'' (13). It was announced on July 20, 2009 that

Rich Franklin Richard Jay Franklin II (born October 5, 1974) is an American businessman and retired mixed martial artist. He is best known for competing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where he is a member of the UFC Hall of Fame and a former UFC Middl ...

would headline UFC 103 against

Dan Henderson Daniel Jeffery Henderson (born August 24, 1970) is an American retired mixed martial artist and Olympic wrestler, who last competed as a middleweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He was the last Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champi ...

. It was then announced on July 31, 2009 that fans were not happy with the announced headliner of Henderson-Franklin 2 so they changed the main event to feature Rich Franklin vs.

Vitor Belfort Vítor Vieira Belfort (; born 1 April 1977) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who competes in the Heavyweight and Middleweight divisions. Belfort previously competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he fought in the Heavywe ...

. "Fans didn't like it, so we changed it," UFC President Dana White said. A previously announced bout featuring

Steve Steinbeiss Steve Thomas Steinbeiss (born May 5, 1981) is an American mixed martial artist who recently fought in the middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Mixed martial arts career Ultimate Fighting Championship Steinbeiss was pa ...

was moved to UFC Fight Night: Diaz vs. Guillard. A previously announced bout featuring Aaron Simpson was moved to

UFC 102 ''UFC 102: Couture vs. Nogueira'' was a mixed martial arts pay-per-view event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on August 29, 2009 at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon. It featured former five-time UFC champion and UFC Hall of Fam ...

. A knee injury forced

Matt Wiman Matthew Charles Wimanhttp://boxing.nv.gov/2011%20Results%20Web/07-02-11%20MMA.pdf (born September 19, 1983) is an American retired mixed martial artist who competed as a lightweight. He competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Background ...

out of a bout with

Rafael dos Anjos Rafael Souza dos Anjos (; born October 26, 1984) is a Brazilian American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Welterweight and Lightweight divisions in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He is a former UFC Light ...

on July 23.

Rob Emerson Robert Michael Emerson (born July 30, 1981) is an American professional mixed martial artist. A professional competitor since 2002, Emerson is also a veteran of Bellator MMA, the UFC, Pancrase, and was a cast member of ''The Ultimate Fighter 5''. ...

filled in. A knee injury forced

Thiago Tavares Thiago de Mello Tavares (born November 8, 1984) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and politician who most recently competed in the Lightweight division. An 18-fight veteran of the UFC, he has also fought in the Professional Fighters League and ...

out of his bout with Jim Miller on August 20. Tavares was replaced by UFC newcomer Steve Lopez. A back injury forced

Dan Lauzon Daniel James Lauzon (born March 30, 1988) is a former American mixed martial artist who competed in the World Series of Fighting's Lightweight division, and has also formerly competed in the UFC and Affliction. He is the younger brother of fello ...

out of his bout with

Rafaello Oliveira Rafaello Oliveira Ferreira (; born January 26, 1982) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who formerly competed in the lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Mixed martial arts career Oliveria took up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at ...

and he was replaced by

Nik Lentz Nik Lentz (born August 13, 1984) is an American retired mixed martial artist. He most notably fought for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, fighting in the lightweight division. Background Lentz was born in El Paso, Texas but grew up in Twin C ...

. An injury forced Mike Swick out of his bout with Martin Kampmann and Paul Daley moved up from the undercard to face Kampmann.

Results

Bonus awards

Fighters were awarded $65,000 bonuses. *Fight of the Night: Rick Story vs. Brian Foster *Knockout of the Night: Vitor Belfort *Submission of the Night: Rick Story

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ufc 103 Ultimate Fighting Championship events 2009 in mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts in Texas Sports competitions in Dallas 2009 in sports in Texas Events in Dallas

Background

Results

Bonus awards

See also

References