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

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...

event held by the

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

(UFC) on September 19, 2009, in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, at the

American Airlines Center The American Airlines Center (AAC) is a multi-purpose List of indoor arenas, indoor arena located in the Victory Park, Dallas, Victory Park neighborhood in downtown Dallas, Texas. The arena serves as the home of the Dallas Stars of the National ...

. 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 ...

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. The Efrain Escudero vs. Cole Miller,

Drew McFedries Michael Andrew "Drewbie" McFedries (born July 27, 1978) is an American retired mixed martial artist. McFedries formerly competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC, Titan Fighting Championship, Titan FC and Shooto. Background McFedries ...

vs. Tomasz Drwal, Rick 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 arts, mixed martial artist and kickboxer. A professional competitor from 2003 to 2022, Daley competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC, Bellator MMA, Bella ...

vs. Brian Foster was to air on

ESPN (UK) TNT Sports 4 is a British sports television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports and the BT Group. It is part of the TNT Sports group of channels in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel was established by ESPN Inc. on Augu ...

prior to Daley replacing Mike Swick against Martin Kampmann. 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 Midd ...

would headline UFC 103 against

Dan Henderson Daniel Jeffery Henderson (born August 24, 1970) is an American former 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 professional boxer and retired mixed martial artist who competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he fought in the Heavyweight, Light Heavyweight, and Middleweight d ...

. "Fans didn't like it, so we changed it," UFC President Dana White said. A previously announced bout featuring Steve Steinbeiss was moved to UFC Fight Night: Diaz vs. Guillard. A previously announced bout featuring Aaron Simpson was moved to UFC 102. A knee injury forced Matt Wiman out of a bout with

Rafael dos Anjos Rafael Souza dos Anjos (; born 26 October 1984), also known by his initials RDA, is a Brazilian and American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Welterweight and Lightweight divisions of the Ultimate Fighting Champion ...

on July 23. Rob Emerson filled in. A knee injury forced Thiago Tavares out of his bout with Jim Miller on August 20. Tavares was replaced by UFC newcomer Steve Lopez. A back injury forced Dan Lauzon out of his bout with Rafaello Oliveira and he was replaced by Nik Lentz. 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

The following fighters received $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 flagship events 2009 in mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts events in Dallas Sports competitions in Dallas 2009 in sports in Texas

Background

Results

Bonus awards

See also

References