For betting purposes, let's look at the contestants:
FRANKLIN (23-3, 1 NC, 12 KO's), the -230 favorite in the BetUS UFC betting odds, is someone who has existed as a great image-builder for the UFC. A former high school teacher, he learned about submission fighting mostly from watching videotapes, and turned pro back in March of 2000. He was undefeated in his first dozen mixed martial arts bouts, fought in several different organizations, until he suffered a loss to Lyoto Machida in Japan on New Year's Eve of 2003. Franklin scored a big win by first-round TKO over Ken Shamrock in April 2005 and in his very next fight he won the UFC middleweight title with a stoppage in the fourth round over Evan Tanner. Franklin defended his title twice before losing the crown to Anderson Silva in October '06. He fought Silva in a rematch last October, and was stopped in the second round. His last bout was in April, as he TKO'd Travis Lutter in the second round. Now he is moving to light heavyweight, since it's not likely another fight with Silva will materialize.
HAMILL (4-1, 3 KO's), the +180 underdog at BetUS, is also a shining example to many because he competes at a high level of mixed martial arts despite being deaf. Hamill won three national wrestling titles in Division III competition while at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). He made his pro debut on The Ultimate Fighter 3, and took out Jesse Forbes in one round. After three wins he was put in with Michael Bisping in September of 2007 and went the whole distance, losing a split decision. A scheduled rematch with Bisping never materialized because Hamill had to pull out with a knee injury. Last time out he won on a second-round TKO over Tim Boetsch on April 2. Hamill works extensively with deaf children and apparently there is going to be a movie made about his life.
Franklin may not be the fighter he once was, but at age 33 he still has something left. And when you think about, the guy has a world of experience. When you have fought Anderson Silva twice, not to mention Shamrock, Tanner, Nathan Quarry, David Loiseau, Yushin Okami, Machida and others, there is a tremendous store-house of knowledge that is obtained. This constitutes a huge difference between his experience level and that of his opponent, more than making up for the fact that Franklin is moving to a division that is relatively new to him.
One thing Franklin is going to do that I think will be to his advantage is that he is not going to gratuitously go out there weighing 205 pounds, just because that's the limit or what his opponent may be weighing. he has resigned himself to the fact that he will be giving up some weight, and that will manifest itself in more quickness, and probably give him a more careful game plan, as he knows he can't get caught with Hamill on top of him on the ground. source>>>