Go back a couple of months, and Bellator heavyweight Davion Franklin had been expected to fight as part of the promotion’s return to Paris.
What was to be his second fight of 2022 never did transpire, however. Instead, the undefeated Franklin (5-0) watched opponent after opponent after opponent fall through.
“It was a little devastating but like they say, the show must go on, the show must keep going,” Franklin told Cageside Press during the Bellator 283 media day this week. “I think there’ll be more opportunities to fight overseas, especially as I continue to go further, the longer my career [goes].”
A full three opponents fell through for Franklin at Bellator Paris back in May. The first simply didn’t work out. “The second guy was Gokhan Saricam, and he got ‘injured,’ that didn’t work,” Franklin recalled, complete with air quotes in relation to the supposed injury. “And then the last guy, he popped for testosterone, and that didn’t work. It just wasn’t my time. Now it’s my time.”
This time out, it’s Marcelo Golm, best known for his UFC run. There’s a feeling that this is Franklin’s toughest test to date, but he doesn’t see their Bellator 283 fight that way.
“No,” Franklin responded to that idea. “I’m his toughest test.”
If he passes that test, Davion Franklin has a road map planned out for his fighting future.
“With the landscape of the heavyweight division, you’ve got Ryan Bader fighting Linton Vassell. He’s probably going to win that fight. And then you’ve got [Valentin] Moldavsky fighting [Steve] Mowry. I think it would work in my benefit for Moldavsky to win that fight, since he already fought for the title. So let’s say I beat this guy [Golm], I fight Tim Johnson or Tyrell Fortune by the end of the year, one of those guys or both of those guys, and then maybe fight Ryan Bader next year. That’s my goal.”
Watch the full Bellator 283 media day appearance from Davion Franklin above. Franklin faces Marcelo Golm this Friday, July 22, 2022 in Tacoma, Washington.
