Former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin, apparently content since moving up a weight class to the light-heavyweight division, is open to a rematch with Lyoto Machida, who defeated "Ace" at a December 2003 event in Kobe, Japan.

Franklin said he's willing to do the rematch now that both fighters are in the 205-pound division, but he has one concern.

"I'd fight him," Franklin said. "The thing about a Machida fight that isn't appealing to me is that stylistically, Machida is kind of a boring fighter.

"That's not a putdown. It's not a putdown. He's very, very effective. He's good at what he does. He's constantly backing away and forces his opponent into mistakes, and that's how he catches you."

Franklin made the comments during a UFC fan-club Q&A session moderated by UFC announcer Mike Goldberg prior to the UFC 91 weigh-ins.

Machida won their first meeting with a dramatic knockout set up by a head kick. It was the first loss of Franklin's career -- and the only loss he suffered from March 2000 (his professional debut) to October 2006 (when he lost his title to Anderson Silva).

Machida, who most recently pushed his career mark to 13-0 (and 5-0 in the UFC) with a unanimous-decision victory over Tito Ortiz in May, has been criticized for his sometimes-elusive (though) effective fighting style.

Franklin (24-3 MMA, 11-2 UFC), who might very well need to beat Machida for a shot at the light-heavyweight belt, said countering such a fighter sometimes leads to a tentative fight that fans may not appreciate.

"In order to beat [Machida], you really have to fight an intelligent fight, and I think that by not overcommitting yourself on things, it's going to create a situation where you're not putting on a fight that's really exciting for the fans," Franklin said. "That would be the one reason that fight was not that appealing to me."

Franklin credited the first loss to a bit of overconfidence on his part. He also said that he could do little homework on Machida since so little data was available.

"No one really knew him at the time," Franklin said. "It was only like his third career fight."

Machida is currently slated to fight Thiago Silva at UFC 94 on Jan. 31. Franklin, meanwhile, headlines UFC 93 in a bout with Dan Henderson. He's also been mentioned as a possible coach to rival British fighter Michael Bisping on the upcoming ninth season of "The Ultimate Fighter," which features a U.S. vs. U.K. them.

However, as MMAjunkie.com has previously reported, neither he nor Henderson are apparently too jazzed for the gig.

Franklin, who coached opposited Matt Hughes on "The Ultimate Fighter 2," admitted he hasn't even really had a conversation with the UFC about the reality show and only learned of the possibility from MMA websites.

"For me, it'll be interesting to see when they actually come to me because the UFC was actually the ones who encouraged me to move up to 205 pounds, and with Bisping now being at 185, I'm not sure what they're going to do about that," Franklin said of the possibility of coaching on the show. (The gig would likely culminate with a season-ending fight between the two coaches.)

But that's not to say he wouldn't do it.

"I liked doing the show the first time," he said. "It was a great experience. I did it once. It was great. I'm not as excited about at this time, but I'm always willing to help the UFC out and do what they need me to do."

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