Former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight king Rich “The Ace” Franklin is very excited about his match up with mixed martial arts superstar Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva in UFC 99 on June 13.

Franklin said that it is refreshing for him to fight a stand-up guy like Silva, the former middleweight champion in the defunct PRIDE Championships.

“Wanderlei's a stand-up guy, I'm a stand-up guy. This is the first time that theoretically I won’t be fighting somebody that wants to throw down,” said Franklin in a UFC 99 promotional interview.

The fight will be staged at the Lanxess Arena in Germany, with both fighters anxious to score a win.

Franklin (26-4-0, with 1 no contest) is coming off a split decision loss to Dan Henderson while Silva (32-9-1, with 1 no contest) absorbed a knock out loss in the hands of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.

“Wanderlei is very aggressive very dangerous on the feet. He's the kind of fighter who you know what he's gonna come out and do,” said Franklin.

He hinted that this may very well be Silva’s weakness.

“Stylistically, he does the same thing every time,” said Franklin.

The former UFC champion added that Silva’s eagerness to fight upright may actually work to his advantage.

“It's a bit of relief now that I may walk into the octagon with somebody who's not gonna take me down so I can freely work more on my stand up,” said Franklin.

Silva earlier said the fight is important to him. He said it would be the first time he will be fighting below the junior heavyweight level.

He fought Jackson in the junior heavyweight division. In fighting Franklin, he would be dropping to a catch weight of 195 pounds.

“It’s a very important fight for me, my first fight at 195 [pounds],” said Silva (32-9-1, with 1 no contest). “After this, I’m going to drop to 185 [pounds].”

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