Lyoto Machida Won’t Fight Silva or Nogueira, Hints at Future Move to Heavyweight
UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida, who returns to the Octagon in a rematch with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua on May 1 in Montreal, discussed potential fights with Anderson Silva and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira as well as a possible future move to heavyweight in a recent chat with fans at RedeTV (via Fighters Only).
“[Anderson Silva and I] won’t fight because we’re friends,” said Machida. “We hang out, go to dinner and do many things together. I want to defend the belt some times and after that, make a personal challenge to test my potential. But it’s a thought for the future. Who knows – will I be the heavyweight champion one day?”
When asked about fighting Nogueira, Machida concluded the interview by stating “Let’s fight other guys.”
Tags: Lyoto Machida
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Fine with me. I personally think that a Spider vs Machida matchup would a very boring technical decision. Machida vs. Mir that sells me.
WTF?
Machida…fighting at HW?
I can completely understand that Machida has no desire to fight friends, countrymen, and guys he routinely trains with, and has for years, but really?
The Dragon at HW?
Lyoto, please.
He must be damned sure that Brock Lesnar isn’t coming back to MMA, because there is no way in He11 that Captain Shotokan will get that kicky-punchy-slide to the side sh!t past a raging Neaderthal like Lesnar.
Maybe, MAYBE if they were fighting in a ring, Machida could stick and move and bounce off of the ropes for 25 minutes and swerve some sort of decision win, but in a cage Lesnar would simply ground and then maul Machida until he knocked Machida out cold or the ref waved him off.
End of story…
I thought that he’s already fought at heavy before his ufc stint?
I’m not too sure about Machida ever fighting at HW, but even if he did, there is a HUGE difference between fighting at HW in some nickel and dime small show and fighting at HW in the UFC…
According to his wikipedia page, Lyoto fought BJ at a K-1 event and won by UD. It says Lyoto weighed in at 220. About as good as I can find. No real records what other weights he’s fought at.
I can remember when he faced Franklin he was at 215 and looked trimmed. I have the fight on my hard drive so can check what organisation it was in. Lyoto could go to heavyweight, he would have to change his tactics and put on more weight to get towards 230-240 at least.
Maybe a jump up to HW would allow Machida to bring his sumo skills into play against presumably heavier and physically stronger opponents?
lol at the neanderthal joke lols
I don’t believe he could hang at HW. He doesn’t cut that much weight if I’m not mistaken. He needs to defend his belt that isn’t his before worrying about moving up in weight. Shogun will beat him AGAIN and we won’t have to even discuss this foolish topic of him jumping weight classes. He isn’t Anderson who I would never doubt in ANY weight class.
Ok so Machida won’t fight A Silva or lil Nog so he may move to HW division so what about Big Nog then or Dos Santos? He still has just as many fighters there that he won’t fight. The move to Heavy weight sounds silly to me , sense he only weighted in at 202 in his fight with Shogun. The only way a smaller guy survives at Heavy is with Size or Top Wrestling or Top BJJ. If Machida was lucky he could be maybe top 10 / not top 5.IMO
I feel Machida can hang at HW. He might be smaller but he still hard to hit and can counter better then most. I have no idea about the ground.
Yeah that’s right I’m the best fighter in the world, buuuut I won’t compete against my friends, who might be able kick my arse. You know before to long all these fighters will have trained together and will refuse to fight each other then what.
He needs to deal with his recent fight (loss) before looking ahead 3 or 4 fights into the future.
I’m sorry, but where on his record does it say it was a loss? The judges decided it was a win. Move on, please.
Same for you, animosity and jpmm.
Until the judges correct their MISTAKE and admit they phucked up I won’t “move on”.
The funny thing is you seem to be a Machida Fan, and YOU don’t even believe he won.
There was nothing to indicate that there was any reason for anyone to “correct their MISTAKE.” There were no illegal kicks, strikes, no referee mistakes. Ergo, there would be no reason to overturn the decision. I realize you don’t approve of the decision and there’s nothing I can do to change that. However, if it will help, here is what Cecil had to say about his reasoning.
The fact of the matter is that the fight was really close. Closer, in fact, than any championship fight I can remember seeing. In fact, to contradict your claim that I am a Machida Fan, I scored the fight for Rua. However, I certainly don’t want to break your rose colored glasses and have you look at any more reality today.
I can’t stand it when fighters dictate who they will and won’t fight. Machida should remember, the tail doesn’t wag the dog. I hope he loses again to Shogun but doesn’t get the decision this time.
Lets just hope Machida doesn’t make friends with the rest of the ufc roster otherwise his career might come to an abrupt halt.
I guess Dana could turn it in to the ifl so they could have teams and not have to fight there friends. I mean that work pretty well look how big that org…..oops nevermind
yeah machida u wont fight silva cos ur friends nothing to do with him being able to kick your ass, im so bumed rampage isn’t fighting no more ide love to see THAT left hook land on machida chin
He couldn’t even beat shogun so I can’t see him beating ANY heavyweights. Cain alone would destroy him. What is this a joke? He’s not even close to comparable with Anderson Silva lol.
silva has the utmost respect for machida… and for good reason. machida is a champion and machida has never been beaten. machida haters can say whatever they like, but the fact is that lyoto machida is one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world, has beaten some of the top champions and fighters in the world, and has yet to be put down.
The thing that bothers me about friends not fighting is it fuels the arguments against MMA.
If the sport isn’t that barbaric, why won’t friends fight?
If it’s just another sport (albeit much more physical) what’s the problem?
If this is truly a relatively safe, but moreso accurate representation of a real fight (than say, boxing) this shouldn’t be an issue… Fighter’s don’t fight out of anger or intent to injure each other. Machida should be a professional and understand that fighting is his job.
since when have fighters not intended to hurt one another?
BJ penn said he was gonna rip off pulvers arm
Hendo said he was gonna shut up the count
to say that fighters are not intending to hurt one another is just silly… while many fighters are respectful there are just as many who are not and do want to cause severe harm to there opponent…
sometimes when friends fight it can end the friendship… i think its that simple
Lots of friends fight one another in MMA, its just that the guys from AKA, and the guys from Brazil that are friends don’t fight each other.
I’m wondering is it all “guys from Brazil”, or just certain Brazilian fight camps like Chute Boxe and BlackHouse…
Even L’il Nog and Luis Cane expressed displeasure in having to face one another because they are both Brazilian and knew one another, but they did fight.
If Machida moves to HW, Machida vs. Fedor would be a good match
Are you suggesting that Machida move not only up to HW, but over to Strikeforce/DREAM/M-1 Global, or are you suggesting that Machida move up to HW if and when the UFC and M-1 Global come to terms regarding Fedor?
i don’t see why he would be worrying about hw he should be worried about shogun because if he thinks shogun is going to do what he did at 104 he is mistaken because first off shogun has been looking better and better in the octagon so we should be seeing the shogun who dominated pride so machida better worrie about top contenders at lhw before hw pluse i really doubt he could beat lesnar who is an ncaa wrestler who could take him down and punch him in the face a bunch of times
But it’s a thought for the future. Who knows – will I be the heavyweight champion one day?”
-watta joke
I think Machida fought BJPENN at heavyweight in the past,check U-TUBE thats where I saw the fight
Machida weighed-in at 220 pounds and Penn at 191 for the fight, which took place in 2005 and Machida won a unanimous decision.
Did any one hear that when there where talks about anderson silva going to move to 205 he said he would not fight machida so out of respect for the fighters i believe that Machida is being respectful. Dana is never going to make them fight just as a buisness issue you don’t make your money makers mad. So in the end its respect for your friends from the the offices to the octagon.
Ever hear of the Yankees refusing to play the Mets? Or the Giants refusing to play the Jets? This shouldn’t happen in real sports.
Machida isn’t a money maker. Like it or not, some title holders don’t make the card – often it’s the co-main events and other main card fights that do.
Sadly, if Silva keeps ducking out of fights, he won’t be a money maker either. I’m already annoyed enough at him that I wouldn’t purchase a card that he headlines unless other fights intrigued me. He’s rapidly approaching Fedor in the “I don’t care to watch” category.
Machida use to fight at heavyweight (back then 205 WAS heavyweight but he fought at 220 or close to it at least a few times). I haven’t confirmed this but I was told Machida walks around at 240 (that was probably left over weight from his sumo days).
Lesnar wasn’t able to take down Couture until the knockout punch and I believe Machida has better balance and comparable takedown defense to Couture. We haven’t seen much of Machida’s ground game in a while but I would have to believe he’d be going for the sweep and then going for a submission.
machida is a blackbelt in bjj. we all know what he can do on his feet. theres a reason hes the champion and 16-0.
After the last fight, Machida should be more concerned with defending the belt than winning another one.
Just bc Silva can make a serious run at another weight class doesn’t mean Machida can. Silva’s nearly depleted any competition in the MW division so he’s free to do what he wants.
If it weren’t Machida holding the belt, it would almost definitely be Silva fighting for the LHW belt to become the 1st man in UFC history to hold the belts in two different weight classes.
Machida’s looking way too far ahead. LHW is the most stacked of any of the divisions as far as talent goes. He’s defended the belt once – and not very convincingly. He’s got a long way to go before he can be considered for a shot at becoming a two-belt champion.
If you think about it, though, Machida has cleared out a lot of the LHW division as well. It’s hard to make a case for Forrest to face Machida, Rampage retired, and Machida destroyed both Rashad and Thiago Silva. Outside of Rua, who’s left? Randy Couture?
^^^ Great point! It’s unfortunate that little Nog and Machida will never go at it bc that would be a great fight.
I think Rampage will be back at some point but he’s entering his twilight years. We’ll probably never see him back in top form.
It’s too bad Hendo left. Liddell is done. Wanderlei dropped a class. Jeez, LHW ain’t what it used to be.
That would leave Rashad. He’s a crafty dude. I would be amazed if these two went at it again and it ended the same way. Rashad’s the type of fighter that learns from his mistakes and comes back better from it. He’ll be champ again one day.
I think Mousassi is the best LHW outside of UFC today. If there were a way for Dana to sign him, no doubt you’d be looking at another belt around this guy’s waist.