Lyoto Machida Ready for UFC Return, Hopes for Interim Title Fight with Rashad Evans
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida is ready to return to the Octagon from his first-round knockout loss to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in May and hopes to quickly get back into title contention following his first career loss.
Machida’s manager, Ed Soares, mentioned Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Forrest Griffin, and a rematch with Rich Franklin as possibilities to MMA Weekly, but told MMAjunkie that Machida prefers a with rematch Rashad Evans for an interim title, with the winner facing Rua in the spring.
After six-straight UFC wins over the likes of Tito Ortiz and Thiago Silva, Machida (16-1) won the title with a second-round KO of Evans in May 2009. In his first title defense, “The Dragon” scored a controversial unanimous decision over Rua in October before decisively losing the rematch at May’s UFC 113.
“He really, truly feels like a complete fighter now,” Soares said of Machida. “He knows what it feels like to win. He knows what it’s like to be a champ, and now he knows what’s it’s like to lose. … I guarantee you, he’s going to come back as the best fighter you’ve ever seen. This has only improved him.”
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Put this fight on the UFC 119 card in Indy, since Brock/Cain and Rampage/Lil Nog are doubtful for that event. I’m going so I need Dana to put a couple big fights together for that card that night.
I’m sure after he reads your comment, he’ll jump all over it.
I forgot youre frenZy’s Dane Cook, Bbiz… Not funny at all.
I have to admit, your first comment was better. Mostly because it’s the truth. And that insult you settled for was just as lame as what you’re accusing me of being.
That’s enough.
-Justin
Machida needs at least one win over a quality opponent before he can ask for an interim title shot. I have no doubt that Machida will be back pecking at the heels of Shogun or Evans, but you can’t just get smashed like he did and expect a titleshot. That’s the way Strikeforce does business not the UFC.
yea i agree 100% machida needs a win before getting an interim title shot. the only reason mir was given a interim title shot was he decisively beat kongo first. i dont see dana white making this happen. i personally think it would make the most sense for machida to fight franklin next because it would be a great oppurtunity for both fighters. it would be a great fight to get machida back on track and it would be a huge oppurtunity for franklin to show where he stands at 205 and get into title contention. i do believe machida would win
after getting owned by shogun (arguably twice w/o reviving that)
interim title- ah, no.
fight jon jones and hell yea.
i would love to see jon jones and machida. watch out for the elbos, jon jones is coming 205 watch out
he doesn’t deserve a shot at the interim belt but what he does deserve is a fight with the man he destroyed, if he whants as he is ranked above him
I’ve been saying for a while now that I believe Machida is going to pull a GSP, that is get knocked out silly then come back with a vengeance and beat the pantie’s off everyone. I’d prefer to see Machida vs Rampage first though.
Yeah but gsp is in control of the fight the whole time. He doesnt run from his opponents
the best way to win a fight is to not get hit.
He should fight franklin at 119
I think two guys coming off losses like Rampage and Machida should fight. one guys goes up the ladder while one guys goes back down.
I’d like Machida vs Winner of Couture/Toney
couture vs toney is @ heavyweight
Are you sure? I thought randy was still at light heavy
couture and toney is definitley at light heavyweight toney is cutting to 205
No official weight was ever announced that I saw. It was originally designed as a catchweight bout but Couture has since said it will be a heavyweight bout. (via MMAjunkie)
The Toney fight HAS to be at HW.
Have any of you actually SEEN Toney in one of those vlogs he regularly excretes?
205 is just a time of day for that guy, and apparently his role model for “well-roundedness” is Roy Nelson…
go to ufc.com and click on the card and look at toneys official picture, he looks like he has lost a pretty good bit of weight to me and dana white made the statement that he was surprised when he seen toney that he actually had cut the weight
Toney believed this fight was supposed to be at 215, hence why he cut. As I said Couture himself said the fight will be at Heavyweight.
ok well then it will be a catchweight bout if its at 215 so which one is it chrisl? heavyweight or catchweight?
Toney believed it was a catchweight and told people that’s what it was. However, Couture stated it was a heavyweight bout and that originally it was designed as 215lbs bout but that in the end it will just be a heavyweight fight. The UFC has not officially announced it as yet but I take Couture’s word here as truth.
machida- randy would be awesome even if it will never happen. maybe you havent relized this but randy gets aleast droped in every fight. then take the fact that they never make randy fight and really powerful strkers. there is a reason why he has never faced machida, shogun, rampage, thiago, carwin,rashad,cain, or even kongo. because he really isnt that great. not saying he sucks just coleman, toney, and barely beating vera is more his class.
Randy Couture “really isn’t that great”?!
Is that why he’s the most decorated MMA fighter in UFC history?
You can’t be serious with that sh!t…
said it and meant it!!! dude picks and choses his fights. and well when you have 4 title fights given to you off of loses.picks and choses the chapions he wants to fight.always gets every close dec. with 2 of of his wins should be losses. and if fedor or nog or cro cop had even close to a 18-10 record nobody would even bring up their names as they WERE great. beating people like chuck 1 out of 3. tim s. and gabriel gonzaga doesnt make you great. HE IS GOOD AND IT IS AMAZING AT HIS AGE WHAT HE DOES, but come on werdum beat gonzaga twice in way quicker fashion, beat fedor, overheem, and everybody acts like he is just ok. when couture matchups dont go coleman, vera, toney. and he actually steps in the ring with the machidas, and shoguns, rampages, cain, jds,carwin. the only reason he fought brock is because it was great for the ufc either way, he had to defend his belt, and he knew that that was one of the only hws he was a better striker on the feet then!!! he just happened to catch randy
@ glassman6 – think what you want, but if you want to be taken seriously at this site disrespecting or disregarding Randy Couture isn’t going to get you there, my friend.
Or do you think a guy who “picks and chooses his fights” just gets a free pass into the UFC Hall of Fame?
No one in this sport has accomplished what Randy Couture has.
No one. Not Fedor, not Anderson Silva, not GSP, not even BJ Penn.
And certainly not any of the men you think Couture somehow has to prove himself against.
No one.
Why else do you think the FIRST man Shogun Rua asked to face after winning the title was Randy Couture?
Because Couture is the measuring stick for MMA greatness.
5 titles in 2 different weightclasses, plus the HoF.
Nothing is going to change that regardless of your personal opinion of the most respected man in this sport…
dude do you actually believe what you are even sayin!!!! you are acting like when randy as doing all that the ufc had the best fighters. no they did not!!! get real tell me that randy, chuck, ace when they were ruling the ufc bwereactually fighting the best in the world.lol. ufc looked like aweaker sf. they talk about all the title fights 4 fights off of losses, 4title fights in row against chuck and tim. why because the ufc roster sucked. you dont rem. their hw div. was he fighting fedor, nog,cro cop when they were great no. title fights were like ace-the crow. and likehughes-riggs. andrandy gonzaga or tim slyvia. 18-10 speaks for itself. he is aGREAT PERSON AND DONE ALOT FOR THE SPORT. that doesnt mean he had a gsp or a spider in the div. above him. all the really good people he has fought he lost to or has alosing record to.
@glassman6, please, just let it go.
You embarrass yourself, and you actually make me feel a little embarrassed to have to debate so rudimentary an issue with you.
There is a lot of latitude at the frenZy to post whatever noise you like, so have a blast.
Just don’t expect me to buy into your nonsense…
really didnt care what you personally thought!! im saying a bunch of reasons why i feel this way, and you have nothing to say about the facts that i put. so if i were you i wouldnt discuss it either !! if you think that he was ever one of the greatest thats fine with me. if anyone one else was 18-10 and somehow got all those title shots everyone would be bi***ing. the point i was trying to make was simple. machidas8-1 and has fought good fighters and his record is way better then randys and half the people on here are acting like he hasnt paid his dues to even get a interm shot. wasnt saying he a bad guy or anything darn!! just saying the facts
1. his record is not even close to other greats that have also fought other big names.
2. mostly does not win the fights against real stars.
3. the people he has been fighting and beating is nowhere near the caliber people like rashad, lyoto, rampage, cain, jds have been fighting lately. and i feel like they are trying to keep him in the title picture and randy and dana both know he is only not going to lose his shot if he fights people like vera, coleman and toney all in a row.
not mad or getting down on you for feeling different. but dont talk to me like everybody on this site has to feel like randy is or was one of the greatest. AND IF YOU HAVE ANY REASONS FOR WHY IM WRONG YOU SHOULD SAY THEM. NOT JUST ACT LIKE IM WRONG WHEN YOU HAVE NOTHING TO DISCREDIT ANYTHING IM SAYING.
To both of you, let’s knock it off. Don’t make it personal- Chris L.
@chrisl – bro, if you wave it off, its waved off without further posting on the matter from me…
Machida vs Franklin would be good…if Franklin didn’t have a broken arm! There is no way that Franklin would be ready for UFC 119. Machida vs Rampage is more likely than anything. Not sure if When Griffin is due back , I thought he was out until December.
For the record, that would be Machida vs. Franklin 2.
** Johnny Carson’s voice ** “I did not know that”
This is kinda off topic but you bringing up Machida vs Fanklin..made me think of Bj Penn vs Machida. I was just wondering if u knew anything about that like if BJ fought at Light Heavy or if they like met at a weight or something? I was always curious about that, but i never watched the fight.
I believe it was an open weight fight, Machida weighed in at 225, and Penn weighed in at 191 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyoto_Machida
I say Franklin vs Evans for interim title. Rampage vs Machidanwinner of that fights whoever wins of Shogun vs who ever is the interim champ. Alittle confusing but i think its understandable.
Well this is why Dana and Silva choose the matchups and you guys don’t.
Please…no more interim titles bs!
I think Ed Soares is right. Machida now knows the agony of defeat and is probably hungrier and more focused then ever so I too expect to see a bad ass “dragon”.
IMHO, Machida(or maybe ed soares) is probably looking for a “tune up” match upon his return while staying in “title contention”. Absolutely no offense to rashad as he has proven me wrong time and time again that he is no push over and no “tune up match”. I only say this because machida had ko’d rashad and did it pretty easily therefor he might think that a rematch with him wouldn’t be as tough and he’d go into that match with some confidence because he’s already beaten rashad. rashad of course being the number one contender, a win over him would mean a title shot or atleast one win away from a title shot.
Since Rashad beat Rampage and was promised a title shot, I don’t think there should be a machida vs rashad or an “interim title”. WTF is that dude?
Rashad should just wait till shogun comes back and get his shot and in the meantime, machida should fight rampage, forrest or franklin. I think forrest or rampage make more sense since both are still around the top 6 lhw’s. Can’t blame soares for trying to protect his fighter and use some strategy but at LHW everyone at the top is tough so you might as well face the best guys if you really want to be champ aganin. hua?
Why not an interim title? Champ is injured. It’s the same as Carwin-Mir for the interim. With an interim, there is no question who the #1 contender is. And that is what everyone ****es about at all other weight classes.
I don’t know. I don’t really like interim championships. I just think its contenders fighting. They should just make it a five round fight though. Didn’t they change it to where they can have five round fights that arent for a championship??
if it’s for a belt(even interim) it’s automatically five rounds and Dana has already stated he won’t do five round fights that aren’t for the title. So interim is the way to go. i almost like them now because it at least gives a clear number 1 contender.
My thoughts exactly.
my bad I didn’t see your comment above.
I don’t think Rashad wants this fight even if Machida did
knock him out last time. He wants his title shot and will gladly wait
for Rua to be healthy. (Then he’ll take his bely by decision).
I saw the BJ penn/Machida fight and Penn
looked fat but not 205, maybe 190. Machida won by decision. He already
TKO’d Franklin although he did last for a little while. He needs to fight Forrest or Rampage.
I’m generally not a fan of Interim titles, but what is any promotion supposed to do when a champion becomes injured, or in Lesnar’s case gravely ill?
Strip the champion and have the top 2 contenders fight it out, with the winner facing the former champion?
Or just leave the title on “pause” while the contenders sort out their differences?
Both of those options p!ss fans off more than installing an Interim champion, so Dana usually opts for the lesser of two evils.
If someone comes up with a better solution, and I mean better both financially and in terms of the sport, I’m open to suggestions.
And please, none of that tournament sh!t. DW hates them, I hate them, and the majority of UFC fans aren’t onboard with them.
Plus stateside there are too many regulational issues to bridge.
As for Machida, I don’t like agreeing with Ed Soares, but in this case it makes sense to have the last 2 205 champions scrap, with the returning Rua facing the winner.
Unless we’re more concerned about promotability, ticket sales, PPV buys, etc, in which case I’d go with Machida-Griffin for an Interim title fight…
jcohl i agree that interim belts are neccessary and that a weight class has to have an active belt holder but an interim title fight is not neccessary in this situation because the only point in having it is if the champion is going to be sidelined so long that a belt has to be created in order to be defended. even if machida and evans fight now for an interim belt they are not going to defend the interim belt against anyone their next fight will be against shogun to dissolve the belt anyway. the only reason mir and carwin fought for an interim belt was it was announced before lesnar’s medical miracle and the UFC was under the impression that their heavyweight champion was going to be sidelined for 2 years or maybe never fight again. the intention was not for carwin and mir to fight for an interim title then immediatley fight lesnar to dissolve it, it was created to be defended by the winner of that fight because lesnar was expected to be out a lot longer. it has been announced that shogun will return in march so therefore an interim belt is pointless in this situation
A better example of a precedent is the Matt Serra-GSP situation. Hughes and Serra were originally supposed to face off for the title but after Serra was injured Hughes fought GSP for an interim belt and well we all know the rest. That was not a relatively long time period.
as far as sport goes it would be machida with 1 loss against rashad with 1 loss. but if shogun miraculously came back in time to defend his title then it should be against the next no.1 contender in line, not the last no. 1 contender because it was close…the superbowl would suck if the nfl worked like that. when you lose it’s the next guys turn hence “don’t leave it in the hands of the judges” are we gonna watch the same 4 guys fight for the title til their 80 years old because their famous? how bout Ryan Bader? anyone remember him???…undefeated…good hands..good wrestling…ultimate fighter winner…knockout power…ringing a bell anyone???
Bader’s biggest win was against Jardine… he’s a few fights away… same with Jones…
Jones isn’t that far away, my friend. He needs one fight to beat someone like Griffin or Evans, and one fight to lift the title.
18 months and counting, barring unforseen illness or injury…
:-)
well being as he already has to fight the Janitor. then one of the people you mentioned and then by that point it’ll likely be Rashad/Lyoto vs. Rua… he’ll likely have time for a fight… and that does mean a “few”
lyotos biggest fight was agianst T. silva, or ortiz.
No fighter bashing.
-Justin
Yeah I guess beating Rich Franklin, the former 205 champ(Ortiz) who took the future champ(Evans) to a draw, and a 13-0 fighter(Silva) isn’t as good as beating a guy who was 1-3 in his last 4(Jardine)…
@chrisl – ugh.
My bad. I forgot that Jones has the Matyushenko fight.
I’m so impressed with him that I can’t wait to see him in with some higher competition, but I stand corrected sir…
;-)
jon jones is probably the future of lhw but i could see inexperience losing him a fight against evans, shogun, or machida. he definitley deserves a big fight though. after he rapes the janitor his next fight has to be against a top 3 contender IMO
awwwwwwww yea machida will destroy rua and everyone else
yeah that was a long time ago, not to mention lyoto weigh alot more, but since were talking years ago, lets gibe babalu a title shot since he choked out rua. yeh…that makes sense
by the way rich was never a 205 champ, i think your thinkin 185 bud
I was referring to Ortiz taking Evans to a draw(which was only a draw due to a penalty point on Ortiz)…
Franklin did start at 205 for most of his career before dropping to Middleweight.
Look we can’t give a title shot to someone just for beating Jardine is all I’m saying… if that were the case Hamil would have a shot…
This is my only pet peave about the LHW division. Its always a frisbee game with the title and not only that, its always a 6 month/year long toss.
i get what all of you are saying!!! but i just want to add something. i dont know why the man is not ready for the int. belt shot??? come on guys he has fought someone who is the top5 maybe 8 p4p in the world his last 3 fights. there isnt that many hw in my mind that would definately beat shogun or rashad. if you judge it by the jap. way where they just say who won by who did more damage. then shogun definately won the first. but if you do it by points by round and actually count strikes and watch who is engaging and who was circling away throwing his hands up. then you will see what the judges saw. the 2nd and 3rd times we watched it that night we muted joe. and i love joe! you will see that shogun threw 8 strikes total not landed threw, in the 5 th round. now i not saying machida was still looking fresh or even throwing more. just sayin it wasnt a huge robbery. and i getting a little sick acting like shogun and now bj got so screwed. bisbing hammil, melvin g- tiebu,even couture- vera, belcher-sexyama.
who deserves it more then rashad and machida. yes franklin is 2-0 at lhw but he got beat twice at 195 and if your going to act like that warrants belfort for the 185 belt even if he is 1-2 in his last 3 in the ufc. then surely you must count those 2 195 losses against franklin and machida already knocked his head off and his arm is broke. rampage no! just lost to the guy machida destroyed. wandi- no. bone jones if he is ready right after the janitor fight. he may not even win this is a big step up!!! forrest not healthy and record is not good enough. 8-1 in the ufc only spider is better!! and a mma record that includes making franklin, tito, thiago, rashad, and bj add a big l to their records. give the man his due. he took another fight with shogun after fight 4-5 straight stars in the sport. and he did what everyone wanted and had a brawl and got clipped in the bad part of the head. he doesnt get old man coleman, forrest and off button chuck to get his belt shot. he has paid his dues
machida is the best “name”, other than that jones should get it. against rashad. I Just think it should be fair for the fighters with good records in the top ten of their division to get shots in a practical matter other than ticket sales, there are some bad ass fighters coming around.
jon bones jones is the future of the lhw division, JDS is the best heavyweight, yes even better than brock, valasquez, verdum,… A. Silva is here to stay, GSP is aswell, the lw division is a little slow right now, I wish Diego would have stuck around…
Thats a whole lot of “stuff” in one post…
;-)
Lets go Machida!!! Show all the people who gave up on you on the Shogun fight that The Dragon has been unleashed!!! Machida “WILL” get that title back from Shogun or Rashad.
either machida vs bones or machida vs bader buh nooo,,,i dnt wanna c rashad vs machida aagain,,,,maby machida vs forrest if he doesnt fight franklin
I would like to see Machida vs. Griffin
i thought franklin broke his arm? Machida should fight Rampage
Franklin did break his arm against Liddell, reportedly on the last kick Chuck threw before the end of the fight…
Regardless of whether or not people feel he’s “earned” it or not I would love to see Jon Jones get a crack at the Interim belt. Let’s not forget, Lesnar didn;t really deserve it when he fough Couture. It’s time to push some of these young guys. “Bones” is the future of that division and it’s only a matter of time before he owns that belt.
Jon Jones v Rashad Evans.
Make it happen.
get team mates to fight each other ;)
THATS what Dana said…
;-)
hey whadda u know….bader just got added to the co-main event at ufc 119 against lil nog, looks like im smart
nice call buddy. you were right on!!