Lyoto Machida Has “No Problem” Fighting Brazilians, Willing to Battle “Jacare” Souza or Vitor Belfort
By FCF Staff
Thanks to wins over Mark Munoz and Gegard Mousasi, it hasn’t taken Lyoto Machida long to enter the middleweight title shot race, which also includes fellow Brazilians like “Jacare” Souza, Vitor Belfort and former champ Anderson Silva. In fact, Belfort will challenge champion Chris Weidman on May 24th at UFC 173, thanks to three consecutive stoppage wins.
Well, in the latest episode of “UFC Tonight”, Machida made it clear that he’s willing to fight at least two of his fellow countrymen if need be. The former light-heavyweight champ was quoted saying:
“I have no problem fighting them,” Machida said, when asked about fighting his fellow Brazilians. “I can fight Jacare or Vitor.”
Machida is coming off a unanimous decision win over Mousasi on February 15th, in a five round bout that saw the 35 year-old injure his foot. “The Dragon” updated his condition by stating:
“My foot is almost 100 percent now. It’s doing ok. I have to recover soon because I want to dance again.”
“I don’t know. I know I just have two fights at 185, and Jacare has more, but I can fight against him.” Machida furthered, while discussing whether he believes he’s earned a title shot at 185. “I have no problem with that. I don’t want to wait for long time. I can do one more fight before I fight for the title.”
And as far as who will win the Weidman-Belfort match-up at UFC 173? Machida told “UFC Tonight”?
“I think the first two rounds, Vitor has a big chance. He’s very explosive early. But if it goes longer, Weidman can beat Vitor.”
Machida (21-4) is 4-1 in his last 5 contests, and his only loss during that run was a tightly contested, decision loss to Phil Davis.