Machida (photo via UFC.com)

By FCF Staff

It didn’t take long at last night’s UFC on FOX 4 post-fight presser for the promotion’s president Dana White to start explaining why he has decided to grant Lyoto Machida a title shot instead of “Shogun” Rua.

Heading into the card, White announced that a light-heavyweight title shot was on the line, and that whoever emerged with the most impressive win would fight the winner of Jon Jones versus Dan Henderson.

Machida scored an impressive second round knockout over Ryan Bader Saturday night, while Rua needed almost four rounds to defeat a determined Brandon Vera.  Although Machida’s win was the more dominant of the two, White has revealed that other factors played into his decision.

“Everything I’ve seen from Lyoto Machida, looks like he wants this fight more than “Shogun” does,” White said at the press conference. “Shogun hasn’t shown me anything that he’s demanding to fight Jon Jones again. Machida is; it’s more than just the knockout.”

Machida fought Jones just last December, and after pressuring the champion in round one, fell prey to a fight ending choke in round two. Last night’s win over Bader, marked the first time “The Dragon” has fought since the loss.

“Him and his management has been all over me, terrorizing me, to get him fights that would get him back to the title,” White added. “What I can tell you is that he wants it bad. That’s really important to me that a guy wants it bad, and I’m sure Lyoto Machida has laid in bed every night since that fight, thinking of all the things he should do, what’s possible, and now he’s got it. We’ll see. We’ll find out.”

When asked if Rua fatiguing late into round two was part of the reason why he decided to reward Machida with a title shot, White answered.

“Everybody’s a genius; everybody’s got an opinion, you can’t put a number or ranking on somebody’s heart or determination. Brandon Vera told me at the press conference that he was going to stick it, and he did. He came out tonight like he wanted to win that fight and he stood toe-to-toe. Shogun was actually shooting on him.”

Jones is scheduled to fight Henderson on September 1st at UFC 151 in Las Vegas.