UFC Quick Quote: Lyoto Machida wants to fight Rashad Evans to determine number one contender
By: MMAmania
“I’m waiting for any situation, or face him, if he gets better, or having another opponent. I would like to face Rashad Evans, and the winner gets a title shot, but now it seems like they will put him against Forrest Griffin … I’d like to face him and the winner gets Griffin, it’s a good way. I don’t know how it’s gonna be, I’m ready to fight, but don’t wanna fight anyone, because I’m building my way in UFC and I wanna fight the top fighters so that they could give me a title shot after…. I never chose opponents, I leave it to UFC and my managers, what they want for me is good. If they think fight Shogun is better I’ll do it, I’m prepared to for everything.”
– Top light heavyweight contender Lyoto Machida — who is likely one win away from a 205-pound title shot — tells Tatame.com that his ideal scenario with be a number one title contender eliminator match against Rashad Evans. However, it appears that Evans is already in line to fight reigning champion Forrest Griffin as soon as UFC 92 in December. Machida was supposed to take on Thiago Silva last month before an injury derailed the monster showdown. Machida reveals that Mauricio “Shogun” Rua is also in the picture, which is another fantastic option. Either way, there’s likely a great fight on the horizon next for Machida, just not a title shot.
72 Comments »
cool lets get one of these fights signed up now, i hate waiting so long to find out whos gony be fighting who?!! As for wandi, rampage, shugun damn even liddell. Get the fights signed now the sooner the better i just hate how long it takes to get these fights happening!!!
Same, I just love the feeling I get when I know that a big fight is defo going to happen, and then when fight time comes around…. :D. I think Lyoto should fight Shogun. As it is only fair for Evans to get a title shot, as Liddell would have got one. Lyoto/Shogun winner faces Wandy/Rampage winner for title shot.
Check out my new vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc7o1HdR2iY I think it is that link
And it’s only fair too for Lyoto to get a crack at Evans before any title shot happens. This means that the champ[Forrest] would have a much worthier opponent when the title fight happens. Lyoto-Evans would definitely determine who the number one contender is since Thiago Silva has no say for now…
Yh, good point. It would make the title shot for Evans or Machida more valid. Is Thiago out for long? He could fight Shogun late this year, or early next, and then fight Rampage or Wandy or Chuck
We are lucky that Thiago Silva is with ATT now. You could just imagine if he was still with Chute Box. No Shogun match-up. Too bad for us fans…That would be a sick match-up though. Let Joe Silva worry about all the match-ups and let’s just sit back and relax, hehe!!
I would also like to see Evans vs. Machida for another reason, I just don’t think Griffin vs. Evans is exciting enough to be on the New Year card. Last year it was a co-main event of Liddell/Silva and Hughes/St. Pierre 3. How can you follow that up with a main event of Griffin and Evans?
I’m all for Shogun vs. Machida! Would complement either the NYE card or the Superbowl card nicely. It doesn’t make sense to have Machida fight someone who isn’t a contender right now, the other two opponents I’d like would be the 2 Silvas, Thiago and Wanderlei.
i would prefer to just wait to see him fight t. Silva because i want to see shougun vs another TUF fighter maybe bonner or jardine (even though he is due to fight vera) i really want to see shougun do well in the ufc
I dont want to see Machida vs. Shogun, not Now at least!
Machida should just wait for Thiago
Props to Machida for being a real fighter who wants to be chgallenged by nothing but the best, and biggest names that the UFC has to offer! bitch ass fighters (u know who you are) TAKE NOTES!!!
or you could see it as ducking forest, but of ‘course! Machida needs a tune up fight.
Machida vs. Forest is what we need to see, wether forest likes it or not.
Forrest ducked machida hard. He knew didn’t have answers to all of machida’s questions. He chose shogun coz he saw how much trouble pride fighters had adjusting to the cage and american crowds. I do give him props though for recognizing opportunity and seizing it.
A win over Shogun is a hell of a lot better than a win over Machida.
I wish people knew what they were talking. Forrest did not duck Machida. The fight was booked and he got staph infection. Please educate before making those kinds of statements!
http://mmamania.com/2007/03/14/ufc-70-forrest-griffin-out-with-staph-infection/
School-em BNF!!! EDUCATION people, EDUCATION!!!
At the time, no one in the world thought that it was wise for Forrest to fight Rua instead. Everyone thought that Shogun was going to kill Forrest.
Maybe when Shogun returns they can still have him fight Liddell? I would definately still like to see that match up. Both would have a lot riding on that fight, and both would be right back in the thick of things if they won. Almost the same as Chuck/Wandy last year.
shogun would be good.. And there’s always a rich franklin rematch. but i doubt they’d want to knock franklin out of contention this early. Maybe rich would get a few more average fighters then get a top contender after. I hope machida gets shogun, then the winner of evans/griffin.
Franklin would get tooled by Machida.
and Shogun, and Rampage, and Wanderlei… Rich Franklin isnt going to make any waves in 205, believe me
Rich already got tooled by Machida. Rich has improved since then, but Machida has improved too. Rich has trouble against accurate counter-strikers. I’m not saying Machida is a better fighter than Rich (it’s arguable), but Machida’s style just poses a lot of problems for Rich.
If Rashad Evans and Lyoto Machida fought, I would blow my brains out. That would probably be worse than Koscheck/Sanchez II.
Yeah I don’t even want to think about Machida vs. Evans. I’m trying to eat here and that makes me want to throw up my sandwich
Why would a MAchida-Evans match-up be bad? It’s virtually an eliminator match. 2 undefeated fighters. Loser gets to pick the scraps of the division, winner takes on Forrest. It’s a very ideal match-up!…But if you guys find it boring, then I don’t know about you ‘coz that’s just my 2 cents.
I think what NC is eluding to is that Evans/Machida would be boring as hell.
I don’t think so. I didn’t find the Liddell-Evans match-up boring, did you? Both Liddell and MAchida are virtually counter-punchers. The only differences are that Machida doesn’t let his hands hang too low and he ain’t looking for that 1-time KO punch like Liddell does…Hehe!
did you just compare Chuck Liddell’s gameplan to Lyoto Machida’s?
Liddell pushes the pace and he looks for KO’s, Machida is simply a back pedler who throws punches. He is very effective and a very good fighter, but he is very boring. Rashad Evans would Dance and Lyoto Machida would back peddle. It would be like You Got Served 2 or something like that. It would not be an entertaining fight what so ever.
Rashad deserves a title shot for defeating Michael Bisping and Chuck Liddell.
If Machida defeats either Shogun, Franklin or Thiago Silva, then I say give him the next title shot.
I just told you the differences right there, hehe!!
Mr.NC-17 .. would you call it a gameplan to let your hands hang by your waist? It’s not a gameplan it’s a fighting style..
Lyoto also does not look for that 1 punch KO because he does not have a 1 punch KO.
Evans would get owned by Machida…but it would take all 15 minutes worth…
he wont fight shogun because shogun will fight rich franklin
he will wait to fight thiago
nye card
nogueira vs mir heavyweight title
griffin vs evans light heavyweight title
franklin vs shogun
and maybe to roun of the best card ever
machida vs thiago
rampage vs wanderli
shogun vs franklin….that makes an awesome super fight…plus it get shogun face to the casual fan if franklin is fighting him…makes tons of sense! both top level fighter but still trying to make leap in 205!
Machida’s fights are about as exciting as that paragraph. Watching Machida vs Evans… I’d rather take the SAT’s again.
he will not fight shogun because shogun will fight rich franklin
he will wait to fight thiago
nye card
nogueira vs mir heavyweight title
griffin vs evans light heavyweight title
franklin vs shogun
and maybe to roun of the best card ever
machida vs thiago
rampage vs wanderli
I was looking forward to the Machida/Silva fight because I thought Silva had a good chance of finally beating this “track star” named Machida. But to be honest, everytime that a Machida fight is on the main card of a PPV I feel like I dont get my money’s worth. I really haven’t enjoyed the guys fights. His style is very basic-hit and run. Some people call it technical, I call it boring. I even found myself rooting for Tito to beat the guy his last fight. If this fight does happen I hope Rashad puts the wood to him. As for an who should get an immediate title shot, Rashad wins that arguement all day. Machida hasn’t beat anyone that is even close title contention.
WTF are u talking about. He fought sokodjou, who was considered one of the top light heavyweights. Did I mention that he stopped him too.
Would you consider Soku a top title contender in the UFC right now? There is no more Pride in case you forgot.
Glover Teixeira beat Sokoudjou too, so I guess he would be a UFC LHW title contender also.
Sokodjou was never considered one of the top light heavyweights. Yes he did knock out two good opponents over in Pride, but he was never considered a top 10 LHW in the UFC.
U r right mr. Nc-17, but since we dont get to see UFC rankings, soko was ranked and STILL is in the top 10 LHW in the world. fluke or not, we can not take away the FACT that he has knocked out Artona and Nogueira in back to back fights. soko’s resume is still impressive.
Loss to Texiera
Win Arona
Win Nogueira
Loss Machida
Win Nakamura
Not to many tune up fights for Soko! He came into the game KNocking OUT TOP Notch competition, and I have to RESPECT that!
I am a big fan of Soko, and I agree with john. You cant deny Soko as a top end fighter in the UFC. But as big of a Soko fana as I am, I have to admit he is in for a world of trouble when he gets down with my boy Luis Cane.
For those who dont know, Luis Cane is the bet to take in that fight. Cane is striaght nasty and will win that fight in impressive fashion-IMO..
All LHW’s be on the look-out for Cane..After this fight he will definitely start earning alot of respect, and we will see him on main cards for a while.
Not going to happen!
Absolutely.. Luis Cane should be able to knock Soko out.. If Dana and his boys would have dared to match Machida up with Liddell he would have had the title shot if he’d won, now Rashad did and he rightfully gets the chance to fight for the title.
Sounds like a Champion Speaking…
We are looking for someone who runs faster than Machida to fight him. I dont think we will find the person in MMA.You Machida need to go out there and fight not run.
F*ck rashad. Before the vicious KO to Liddell what else does he proved? An lifeless boring DRAW decision over Tito? A Win over Bisping? Man that was sometime ago.I think Machida has points on this one.
He KO liddell…… thats what he proved… did wanderlei do it … NO!
Wanderlei didn’t say he was gonna fight a technical fight, he was just gonna brawl until a teeth shattering knockout. It was unfortunate that it didn’t happen.
Chuck wasnt as sloppy with Wanderlei as he was with Rashad because he knew Wanderlei could put him out….little did he know, Rashad could too
Machida is the best lhw period. No one wants to fight him, they are all afraid of looking bad while they lose. Until someone beats him, he is the champion in my opinion.
u r an itiot… machida is boring and the ufc looks down on that…ur life must be full of absolutely no excited…boohoo
suck my rocks
Lyoto will beat them all anyway… thats why nobody does not want to fight him…..
and there yall go again with the rashad being boring… in the ufc there was like 2 boring fights and he has had way more than two fights…
real mma fans want a champ that is going to dominate or make an exciting fight like anderson silva or GSP not boring decisions like Machida no one in UFC wants to lose a decision to boring “technical fighter” lol!!
Well if MAchida is a boring fighter, then why don’t his opponents put excitement in his matches while defeating him?? A boring fighter is pretty easy to defeat. Just mix it up. Machida, boring? Man nobody has yet to come up with a legit gameplan to counter Machida’s fighting style. If that’s the case, then Machida’s fighting style reigns supreme for now! In short, shotokan karate[w/BJJ] rules the world of LHW MMA!
It takes two to dance.. he’s moving away all the time, and throws some kicks and punches just to score enough points to win each round.. What i would like to see is someone that just goes full speed at him without trying to figure out his style but Machida would probably run full speed out of there so there would be a whole lot of running!
except Machida has not fought any of the top contenders and for Rashad if they were to fight it wouldn’t surprise me if he put Machida to sleep like he did Chuck he would be just to fast for him
how does he have the nerve to ask for a tittle shot he has boring fights all the time at least rashad got a highlight ko machida wins by points im my own opinion i would not pay for a ppv event with him as the main event….at least mix it up and engage….why do u think they boo him all the time dana sees that and thats why he wont get a title shot…..
Machida deserves to fight the winner of Griffin vs Evans.
future matchups next year
bonner vs franklin
hendo vs nate M
Nate diaz vs Joe Lauzon
It says Machida and Silva were supposed to fight last month, weren’t they supposed to fight on the 89 card next month?
A Franklin Machida fight could be marketable to hardcore MMA fans. Franklins first loss he got destroyed by Machida so they could do some kind of revenge fight like Liddell/Jackson2.
I think Evans would beat Machida. He’s just as quick. Has superior wrestling and good hands.
I would like to see Machida and Evans, but hell Forrest would have to fight someone in the meantime. Hell we have to wait long enough for these guys to defend their titles.
F-Machida
dido hes boring!!!!!!ZZZZZZZZZ
Manchida’s fights would be best if they took place in an elevator or maybe a phone booth. I think he can beat anyone in the division but his constant circeling is so dull.
Who the hell is Manchida? GAy asian porn star?
The UFC is so full of shit. This guy is undefeated and he still doesn’t get a title shot. However, Brock Lesnar has a 1-1 record and now he fights for the heavyweight title. Give me a break.
When Brock is in there it’s a fight and it’s entertainment.. When Machida is in the octagon it’s more track & field, they should bring in some hurdles to make it more exciting.
the last lesnar fight was so entertaining my friend wanted to leave in the middle of it.
ok cool.. when Machida’s fighting your friend is not even there..
I love his attitude. Doesn’t duck anyone, there’s no matchup that’s a bad matchup for him. He takes any fights on any notice. What a terror. Plus it looks like he has a pheotus stuffed in his ear, which is also bad-ass.