Unhappy with the results of his UFC 163 bout, Lyoto Machida has reportedly demanded an immediate rematch against Phil Davis, according to FUEL TV’s Ariel Helwani.
You’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone that doesn’t believe Machida deserves another shot after a questionable judges’ decision scored the fight in his opponent’s favor.
Promotion president Dana White scored the fight completely in the former light heavyweight champion’s favor.
The judges’ decision is final, though, no matter how controversial it was. That’s why, as a fighter in a sport like this, you can’t leave it up another human being’s interpretation of your work; however, those three individuals may be in some very minimal company with their decision.
From here, the aging 35-year-old Machida isn’t getting any younger. His opportunities for a title shot are slowly going to dissipate over the next couple of years.
That, then, begs the question: What’s the point of stepping back into the Octagon with Davis?
His ability was fully on display during the three hard-fought rounds of that puzzling loss. What else is there to prove by fighting him again to a near-stalemate?
Machida isn’t going anywhere despite the loss. He’ll likely be plugged into another headliner bout in order to build him back up for an eventual title shot.
Or will he?
After missing out on two title shots already this year, and a rematch against Jon Jones, Machida may not be in the discussion any longer to recapture the title.
Grasping at a rematch against Davis may be the end result of frustration beginning to set in for The Dragon. It reeks of desperation for a fighter that may not have too many better options ahead of him.
As the top fighter in the light heavyweight rankings not named Jon Jones, at least before this recent loss, Machida shouldn’t be so quick to make demands after a decision loss.
If he had gotten knocked out, maybe there would be a need for him to come out and demand another shot.
At the end of the day, Machida’s own style betrayed him on the scorecard. If he’s not going to be aggressive enough offensively to finish fights, he needs to live with the consequences of decisions falling against him.
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