LAS VEGAS — Much has been made about the way the two fights between UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman and the man he defeated to take the title, Anderson Silva, went down.
And it’s also well-known that Weidman’s next opponent, Lyoto Machida, is a longtime friend and training partner of the former champ, even relocating to Los Angeles’ South Bay area not long after Silva did the same.
But “The Dragon” is quick to distance himself from the idea he’ll be fighting to avenge his Black House partner when he challenges Weidman in the main event of UFC 173 in Las Vegas on July 5.
“There’s no way,” Machida said through an interpreter on Friday in a press conference at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. “Everyone has got their own career and this is my chance at the belt, so there is no sense of revenge.”
Machida, the former UFC light heavyweight champion, will look to join B.J. Penn and Randy Couture as the only fighters who have held UFC championships at two weight classes. He says if there’s any external motivation, it involves joining Jose Aldo Jr. and Renan Barao as Brazilian UFC titleholders.
“There is always pressure,” Machida said. “And I change that pressure into motivation, and the motivation is to bring that belt to Brazil.”