Former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida (16-2) is looking to begin his journey back to the top of the 205 pound division at the end of this month when he meets UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture at UFC 129.
Despite coming off two straight losses, including a title loss, fans are already wondering aloud if Machida could be the one to defeat the newly crowned division champ Jon Jones.
Machida is focused on his fight with Couture and isn’t giving a fight with Jones much thought, but he knows what it’s like to have everyone talk about you as if your unbeatable.
“The Dragon” spoke to Tatame.com recently about his upcoming fight and gave his thoughts on Jones.
How do you like Jon Jones? So far, of the top guys, he had only fought Ryan Bader. What do you think about thin as an athlete, and this big jump on his career?
Carlson (Gracie) said that: ‘there’s no such thing with a rooster, if it’s a good rooster you’ll know it from the start’. Sometimes the guy doesn’t have to go through a lot, because sometimes he’s just good… I could tell this guy had great potential. But, like I said, this is the most busy weight division so it’s hard to remain on the top for a long time…. When I won the championship title, everybody told me I’d hold it for a long time. But it happens that you become a target, people start to study you, so you’re stalked, and everybody wants to beat you down. It’s hard to say, but I’m sure he has plenty physical and technical skills to be on the top. We, as his opponents, must study to find out the best way to beat him, because he’s too strong physically.Many people say your game style could beat him up. Do you agree with them?
When you study the fight, because he’ll also study me, nobody knows how the other will behave, and I’m sure he has a great team working with him, so our skills are equal. I believe I have a different style from most fighters, and I truly believe it, but it’s a thing that, honestly, I don’t really care right now. I’m only worried about my next opponent, because I’m on a different situation now, I’m not on the line for a title shot, not now. It all can change in a matter of days, but it’s not happening right now. My next step is fighting Couture, and the next step is always the most important for me.What can we hope of Lyoto in 2011?
I’ll be hungrier and more determined, that’s for sure. I’ve always shown it, I always tried to win things with my effort, and it won’t be any different. I guess it’s important we show people this. We have to become examples for young people, training hard, being disciplined and respectful, that’s how we’ll get things done.