A light heavyweight bout appears to be in the works between Lyoto ‘The Dragon’ Machida (17-2) and Phil ‘Mr. Wonderful’ Davis (9-0) for a future Ultimate Fighting Championship event.
Davis had been expected to face Rashad Evans earlier this month at UFC 133, replacing champ Jon Jones, but was forced to withdraw from the event due to a knee injury.
Machida had been approached as a replacement for Davis, but could not come to financial terms with the UFC over taking the bout on short notice. Davis was eventually replaced by Tito Ortiz.
News of this new matchup surfaced at Yahoo! Sports Brazil after Machida’s manager Jorge Guimarães spoke to them about ‘The Dragon’s’ next possible opponent.
“It was the first contacts and we may soon reveal more new features. He (Davis), is the possibility more concrete progress by the current category (heavyweight, to 93kg). It would be great opponent for Machida, who is a of the greatest sports heroes in Brazil and need to stop back soon.”
Machida ended a two fight losing skid with a recent knockout win over current Hall of Famer Randy Couture in April at UFC 129.
Adding to his manager’s comments about the possible matchup, Machida had this to say.
“It would be a classic match between styles. (Phil) Davis is a born wreslter which pledges to take the strong pace of the fight and take it to the end without losing the thread. I would have to adjust some aspects in my game face it as an equal. But this flexibility has always been a technique of my strongest characteristics. There will be no problem.”