It’s been some time since we’ve heard anything from Lyoto Machida’s camp, with Machida taking some time to get things organized after losing his championship to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. Now, his manager Ed Soares, recently talked to MMAWeekly about his fighter, and to let people know that not only is Machida training, but that he’s ready.
Machida is no doubt looking at a rematch with Shogun, as the record puts them at one even(though most MMA fans disagree giving it a clean 2-0 sweep to Shogun) but with Rua being out of action until next March it seems that Soares is looking for other options. Two interesting names are Rich “Ace” Franklin and Vitor Belfort:
“That could be a big fight. At the end of the day that’s the first guy who gave Rich Franklin his first loss, maybe Rich Franklin would like to avenge that. That could be a good fight.”
“You know what I think would be interesting is how about a Vitor Belfort? Vitor Belfort/Lyoto Machida? I think Vitor now will get another fight before he fights Anderson Silva. Put it this way, anything can happen, you never know.”
Belfort would certainly seem a much stronger opponent for Machida, but Belfort is looking at taking a run at UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva so Franklin could be a very viable opponent. The UFC hasn’t announced anything official, but The MMA News will keep you in the loop.