Lyoto Machida is seeking the karate duel of the century with UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre.
In an interview with Fighter’s Only, Machida named St-Pierre as the fighter he’d be most interested in competing against in a super fight.
“It would be an interesting karate duel, but I don’t know at what weight we would do it. If it is at 185 pounds, I will go for it,” said Machida.
Both Machida and St-Pierre come from karate backgrounds.
While St-Pierre tends to rely on a more grappling-oriented and kickboxing approach, Machida still leans heavily on his karate, which helped him grow into one of the most elusive fighters in MMA history.
For now, the idea of a Machida and St-Pierre super fight seems more like a passing daydream.
St-Pierre hasn’t shown even the slightest bit of interest in moving up to the middleweight division. With the continued growth of the welterweight division, he has plenty of reasons to stick around at 170 pounds.
While a fight against St-Pierre would be interesting, Machida’s primary focus remains on Jon Jones and recapturing the UFC light heavyweight title.
Jones, who has dominated five MMA legends in a little over a year’s time, showed a minor chink in his armor against Vitor Belfort at UFC 152. In the opening moments of the bout, Belfort nearly submitted Jones with an armbar.
Jones was able to weather the storm and get the win, but at the post-fight press conference, he admitted that his submission game still needed a lot of work.
“Jon will now go and prepare more on this part of his game, for sure,” said Machida. “Vitor was prepared for that position, it came in very fast. I always see holes in Jones’ game, but you have to be very well prepared to explore them.”
Machida is currently resting a knee injury, and he is planning to return to training in 10 days to prepare for a possible December bout.
What’s next for “The Dragon?”
“I will be ready to re-start in ten days to fight in December [against], who knows?” Machida said.
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