Despite coming off a loss to Jon Jones at UFC 140, Lyoto Machida is set to return to the Octagon and is hoping to get back into title contention.
And he already has an opponent in mind.
“The Dragon” told Sherdog.com that he is eyeing a potential matchup with Dan Henderson at some point this year. Machida said he is intrigued at the idea of testing his skills against the 41-year-old Olympian and competing against him.
“I would be really honored to face him,” Machida said. “At 41 years old and competing at such a high level, he’s an example for our sport. I think we could have a great fight.”
Machida has expressed interest in facing Henderson in the past, and with Rashad Evans now scheduled to meet Jon Jones at UFC 145, the chances of a potential bout coming to fruition are quite possible.
Henderson is recently coming off a unanimous decision victory over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 139, edging him in a five round non-title bout. Widely considered by many, to be the greatest fight in UFC history. The win was his fourth in a row.
But if Henderson is unable to fight, the former UFC light heavyweight champion said he would welcome a bout with Chael Sonnen.
“Actually, I never had an interest in facing him, but he did so much trash talking that I started to have an interest because I’m not the kind of person who likes to say a lot of bad stuff about my opponents,” he said. “I think that fight could happen, but that will depend on whether or not he fights Anderson [Silva].”
Machida is currently recovering from elbow surgery and he expects to resume training in two weeks, and is hoping for a return date in April or May. However, he said it’d be a dream to be featured on the upcoming event in Brazil.
“I would love to fight in Sao Paulo, but I hope I can fight one time before that event,” he said.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com