(“Get a clue, Rashad. It’s not happening.”)
Within an hour today UFC president Dana White announced and then promptly recanted the news that Lyoto Machida would be squaring off with Phil Davis at UFC 140 in Toronto in December. According to White, the announcement was premature since, unbeknownst to him, Davis is still recuperating from knee surgery to fix the injury that forced him out out of his scheduled UFC 133 bout with Rashad Evans.
Luckily for Dana and UFC matchmaker Joe Silva, we have three viable replacements lined up for Machida and we won’t even charge our usual finder’s fee.
Agree or disagree with our line-up after the jump.
3. Roger Gracie
(Video courtesy of YouTube/ShoSports)
In spite of his loss to Muhammed Lawal, if Roger can take Lyoto down, we may have an interesting situation on our hands. Machida is a black belt, but Gracie is a different kind of black belt and we’ve never seen how “The Dragon” fares against a submission specialist, unless you count Sam Hoger, and we’re pretty sure nobody does.
2. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson
(Video courtesy of YouTube/MMAHighlights11)
“Rampage” has a win over Machida that even he admits is suspect, so why not let the two of them settle the score? With how in shape he was and how focused he seemed for his fight with Jones last week, Jackson will be hungry to get back on track and Machida’s eight-month layoff since his win over Randy Couture at UFC 129 in April could be an advantage.
1. Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal
(Video courtesy of YouTube/RandomCoolStuffHD)
“King Mo” just brutalized Roger Gracie and would love the chance to take a “W” away from Team Black House since the last fighter from the camp he faced, Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante, took his belt and snapped his undefeated streak with a third-round TKO. After dominating the fight for the better part of the first two rounds, Lawal got caught by a well-timed straight right up the pipe and Cavalcante didn’t give him a chance to recover. Mo’ is a better version of Phil Davis and doesn’t get the respect he deserves for how well-rounded his arsenal has become thanks to his analytical approach to the game.
Outside possibilities: Gegard Mousasi and Ovince St. Preux
(Video courtesy of YouTube/JonnyLofgren)
Both fighters are slated to face each other in December at Strikeforce 37, but could be available if needed. Before you scoff at Mousasi being included in this list, remember that besides not knowing how to deal with Keith Jardine’s Saturday night at the Dairy Queen parking lot fighting style, his only real uninspired performance came against Lawal, but that was because Lawal’s performance and gameplan was that much better.