For former UFC light-heavyweight champ, Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida (16-1), his game plan is set all he has to do is carry it out when he meets opponent Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in November’s UFC 123 event.
UFC 123 is set for Nov. 20th at The Palace of Auburn Hills in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.
Of course we have our game plan set, our strong point is Karate and the exchanges, but if we need to use the other skills, we will do the takedowns and the ground game that I train here with Valter Broca, who’s a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, graduated by De La Riva, who always help me on this area. I think that Quinton Jackson always comes for the striking, independently of his opponent, he always tries to impose his game, so it’ll be up to me because he’ll try to use his boxing and I have to try to block his game and impose mine…I think Quinton is a great fighter, I respect him, he always does his game and I try to do mine and keep improving so I can please the audience and the fans all around the world because it’s a part of MMA. We have to win and please the public and the fans that cheer for you, you can’t do things on your own.
Machida still fields questions about his loss to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, but for “The Dragon” it’s all in the past. Check out the rest of Machida’s comments on Rua, plus the upcoming UFC heavyweight matchup between Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos at Tatame.com.