Five Best Fights To Make After UFC Belem

The UFC returned to Brazil on Saturday (February 3, 2018) with UFC Fight Night 125 from Arena Guilherme Paraense in Belém, featuring a hometown hero with his back against the wall and yet another last-minute cancellation of a co-main event. Fight fans once again had to sit through a five-plus hour event on FOX Sports 1 […]

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The UFC returned to Brazil on Saturday (February 3, 2018) with UFC Fight Night 125 from Arena Guilherme Paraense in Belém, featuring a hometown hero with his back against the wall and yet another last-minute cancellation of a co-main event.

Fight fans once again had to sit through a five-plus hour event on FOX Sports 1 and a main card covered in decisions.

For those who watched the entire UFC Fight Night in Belem, let’s take a look at the five best fights to make after Saturday night.

Brad Penner for USA TODAY Sports

5. Eryk Anders vs. Derek Brunson

Kind of bizarre to pair a guy who just knocked out Machida with a guy who just narrowly lost to him, but honestly, both Brunson and Anders find themselves in a very similar position within the middleweight division.

With Brunson coming off of another loss to Ronald “Jacare” Souza, he will need another mid-tier fighter to work his way back up. Brunson looks like a world beater against the top 10-15, but once he gets a top 5 middleweight, he usually ends up losing. However, that’s not to say he can’t make the adjustments to compete with the top 5, but he’ll need another solid win against a proper dance partner to accomplish that task.

Enter Anders, who was undefeated before Saturday and still has massive upside in an extremely close decision loss to “The Dragon”. A win over Brunson would do wonders for Anders, and the same can be said for Brunson.

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Lyoto Machida Reveals Why He Called Out Michael Bisping

Former UFC champion Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida may have saved his decorated career in a sense when he snapped a three-fight losing streak by outlasting touted rising prospect Eryk Anders via split decision (highlights here) in the main event of last night’s (Sat., February 3, 2018) UFC Fight Night 125 from Arena Guilherme Paraense in Belém, […]

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Former UFC champion Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida may have saved his decorated career in a sense when he snapped a three-fight losing streak by outlasting touted rising prospect Eryk Anders via split decision (highlights here) in the main event of last night’s (Sat., February 3, 2018) UFC Fight Night 125 from Arena Guilherme Paraense in Belém, Brazil.

The win was an absolutely pivotal one, as a knockout loss – a result many were picking to go down – may have spelled the end of the road for the nearly 40-year-old MMA great. That talk is off the table at least for now, however, and the Brazilian fan favorite can stave off those calls in favor of a potentially high-profile bout instead.

He appears to already have his mind set on an opponent when he called out former middleweight champion Michael Bisping, who is reported to be nearing retirement after to consecutive stoppage losses in the span of three weeks last November. As both near the end of their respective tenure in the Octagon, Machida admitted that at the post-fight press conference (via MMA Fighting), noting it’s a fight that’s been a long time coming:

“That’s a fight that should’ve happened a couple times and it didn’t,” Machida said. “I think we both matured together in this sport, so I think fight between Michael Bisping and myself would mean a lot.

“He might retire sometime soon, I could retire sometime soon, and people asked for that fight, so it’s a fight that interests me.”

It’s definitely a fight that makes a lot of sense at this point in both fighters’ careers, and Bisping is without a retirement bout after potential match-ups with Vitor Belfort and Rashad Evans fell by the wayside when he admitted he would not be fighting at March 17’s UFC London last week.

The soon-to-retire ‘Phenom’ is apparently on ‘The Dragon’s’ radar as well, but he affirmed he would rather not fight one of his Brazilian brethren if he had to pick:

“If I had a choice, I’d rather not fight someone from Brazil, but as a professional, I couldn’t say no. I would rather fight a foreigner, but Vitor is a guy who’s done a lot and he’s a great fighter, and I couldn’t say no.”

No matter what happens, however, Machida isn’t here just to participate – something many fans wondered about during his recent streak of brutal knockout losses. He knows his career may be closing soon, but he wants to maintain competitiveness at an elite level until that day arrives:

“I don’t want to be in this sport just to participate. I want to be in this to win, and that’s what motivates me every day to break down barriers and to get better every time, and to exceed my limits and to win fights. I want to keep moving (and taking) steps forward, and I want to keep winning fights and getting closer to the title.”

A crucial win in the books in his hometown, Machida couldn’t have hoped for a much better result outside of a knockout victory last night, and it’s injected new life into his fighting future for the time being.

Who do you believe Machida should meet in the cage next?

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Lyoto Machida vs. Eryk Anders Full Fight Video Highlights

With three straight knockout defeats to the some of the most elite middleweights in all of MMA, 39-year-old former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto ‘The Dragon’ Machida needed a win in a bad way when he met rising, undefeated prospect Eryk Anders in the main event of last night’s (Sat., February 3, 2018) UFC Fight Night […]

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With three straight knockout defeats to the some of the most elite middleweights in all of MMA, 39-year-old former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto ‘The Dragon’ Machida needed a win in a bad way when he met rising, undefeated prospect Eryk Anders in the main event of last night’s (Sat., February 3, 2018) UFC Fight Night 125 from Arena Guilherme Paraense in Belém, Brazil.

When it was said and done, Machida got just that, but it wasn’t without first enduring a hard-fought five-round affair against a tough, tireless challenger in his Brazilian hometown. Seeking a return to his karate roots, Machida used a high volume of low kicks early and often to stifle Anders’ constant forward pressure, even dropping him with a particularly stingy one in the first round.

The former Alabama linebacker fought back with some huge punches of his own once he was able to counter or get past the kicks, and he opened up a massive cut on ‘The Dragon’s’ forehead with a perfect knee up against the fence in the second. As Machida became a bloody mess from the rapid outpouring of blood, the fight seemed to turn in Anders’ favor a bit as he ground the legend up against the cage and, despite overall excellent takedown defense from Machida, scored a few timely takedowns.

The hometown favorite largely got up from most of them, and he consistently found a home for his pinpoint counter left hand, while Anders utilized the same and appeared to rock Machida multiple times with his own big shots. In the end, it was a close, well-fought battle from both sides with Machida emerging victorious by split decision.

Watch full highlights of Machida’s much-needed win here:

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