Lyoto Machida reveals he was prepared to drop to middleweight if it meant he stayed active
Former UFC light heavyweight champion, Lyoto Machida has today revealed he had planned on dropping to the middleweight division if it meant he stayed active inside the octagon, explaining the most important thing was that he kept his adrenaline pumping in the spirit of competition.
Speaking via Globo SporTV, Machida said:
“I was ready to fight but the opportunity was not there. The division is lacking, it’s a bit mixed, and I didn’t know, right (who would be my next opponent)? I even had the intention of fighting at 185lbs so I wouldn’t lose the opportunity of keeping busy. I spoke to Ed Soares and (Jorge Guimarães), but they told me to be patient. Look, I’m a guy that usually weighs at most 96kg (21lbs), so I don’t think there would be a problem fighting (at middleweight). My objective is to fight at (205lbs), but to make a fight at middleweight would not be a problem. Anderson is a comrade of mine, a friend in my team. (Middleweight) is his, but I would take a fight to keep me busy. The important thing is to keep fighting, it’s the adrenaline. I would like to fight there, but only with the objective of keeping me busy.”
Machida will be looking to recapture the kind of form that saw him win the title back in 2009 and looked unstoppable in doing so. He has lost three of his last four bouts to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Jon Jones. His only win was over Randy Couture. He’ll take on Ryan Bader on the UFC on FOX 4 card set for August 4th in Los Angeles, California.
By Michael Pepper. (Follow me on Twitter)
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