Lyoto Machida Is Willing To Fight Jacare Souza Or Michael Bisping

Lyoto machida fought his way to a unanimous decision win at UFC Fight Night: Jaragua this past Saturday, handling Gegard Mousasi over five rounds and cementing his status as the rightful contender at middleweight. Dana White said that a win for Machida would mean a title shot, though it is yet to be confirmed.

With UFC officials apparently waiting on the outcome of 173’s title fight between Chris Weidman and Vitor Belfort, ‘The Dragon’ has some options in front of him. Check out what he had to say when speaking with MMAFighting.com:

“Everybody keeps talking about the title, I want to fight for the title and I did my best on Saturday night (to earn a shot), but it’s up to the UFC now to decide if I deserve it or not. I’ll be ready for anything. If they want me to fight once more time, I’ll be ready.”

Its good to see that Machida is willing to fight again in the wake of his victory over ‘The Dreamcatcher’, as too many fighters have sat and stewed in the past, to no avail. So who would ‘The Dragon’ want to fight next? He continued:

“If they want to give me another fight, someone well ranked, a fight that makes sense for me and the UFC, I would take it,” he said. “But if they decide to give me a title shot, I don’t see any problems with waiting.”

“’Jacare’ (Souza) would be a good option, and (Michael) Bisping would also be another good option, I’m waiting for their decision. Waiting a little longer would be good because I would be able to relax and get hungrier whenever I start my next camp. But the good side on fighting again is that I would stay active.”

A fight between Jacare Souza and Machida makes a lot of sense right now; they both won decisions at UFN 36, are both highly ranked at 185 pounds, and a fight with Bisping may be a while off as the cocky Brit is currently linked to a Tim Kennedy scrap.

Souza’s win over Francis Carmont showed that he belongs in the top five at mw, and Machida may be the win the Brazilian submission fighter needs to get a title shot. ‘Jacare’ is a huge threat right now, to anyone, and Machida has shown the size of his heart through willingness to fight him.

A loss at this stage could prove very costly for Machida’s title hopes, but ‘The Dragon’ is looking better than ever at 185. What do you think, should he sit out or stay active?

Photo credit Jason Silva USA Today Sports