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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
The UFC's decision to put Chael Sonnen on The Ultimate Fighter against Jon Jones, with a Title shot at the end of the season, didn't sit well with many fighters. One of those who reacted negatively initially was former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida, but in an interview on Monday on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani this week, he said he's over it.
"At the moment I was a little upset," Machida said. "But it's all good, it's passed. There's always two sides to everything," said Machida. "Looking at it from an athlete's perspective, Chael Sonnen might have cut across a lot of people and maybe cut the line to get a shot at the belt. But for the UFC it might be a good thing for this fight to happen at this time. There's always two sides."
Machida will now turn his attention to Dan Henderson, as the two are expected to meet in February at UFC 157. The fight's still not fully confirmed, but Machida's moving forward with that as the plan.
"This fight is expected to happen but there's no date set," Machida said. "We don't know yet where its going to be or when its going to be, but I'm very happy to be fighting Dan Henderson."
"It's a good fight and its another challenge for me. If I want to fight for the belt again, I need to get through this fight first."
Penick's Analysis: Machida-Henderson is a great light heavyweight fight, and gives both fighters a chance to get into title contention. There's no reason to harp on the Sonnen-Jones fight, as the decision's been made and there's nothing left to do about it. All fighters like Machida and Henderson can do is move forward with their own careers, and worry about winning their own fights.
[Lyoto Machida art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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