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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
UFC President Dana White has been clear in his stance that Lyoto Machida is next in line for a shot at the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship, that doesn't mean Machida's going to wait around for that fight.
The former Champ is hoping to get back into action a lot sooner than later, and his manager, Ed Soares, said this past week that they may not wait for the title shot. After all, there are numerous opponents in the top end of the division, and Machida doesn't want to have to wait too long to get back into action.
"Chael vs. Jon Jones is the next fight," Soares said in an interview with USA Today. "We have to first of all see how that fight turns out. Then we have to see if the winner comes out of there healthy."
"We can't really make any decisions until after that (Jones vs. Sonnen) fight happens because when you look at the rankings, and you look at the top-10 fighters, all of the guys that make sense for Lyoto fight have fights already."
Penick's Analysis: I've said it before, but it bears repeating, the door is already cracked for Jon Jones vs. Anderson Silva on the UFC's 20th Anniversary card this November. If the UFC gets clearance to run in New York by then, it's almost assuredly going to happen. Because of that, it's good that Machida is willing to take another fight outside of Jones, because I think it's likely we'll see him fight the winner of Alexander Gustafsson vs. Gegard Mousasi from UFC on Fuel 9.
[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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