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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Lyoto Machida is healing up after injuring his foot in a win over Gegard Mousasi earlier this month, but he appeared on Wednesday's UFC Tonight program to discuss what's next for him in the UFC's middleweight division.
"My foot is almost 100 percent now," Machida said. "It's doing ok. I have to recover soon because I want to dance again."
Machida could be getting back into action before a title fight, and if he does a bout with Jacare Souza could be in line. He could also get the winner of Chris Weidman vs. Vitor Belfort, and could face a fellow Brazilian as well if Belfort captures the title. Machida said Wednesday that neither option is an issue for him.
"I have no problem fighting them. I can fight Jacare or Vitor," he said. "I don't know [if I deserve the title fight]. I know I just have two fights at 185 lbs., and Jacare has more, but I can fight against him. I have no problem with that. I don't want to wait for long time. I can do one more fight before I fight for the title."
The former UFC Champ was also asked for his take on the impending Weidman-Belfort bout at UFC 173, and he sees possible victories for each fighter.
"I think the first two rounds, Vitor has a big chance," Machida said. "He's very explosive early. But if it goes longer, Weidman can beat Vitor."
Penick's Analysis: If Machida doesn't want to wait, the UFC could book him against Jacare or another random middleweight. I think the latter makes sense in that they can save Jacare as a contender as well instead of knocking one of them off, but that's also a really interesting fight. It's all in what the UFC wants to do while awaiting Weidman-Belfort.
[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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