Mousasi wants Machida, says it should be a #1 contender bout

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Lyoto Machida got through Mark Munoz on Saturday night, and now Gegard Mousasi wants a piece.
Mousasi, in a message to MMAWeekly.com, said he wants next dibs on Machida, which he believes would earn him a shot at the middleweight title.
“I want to make an impact in the middleweight division and to fight the best contenders out there,” said Mousasi. “I respect Machida and would like to test my stand-up against him. I believe a fight between us would determine the No.1 contender in the middleweight division. ‘The Dream Catcher vs. The Dragon’ sounds good to me. Let’s do it.”
Machida made quick work of Munoz in the main event at UFC Fight Night 30 in Manchester, England, getting the knockout victory in the first round. The win put many within the UFC on notice that Machida would be a strong contender at 185 pounds. Those who took notice of Machida’s efforts included his boss.
“Welcome to 185 @lyotomachidafw,” tweeted UFC president Dana White.
Mousasi made his promotional debut in the UFC last April in a 205-pound fight at UFC on Fuel TV 9. The fight was originally slotted to be against highly ranked light heavyweight Alexander Gustafsson, but a pre-fight cut forced Mousasi’s opponent to pull out of the match-up. The Dutch-Armenian fighter instead went on to earn a one-sided win over Ilir Latifi, one of Gustafsson’s training partners.
In May, Mousasi told MMAWeekly.com that he went into his April bout with a knee injury. Following the fight, he began his recovery work and made statements about his intention to move down to 185 pounds. With recovery going smoothly, the fighter targets the start of his UFC middleweight run for February 2014, which lands his return at either UFC 169 in Newark, N.J., or UFC 170 in Las Vegas.
Nima Safapour, Mousasi’s manager, said that the recent influx of new talent at middleweight provides a lot of interesting options, but a fight with Machida is all he and his fighter want at the moment

 http://www.mmaweekly.com/gegard-mousasi-wants-the-next-crack-at-new-ufc-middleweight-lyoto-machida

A stretch, imo.

Also, I thought Machida won't fight Silva and I think most people think Silva will get the belt back.
Although, maybe Machida knows something we don't and anticipates Silva to retire soon.

i was thinking that the other day too, right after his fight with munoz. he either really changed his mind about fighting friends, which fits within the fact of fighting his friend that night, or he knows something about silva that we dont.
but for them, brazilian blood is thicker and more precious than the rest so im thinking silva is done

stock wrote:

A stretch, imo.

Also, I thought Machida won't fight Silva and I think most people think Silva will get the belt back.
Although, maybe Machida knows something we don't and anticipates Silva to retire soon.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/lyoto-machida-now-open-fight-anderson-silva-160600001--mma.html


Looks like machida has changed his mind on fighting friends. says he is open to fighting silva.

I can't picture Machida fighting Silva. I don't think it will happen, even if the cards fall so that the match-up makes sense.

I would expect to hear some kind of retraction from Machida in the coming days. Either that, or Machida knows that if Silva wins in the Weidman rematch, he's going to immediately retire, so Machida won't have to fight him, anyway.

Triggerman99 wrote:

I can't picture Machida fighting Silva. I don't think it will happen, even if the cards fall so that the match-up makes sense.

I would expect to hear some kind of retraction from Machida in the coming days. Either that, or Machida knows that if Silva wins in the Weidman rematch, he's going to immediately retire, so Machida won't have to fight him, anyway.

I never even thought about that. you may be on to some thing there.

Moose-Saucy will get destroyed.

what the hell does gayguard has to offer to machida? he is slower, less aggressive, less technical, weaker, with worse takedowns and defence.

Yeah I'm not really sure what he thinks he's doing here. He has nothing for Machida at either weight class.

Like every one else. this fight would be a gimmie for machida. if machida really wants in the MW title picture i think the best way for him to make a really strong statement would be to fight and beat Vitor. I cant see how any one else could jump ahead of the line infront of him at that point and my personal opion i dont think any one else would be more worthy of the weidman/silva 2 winner.



Well except for Bisping  

Yeah I think this is just Mousasi's idea to try and jump into the title picture. if he beat Machida, he would definitely have a case. But that's a huge "if", and it is nowhere within sniffing distance of "will" or "would", IMO.

I agree with Trigg, I don't see Machida fighting Anderson.

I think machida took the fight with Munoz, because he knew he could kick his ass from training with him.

Remember when they offered Machida a title shot rematch on short notice against Jon Jones? he was like hell no.

Then they ask him to fight some guy he has been training on very short notice, at a brand new weight class and he says yes within two seconds...lol