After losing his last title shot by decision to Chris Weidman, the Dragon wants another shot at the belt and thinks beating Luke Rockhold is his best way to get there.
Lyoto Machida lost by unanimous decision to Weidman at UFC 175 and says through his reps that he wants to earn his way back to another title shot by defeating Luke Rockhold.
“I had no injuries against Weidman, after the fight I went back training moderately. In September I’ll start working hard and in October I’ll be able to have a fight. It’s up to the UFC to choose my opponent. I would like to face Rockhold. He’s a former Strikeforce champion, I respect him a lot. I don’t dislike him, we get along well, but it’s a fight that makes sense for both of us and for the fans, once we have good ranking positions and think on the belt.”
Machida says that he wants to stay in the middleweight division and has no plans to change weight classes.
“I haven’t thought after my bout with Weidman about leaving the Middleweight division, not for a second. I want to still test myself against top 10 guys. Beside Rockhold, there are other fighters that I want to face but they have fights scheduled.”
