Ahead of Lyoto Machida’s impressive win over Gegard Mousasi at UFC Fight Night 36, UFC president Dana White suggested that a win could put Machida into a middleweight title fight. The UFC isn’t backing off on the idea of Machida, the former light heavyweight champion, getting a chance at a title in a second division. But they’re not going to announce anything for certain quite yet.
MMA Junkie has the quotes from after last night’s event:
Brazilian UFC official Grace Tourinho told MMAjunkie that the promotion is waiting for the outcome of an upcoming title fight between champ Chris Weidman and Vitor Belfort at UFC 173 before making a decision on the next belt challenger. The event takes place on May 24 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena.
“In reality, we still have a fight that has to be done, so we need to wait for that fight to happen and then I’m sure everyone will get their chances,” Tourinho said at Saturday’s post-event presser at Arena Jaragua in Jaragua do Sul, Brazil.
Machida also stated that he thought he may have broken his foot. So between waiting out the Weidman vs. Belfort bout and getting medically evaluated (and possibly going through the process of rehabbing an injury) it’s unlikely that we’ll know anything about Machida’s place in the title picture for a few months.