Machida confident of another run at UFC middleweight title, Holm talks about facing Rousey
Everyone is of the opinion that the best days of Lyoto ‘The Dragon’ Machida are behind him after two consecutive stoppage losses in his last two bouts.
But contrary to public opinion, Machida thinks he has it in him to go for another run at the UFC Middleweight title. He says that he first needs rest after three fights in the last seven months and once he is back he would be off to his best, that is knocking people out and go en route to his Sixth Championship bout.
Lyoto says, ”To be honest, I think I wanna take some while to recover my body because I had three fights in 7 months. So I think at the moment I have to take some rest and to think. Yes, I think I have many chance (to make a run at the title), a big chance in this class because I feel like I'm fast, I feel like, strong for the division. I don't want to move up to light-heavyweight again."
He dismissed going back to Light Heavyweight and is confident of getting back in title contention. He lost his first title fight in the 185-pound division against Chris Wiedman. His record stands at 1-2 since then with losses against Luke Rockhold and Yoel Romero and a lone win against C.B. Dolloway. His confidence and ability are enough reasons to believe in ‘The Dragon’ can be on his way back to the glory.
- Holly Holm who would be facing Ronda Rousey for the Women's Bantamweight title six weeks earlier than expected is wary of the power and potential of 'Rowdy'.
She says she has her fair share of fear against the undefeated champion who has finished all of her opponents. "She's got a well-rounded game. I'm not going in there thinking, 'oh I only have to worry about, you know, grappling.'”
“I do know she has knockout power so I don't feel like you guys are going to see what you've seen before with her. I fear everything about her. Standup, ground, clinch, all that. And I feel like that's the way you need to be with any fighter," says Holm.
Holm, who herself is undefeated with a 9-0 record has no problem being the underdog as she has been since her boxing days. She says, “There's things that transfer over [from boxing] and things that don't. There's things from my boxing career that I had to let go of that would not work, especially in this fight. I mean, you can't just stand there and do inside boxing with someone who's very good at judo."
On whether Ronda is beatable she says, "Everybody's beatable. Is it going to be hard as heck? Absolutely. It's going to be the hardest fight of my career. I have to absolutely do everything right from the beginning to the end of the fight. Is it going to be easy? No, that is not what I'm saying. But I'm going in there to win and it's very possible."
She finds herself lucky to have taken a giant leap in fighting the champion straight away before even throwing hands with the top 5 of the division. Let’s wait and see whether Holm can do the unthinkable and unthrone the queen of MMA.