When Phil Davis went down with an injury just weeks before UFC 133, Lyoto Machida was initially tapped to replace him against Rashad Evans.
Then "The Dragon" decided he wanted "Anderson Silva money" and freshly minted company man Tito Ortiz stepped in to save the day. That left both Machida and Davis out in the cold with no dance partners.
It should come as no surprise, then, that Joe Silva and company added one plus one and got two. Machida's manager recently spoke with Yahoo! and spilled the beans on the potential plans for his client:
Quote:
"We already contacted them and we'll be able to talk more about that soon. (Davis) is the most concrete option in the division. He'd be a huge opponent for Lyoto, who's one of the biggest idols of the sport in Brazil and needs to fight again soon."
"The Karate Kid" hasn't seen the inside of a cage since his crane kick knockout of Randy Couture at the UFC 129 event back in April. He's been itching to get back to some ass-kicking and is already game planning for the possibility that he squares off with "Mr. Wonderful."
Quote:
"It'd be a clash of styles. Davis is a wrestler, who keeps a strong rhythm on all the rounds until the end. I would need to adjust some aspects in my training to fight him, but this technical change always was one of my best characteristics. I won't have any problems."
Sounds like a confident Brazilian.
Davis, for his part, last competed at UFC Fight Night 24, using his wrestling to defeat Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, who just so happens to be a teammate of Machida.
Payback time?
If this match-up does indeed come to fruition, depending on the time frame, it could very well be a number one contender bout in the light heavyweight division.
It's a tough but winnable fight for Machida and a big step up in competition for Davis. Who comes out on the other side with the victory in this prospective match-up, Maniacs?
Source: Report: Lyoto Machida vs Phil Davis fight possibly in the works