Jon Jones UFC CHALLENGE – Machida DEMANDS Rematch – MMA News

By Sean Farrell

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida was unable to reclaim his title from current 205lbs. kingpin Jon “Bones” Jones at UFC 140, but he gave the champ more of a fight than anyone else did to date.

Machida took the first round from the champion and became the 24-year-old’s first opponent to test his chin, although only slightly. Despite his early success, Jones recovered, adapted and came back to win the fight via dramatic technical submission. At the press conference following the fight, Machida was honest in his assessing the bout, saying he was doing very well early on but was thrown off his game after being taken down in the second and split open with a heavy elbow. He said that he would like to face Jones again down the line, but isn’t sure who he sees out there beating the champ right now within the division.

“He thought the fight was going great, but after the cut on his forehead, his vision got a little blurry,” said Machida’s translator. “He felt like maybe that was the beginning of the end, but he held through it for awhile. As for who Jon Jones can face, he’d love to face him again in the future. That’s something that we’ll have to wait and see, but who knows who’s out there for Jon Jones right now.”

As for what’s next for the Brazilian karateka, Machida said that he intends to get right back on the horse to fight whomever the UFC puts in front of him…This news is most exciting given “the Dragon” is aging and time is waning.

“I’m a UFC fighter so I’ll wait for a call from the UFC to tell me who to prepare for. But, I’m a fighter and this is what happens,” he said. “You win some, you lose some and you’ve got to keep moving and you’ve got to keep going and doing what you’re doing.”