When will Machida get a shot?

The mans beat Rich, Mcdonald, and BJ. I would be putting him against some higher end fighters then his last 3 fights (although they tried with Forrest). Anyone agree disagree? I just think he deserves a few marquee opponenets to prove his mettle.

a fight between him and sokoju would be a good matchup

He has to beat some currently higher ranked competition in the UFC, and it wouldn't hurt for him to finish someone.

I'd like to see him against the winner of tito/rashad for a #1 contenders match. But the again shogun, and the winner of chuck/ wanderlei should be ahead. Damn the UFC has to many top fighters.

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Posted by gspfan31

a fight between him and sokoju would be a good matchup

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Enough with the soko nut hugging already. Does everyone on these forums actually belive that Houston Alexander and Soko are the next big thing?

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Posted by kaduey

Enough with the soko nut hugging already. Does everyone on these forums actually belive that Houston Alexander and Soko are the next big thing?

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First, Sokoudjou KO'd two top 10 LHW's, both in under 2 minutes. Any person that can do that, I would say is a up-and-comer, especially when their biggest strength is their Judo. He may be untested on many levels right now but he has done more in his past two fights than many have done in their whole careers.

Second, Alexander isn't the next big thing. He beat a way too overconfident Jardine and would not only lose in a rematch but would lose to most other top UFC LHW's IMO. With that being said though, you can't just ignore the fact that he took a huge shot from Jardine and came back to get the win by KO in the first.

Houstons 35, soko's 22. Biiig difference. I think Soko's got a great future.

Back to the topic:

I think that his next fight will be against a higher profiled fighter. They had him set up with Forrest, and when Forrest had to pull out they needed someone to fill in on a short notice...and you know that they won't be able to get one of their top guys in on short notice because all of their top guys either just had a fight, or already have one scheduled months in advance. I'm definately looking forward to seeing who they set him up with next. It'll be someone coming off of a win. I wouldn't doubt it if they set him up with Houston Alexander (And I'm no nut hugger, I don't think he'll win another fight in UFC), just because Alexander beat Jardine. That way they've got one of the best in the world (Machida) against a guy who has everyone on his bandwagon (Alexander). Then the winner gets a huge fight.

No matter who wins, a lot of people think that's the way it was supposed to go (I know MMA and I'd go w/ Machida). All of the newer fans would go with Alexander.

Hmmm very intriguing take. I think you could be right on that one. It seems like a very logical fight, unless ryoto says **** it I need a biiig fight and wants shogun or something. I would personally like to see shoguns first fight to be against machida. I would pick machida in that fight, simply because going from the ring to the cage is a big transition for fighters.

Props-- That'd definately be a good fight.

If they were to set up that fight they'd have to promote both fighters equally before the fight so that they could make a star out of atleast one of them. Shogun made a name for himself in Japan. So they know him, hardcore USA fans know him, but people new to the sport and those loyal to UFC only probably haven't even heard of him. One the other hand, Machida is relatively unknown. He's one of the best in the world, yes, but he's not been under the UFC spotlight. All of his fights have been undercard. I'm not sure what was up with the last fight because they promoted it as one of the main events of the card and then didn't even show the fight.

If Shogun wins then he was supposed to, if Machida wins...same thing. Either way UFC benefits from this fight. It'd definately be great....

I see one downfall with this fight (Actually this is the case with almost any fight). Whoever loses this bout is going to hear so much crap. All over the message forums it'll be, "So ___ wasn't so good afterall," and be dropped from everyone's top 10. No matter what would happen in this fight they'd both be in my top 10.

after his last performance he needs to prove something in his next fight to be given a title shot, a fight against shogun would be good, or the tito vs rashad winner, or even the griffin vs ramirez winner would be a good opponent, or bisping at ufc 75

^^^^ you just read my mind. I want to see bisping against a tough big name fighter. Machida hasn't beaten a big name at his current weight, but I really do see him as one of the top 205's in the world.

Does anyone else think that Machida should fight at 185? I also think that Bisping would be better off at 185.

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Posted by ExMilkman

Does anyone else think that Machida should fight at 185? I also think that Bisping would be better off at 185.

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Machida would be a beast at 185.

I think Machida could possibly be the next Henderson. He could definetly obtain both belts (205 being an incredibly feat nowadays). But I do think he would be the absolute best 185er. No offense to Silva or to a lesser extent Franklin(don't think he'll ever regain his title), but Machida is an animal.

machida wont be champ in either division with the punching power he has now.. he needs to obtain some KO power

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Posted by cmill21

I think Machida could possibly be the next Henderson. He could definetly obtain both belts (205 being an incredibly feat nowadays). But I do think he would be the absolute best 185er. No offense to Silva or to a lesser extent Franklin(don't think he'll ever regain his title), but Machida is an animal.

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While I agree it would benefit him to move to 185, I don't think he would ever be a champ. I hope he moves down and we find out though. Maybe he would finish more people at this weight.

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Posted by hippysmacker

He has to beat some currently higher ranked competition in the UFC, and it wouldn't hurt for him to finish someone.

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couldnt of said it better myself, when ryoto tko'd rich franklin that was the only time i really seen him end a fight impressively, i damn near fell asleep watching him fight bj penn, i still have no idea why bj even moved up to light heavyweight to fight him in the first place