Lyoto Machida will be back in the octagon on the 30th to face American Randy Couture. The Brazilian highly praised his opponent, a member of the UFC “Hall of Fame”.
“I have always admired Randy's work and have always had him as an idol. He is an idol not only for me but for many people. I always imagined myself fighting against him, but I had lost hope because I thought he had retired”, said Lyoto in an interview with North American ESPN.
Couture, 48 years old and five-time UFC champion, is coming off a submission victory over former boxer James Toney with a hand triangle, at UFC 118. Due to the North American's excellent wrestling, Lyoto wants to keep the fight standing and hopes to come away with victory.
“Of course I will always prepare for a fight on the ground, but I also trained my karate, Muay Thai and boxing. We trained in various situations and I focused a lot on the stand-up fight, as I believe I can't let Randy take me to the ground, as this is his strategy.”
Machida's hope is that the victory against Couture will serve to get his career back on track after the defeats to Mauritius Shogun at UFC 113 and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 123. Lyoto wants to fight for the belt again, this time in possession of the North American revelation Jon Jones.
“Each fight is more than welcome, depending on the situation. However, I'm not in a situation where I can calmly talk about the belt. I'm still a little behind in the fight and I know it. This is not the time for me to talk about this subject, but Jones is definitely a guy I would love to face. I think I can beat him”, concluded the Brazilian.
The fight between Lyoto Machida and Randy Couture is on the main card of UFC 129, an event scheduled to take place on April 30, in Toronto, Canada.
Check out the full event card below:
Main Card
Georges St-Pierre vs. Jake Shields (Fight valid for welterweight belt);
Jose aldo vs. Mark hominick (Fight valid for the featherweight belt);
Jason Brilz vs. Vladimir Matyushenko;
Randy Couture vs. Lyoto Machida;
Mark Bocek vs. Ben henderson;
Preliminary Card
Nate diaz vs. Rory McDonald;
Jake ellenberger vs. Sean Pierson;
Claude Patrick vs. Daniel Roberts;
Ivan Menjivar vs. Charlie Valencia;
Jason MacDonald vs. Ryan Jensen;
John makdessi vs. Kyle Watson;
Pablo Garza vs. Yves Jabouin;
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