Fan favorite Wanderlei Silva weighs in on the fight between his friends UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida and challenger Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, the main event fight at UFC 104 in Los Angeles...
UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida, 31, hit pads with brother Chinzo, 32, at a media workout Tuesday for UFC 104 on Oct. 24 at the Staples Center.
Check out Machida's cool scissor takedown at the 0:43 mark.
Countdown to UFC 104 -- featuring UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua -- premiers Monday night at 11 p.m. ET on Spike TV.
Fighters often times talk about how well they know their opponents. That usually stems from sitting cageside at their fights and/or watching mountains of video footage of their past fights. But Lyoto Machida and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua have taken it to a whole new level for their UFC 104 showdown.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship brought the main eventers and also Cain Velasquez and Ben Rothwell, who are meeting in a heavyweight bout, to Los Angeles on Tuesday to hold a press conference for media and fans to hype up the event.
Low and behold, with both flying in from Brazil, it was funny to find out that not only were Machida and Shogun on the same plane, but they actually sat next to one another the entire flight.
But in typical Brazilian fashion "it's no problem, my friend."
"To tell you the truth, Lyoto is a nice guy and we have been kind of friends for a while. We know each other for a while," said Shogun, who actually found a little humor in the situation.
"Even though we are friends, I got very surprised to see him on the plane and, actually, sitting next to me, side-by-side, on the whole flight from Brazil to here. It was a funny situation."
In this day and age of mixed martial artists arriving as highly regarded mainstream athletes, Shogun handled the situation with professionalism, having no problem sitting for several hours next to the man that he hopes to punch repeatedly in the face come Oct. 24 at The Staples Center.
"I think this doesn't interfere because we are both professionals and we're training hard. We all want the same goal, so we're gonna do our best."
Although Lyoto Machida's official website indicates his next fight being September 2009 with a photo of Quinton Jackson below that notice, UFC president Dana White says that he is not slated for the UFC 103 fight card expected for September.
"Not true," said White when asked if Machida was scheduled to fight at UFC 103.
"He will fight. We're working on it right now. As soon as it's signed, I'll announce it... which I'm hoping will be (Thursday or Friday)."
With White posting a photo on his Twitter account of himself meeting with Mauricio "Shogun" Rua on Tuesday, and Thursday's announcement of Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans coaching on TUF 10 and fighting in December, current speculation is pointing at a bout between Shogun and Machida. Such a bout would likely take place late this summer or early fall.
But again, at this point, that is purely speculation at this point.
"Yeah, I think if Quinton beats Jardine, he'll get the next shot at the title," said UFC president Dana White following Wednesday's UFC 94 pre-fight press conference in Las Vegas.
And that is regardless of the outcome of a key battle at UFC 94. Lyoto Machida, the No. 4 ranked light heavyweight fighter in the world, and No. 10 ranked Thiago Silva are slated for a showdown in the top undercard fight at UFC 94. Both have been on a tear through the 205-pound division and both are undefeated.
But while the winner of Machida vs. Silva is likely to narrow the field of contenders to the title currently held by "Sugar" Rashad Evans, it appears that Quinton "Rampage" Jackson -- with a win over Keith Jardine at UFC 96 on March 7 -- will jump to the head of the line.
White has stated in the past that Jackson vs. Evans might have already been on tap, but Evans was not fully recovered yet from his title victory over Forrest Griffin at UFC 92, so they put Jackson and Jardine together for the Columbus fight card.
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