It’s being reported today that Lyoto Machida will fight Phil Davis at UFC 163 in Brazil on August 3rd.
There’s no official confirmation on this so far, but if true it would mean that Machida will once again miss out on a second title shot with current light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
Machida was originally supposed to have earned the rematch with Jones after KO’ing Ryan Bader at ‘UFC On FOX 4’ last year, but lost the opportunity after turning down a short-notice fight with the champion at UFC 152.
‘The Dragon’ has since defeated Dan Henderson by split decision earlier in the year in what was billed as a No.1 contender fight, but yet again he’s been overlooked.
UFC President Dana White had hinted this might be the case last week when he acknowledged that fans weren’t showing a great deal of enthusiasm for Machida to fight Jones again given the definitive nature of their last encounter which ended when ‘Bones’ choked him unconscious with a standing guillotine.
As for Davis, he’ll finally get a chance to lock horns with Machida after originally being penciled in to fight him at UFC 140 in 2011 before pulling out due to an injury.
Davis is currently on a three fight unbeaten run and has only lost once in his 13 fight professional career.
With Machida apparently out of the title picture for now, Alexander Gustafsson could well now be the new No.1 contender in the division, and perhaps rightfully so given that he’s currently riding a six-fight winning streak.
Both Jones and Gustafsson are believed to be eager to fight each other and it’s a bout that also appears to have the backing of the fans.
