SI Report: Evans to face Machida at UFC 98

GJAM · 03-11-2009, 01:12 PM

Credit: Sports Illustrated

Quote:

A championship battle of undefeated light heavyweights is slated to headline UFC 98, SI.com has confirmed. Rashad Evans (13-0-1) will defend his UFC belt May 23 against Lyoto Machida (14-0).

Evans-Machida is the third planned main event for the MGM Grand Garden Arena-hosted card in Las Vegas. UFC heavyweight titleholders Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar were originally scheduled to make the title whole, but Mir bowed out late last week after injuring his knee while training.

The UFC quickly scrapped the anticipated rematch in favor of Evans' first fight since he stopped Forrest Griffin to take the 205-pound title last December. Following his decision win Saturday over Keith Jardine, former UFC champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson was offered the first crack at Evans. Though he was left off Ohio's list of medically suspended fighters stemming from the March 7 card in Columbus, a short turnaround for what would have been Jackson's third fight in five months is believed to be his justification for declining the fight.

Rampage -- who knocked out Chuck Liddell to capture the title, before defending against Dan Henderson and losing the belt to Griffin -- will be first in line to face the Evans-Machida winner.

After racking up a solid record in events around the globe, Machida won his first six fights with the UFC in February 2007. His most recent triumph came at the end of January. Machida, 30, impressively handed fellow Brazilian Thiago Silva the first defeat of his career at UFC 94. The smooth karate fighter is regarded as one of the top defensive and technical fighters in MMA.

"Sugar" Rashad, 29, comes into the bout with an 8-0-1 UFC record, including a victory that made him the The Ultimate Fighter 2 heavyweight winner. Maligned for playing it safe after needing the distance in his first five fights inside the UFC, the powerfully built former Michigan State wrestler has morphed into a finisher. Four definitive endings in his last six contests -- the other two were a tight decision over Michael Bisping and a fortunate draw against Tito Ortiz, who cost himself the win after suffering a point deduction for grabbing the fence -- include knockouts of Liddell and Griffin.

In addition to the five-round title bout, which was finalized Tuesday evening, the pay-per-view card features welterweight rivals Matt Hughes and Matt Serra; Yushin Okami against up-and-coming middleweight Dan Miller; and grapple-happy lightweights Sean Sherk and Frank Edgar.

Well Machida is one of my favorite fighters, same for Rampage so whoever gets the title shot, I'm happy with, even though Evans/Machida wont be the most exciting fight ever even though I bet machida will have to be the aggressor in this fight with Rashad dancing around the octagon the whole fight

Dmac · 03-11-2009, 01:22 PM

Umm... it was said live on air that if Rampage won the title shot was his, if Jardine had won it would have been Machida's.

GJAM · 03-11-2009, 01:32 PM

Yes but Rashad is defending it at UFC 98 and Rampage has been thinking about if he's going to take the fight or not,and If he won't, Machida will fight at UFC 98 then Rampage will face the winner and I've read interviews from Rashad and other people that they're expecting Machida to face him because of Rampage wanting to take some time off, and Sports Illustrated is a highly respected magazine so untill it's confirmed by somebody else believable, I believe this is gonna happen

Dmac · 03-11-2009, 01:44 PM

Oh yeah he's gonna have that staredown with Rashad saying live on air he's gonna get his belt back... then not take the fight.

GJAM · 03-11-2009, 01:48 PM

Watch Dana White's video blog for the fight night and even after the fight rampage seems like he probably won't take it...

Dmac · 03-11-2009, 01:50 PM

I highly, highly doubt that it would not make the slightest bit of sense.

GJAM · 03-11-2009, 01:52 PM

He doesn't have to accept the fight, even in the video blog Dana tells Rampage that if he doesn't accept the fight Machida will fight at ufc 98 and that Rashad is defending the title no matter what

Dmac · 03-11-2009, 01:53 PM

Yes, he will be defending against Rampage, there is no reason whatsoever for him not to accept the fight.

GJAM · 03-11-2009, 02:00 PM

Would be his third fight in 5 months, he wants to take time off from training, he has a hurt jaw from training for the wanderlei fight which he even says in the video blog about it so theres reasoning, he also has like 4 kids that he could want to spend time with, he's been training non stop since before december so he could take time off