Lyoto Machida vs. Phil Davis reportedly set for UFC 163

[No More Sorrow]

A big fight in the light heavyweight division has reportedly been verbally agreed to, and it clears up the UFC's plans for the division's next Championship fight. According to a report from Brazil's Portal do Vale Tudo, former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida will take on Phil Davis at UFC 163 in Brazil this August.

Given Machida was at one point being considered the No. 1 contender for Jon Jones' title, this booking suggests that bout will indeed go to Alexander Gustafsson as soon as Jones is healthy and ready to go.


Machida has won two straight fights since his loss to Jones back in December of 2011, knocking out Ryan Bader and edging past Dan Henderson in February by split decision. Both wins had Dana White declaring him the division's top contender, but outside circumstances have pushed him slightly aside on both occasions.


Davis gets his second chance to defeat a former Champion in the division, having fallen to Rashad Evans in January of 2012 in his first opportunity. However, he's won two of three fights since then - the third ending by no contest due to an accidental eyepoke his first time against Wagner Prado - and this is a chance for him to erase the Evans fight and establish himself as a top contender.


UFC 163 takes place on Aug. 3 from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Seems like a pretty boring fight on paper, but we'll see.

Other fights on the card include, Jose Aldo vs. Anthony Pettis and Demian Maia vs. Josh Koscheck

 

[Dale]

Seriously, Phil Davis seems to be taking massive steps in terms of talent he's fighting. He went from losing to Rashad to ending up on Prelims against guys i'd never even heard of before, to jumping all the way back towards the top of the guy against a guy who was supposedly next in line for a shot at the belt.

 

[Embrace Thou Maryse]

Lyoto gets screwed over again...

Doesn't make sense that Alex gets to twitter his way into a Title fight that Machida's been promised twice now. Good to see the UFC's Title match policy is still as random as hell.

 

[The Cork]

I don't care about Machida fights at all but this is one that makes zero sense, Davis is just gonna get knocked to the back of the queue again now.

Guy's striking looked a lot better in his last fight, mind.

 

[Slim]

What in the world is this fight gonna do for Machida? Well if machida fights this fight the way he did against Hendo it'll do absolutely nothing cause that was the biggest snorefest.

Machida hopefully brings some of that KO that he used against Shad and Couture. We see that and we could see him getting the next shot again. But as far as Davis goes... this is his chance... so hopefully he acts on it and doesn't mess it up. It has potential but on paper... it just looks so freakin boring.

 

[Troy]

Massive step up in competition for Davis, strange that he is facing such a step up in quality after just two wins rather than a gradual climb back up the rankings. Bit unfortunate for Machida as this is pretty much a lose-lose fight for him. If he wins he barely gains anything whereas if he loses he loses a lot. Good test for Davis but he will need to put in a much better performance than he did against Rashad

 

[Slim]

This fight just seems so boring. Davis likes to wrestle and grind against you. Machida likes to evade the entire fight so ... maybe Machida will get a kick in and get the KO. Just get some sorta impressive win instead of the boring decisions.