UFC President, Dana White yesterday made the not so surprising announcement that former light heavyweight champion, Tito Ortiz was on his last chance when he squares off with former PRIDE star, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, but soon dropped the bombshell that Lyoto Machida was in the same boat.Speaking at the Q&A session in Fort Hood, Texas, Dana said:
“He’s had two losses in a row. Right after he won the title, (UFC on-air analyst Joe) Rogan said this is ‘The Machida Era,’ and I thought so too. Then Shogun beat him, and then he just lost to Rampage. Now he’s fighting Randy Couture in Toronto – and this is a must-win for him. Tito’s got to win this fight to stay in the UFC. If he loses this fight, he’ll probably retire.”
“(The light heavyweight) division is interesting. There’s so many guys at 205, (but) Rampage is probably next in line. Rampage is still in the mix. You’ve got Jon Jones fighting Bader, which is going to be a great fight that catapults one of those guys into the top five. The big problem with the 205-pound division has been, Shogun’s injury has been clogging up the division. So now he’s healthy and gonna fight, and we’re getting everything rolling here.”
Machida faces a tough test in UFC legend, Randy Couture, someone no man should underestimate despite his formative years. Will the Brazilian karate master have an answer for “The Natural’s” game planning when it’s all said and done?
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