If you were watching the main event of UFC Fight Night 36 closely, you would have noticed that at one point Lyoto Machida, who bested Gegard Mousasi on the judges’ scorecards in the five-round headliner, appeared to have hurt his left foot, and for the remaining few rounds seems to favor it at times, even visibly stumbling on it at one point. It was feared after the bout that Machida may have broken his left foot, but according to a report from Guilherme Cruz of MMAFighting.com, X-rays yesterday confirmed that the foot is in fact not fractured, despite looking like it does in the picture to the right. That’s right, according to the Brazilian doctor who looked at Machida’s foot, that is not a broken foot. Shocking, isn’t it? The good news is obviously that Machida’s foot isn’t broken and so he won’t be out as long like if he was if it had been fractured. Instead, expect Machida to take a few weeks off of training to get that foot back to health, and then enter his next training camp. It’s looking for for Machida that, with the victory over Mousasi, he has earned himself a crack at the UFC middleweight championship. The bad news is that Machida doesn’t have an opponent lined up right now, and so even though his foot isn’t broken he might actually have to sit out just as long as he would have anyways due to the timing of upcoming middleweight matchups. Although he has said he’ll fight anyone the UFC puts in front of him, the only fights that make sense for Machida — the No. 3 ranked middleweight — right now is either a No. 1 contender’s bout against Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, or a title shot against the winner of UFC 173’s Chris Weidman vs. Vitor Belfort. The “Jacare” fight would have made a lot of sense had both left UFC Fight Night 36 uninjured, but Souza admitted after the event that he needs surgery to remove bone fragments in his left arm, while Machida obviously hurt his foot. So while that fight would have been perfect for, say, a UFC Fight Night card in June, the timing likely won’t work out now. That’s why I think it makes more sense for Machida to just sit out and wait for his title shot against the winner of Weidman vs. Belfort. Sure, that fight happens in May and so Machida would have to wait a while for the fight — he likely wouldn’t compete again until the fall — but “The Dragon” is no stranger to long layoffs anyways and so I really don’t think it’s that big of a deal for him to wait six months to fight again. And plus, as good as “Jacare” is, it makes more sense for him to have another fight in the Octagon and make himself more known to UFC fans who never watched Strikeforce. Machida, on the other hand, is one of the most recognizable names in the UFC today. I’m looking forward to what the UFC decides to do with “The Dragon” next, but either way I’m glad that Machida isn’t seriously hurt and that we’ll get to see this fantastic 185-pound version of him in the cage again very soon.
