Lyoto & Anderson eye early 2010 return
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is going to be without the services of two of its champions for the next few…
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is going to be without the services of two of its champions for the next few events, but when middleweight champ Anderson Silva and light heavyweight titleholder Lyoto Machida do run return, expect them to be even better versions of the athletes they already are.
Both were due for a little maintenance after several years of fighting and headed into the shop for a tune-up after their most recent bouts. Silva had surgery on his elbow early in October, while Machida had a cleanout performed on his hand this past Friday.
Neither was suffering from a major injury, merely the normal wear and tear that occurs over a combined 45 bouts.
Our guys aren’t the only guys that have (situations like this). I’m sure every fighter out there goes through these types of things, Ed Soares, manager to both fighters, recently told MMAWeekly.com.
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, another teammate, underwent similar maintenance following his loss to Frank Mir then returned strong, defeating UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture at UFC 102.
The only real downside is that in both cases, doctors found a little more to repair than they initially expected, so the necessary rehabilitation following such procedures will keep both champions sidelined for the coming months, narrowing the field of available main-eventers for the promotion.
In Silva’s case, doctors had to remove three bone fragments instead of the expected one. There was hope that he would be able to fight Vitor Belfort at UFC 108, but that isn’t going to happen.
I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade, but he’s not fighting Jan. 2, confirmed Soares.
The timing actually works out fairly well for the UFC. Heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar recently had to withdraw from UFC 106 due to a severe case of the flu, so his bout with Shane Carwin was pushed back to UFC 108, providing a marquee match-up for the main event.
Welterweight titleholder Georges St. Pierre recently returned to training and should be ready to go by UFC 109 in early February.
There was speculation that Silva may be holding off because he doesn’t want to fight Belfort. His camp truly doesn’t believe that Belfort is deserving of a UFC middleweight title shot, but that’s merely a difference of opinion says Soares. They don’t turn down fights and fully expect Belfort to be Silva’s next opponent when he is ready to return by the end of the first quarter of 2010.
He’s a guy who is coming off of wins and if that’s who they want to put in front of us, put him in front of us. We want to fight the best and if that’s who they think the best is, then great, Soares stated