Machida accepted Munoz bout to please UFC
The main event of the UFC’s upcoming event was supposed to be local star Michael Bisping vs. Mark Munoz, however…
The main event of the UFC’s upcoming event was supposed to be local star Michael Bisping vs. Mark Munoz, however Bisping was injured. Lyoto Machida was then offered the bout, and accepted to keep the UFC happy, despite having a history of training together:
“I thought for a while about it (when UFC offered the change), but I didn’t want to disappoint and frustrate the UFC,” Machida told MMAFighting.com. “The date wasn’t that bad. I was already training hard for my fight, so I decided to take it. They were both main events, but this is a better one because Mark Munoz is better ranked and it’s not a (Fight For The Troops) card.”
“We were training together so that’s a little complicated, but that’s inevitable here in California,” he said. “We always look for better training so we ended up training together. It’s complicated, but it’s tough for both of us. I’ve learned some things from his game, but he did too.
“Mark Munoz was always very friendly, gave me tips during trainings,” he continued. “We helped each other a lot. But we were training together, it’s not like he was teaching me. You test yourself a lot during sparring.”