Lyoto Machida has discussed his decision to jump from the UFC to Bellator MMA.
Machida was suspended for 18 months due to an anti-doping violation by USADA. He did declare his usage of a product containing the banned substance 7-keto-dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), which is a steroid. Machida also noted at the time that the use of the product and said he did not know it contained a prohibited drug. Once his sample was tested, it came back with an elevated 7β-hydroxy-DHEA to DHEA ratio during a sample collection in April 2016.
The former UFC light heavyweight champion picked up a victory over Eryk Anders in a middleweight bout in the main event of UFC Belem and beat Vitor Belfort by KO at the UFC 224 event. He has since signed with Bellator MMA.
In a recent interview, Machida made it known that he is satisfied with the move to the Viacom-owned promotion.
“I’m speaking from the bottom of my heart: I’m very satisfied,” Machida told MMAjunkie. “I’m very happy, truly. That’s cool. That’s cool. It shows that I’m still interesting, that people want to fight me. And I, more than ever, want to test myself, too.”
“It was a very tough decision,” Machida said. “I really like the UFC. I can only say nice things about my old home. I had a good relationship with everyone. Even if it became distant, I had a good relationship with all of them. Even with the Fertittas, they always respected me a lot, so I can’t complain. Because of that, it was a tough decision.
“I’m loving the treatment I’ve been getting from Bellator,” Machida said. “It feels like I’m home. I’m feeling a difference in that sense, because in the UFC, I felt very distant from everything. I wanted to talk, I wanted to ask for something, and I felt very distant. Not at Bellator. I feel close, because I talk directly to Mike Kogan, I talk directly to Scott Coker. So that makes it a lot easier. I’ve been feeling at home and, the way I see it, relationship is everything.”
A middleweight bout between former champion Rafael Carvalho and Machida are booked to fight each other for the upcoming Bellator 210 event that goes down on December 15, 2018 at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii and will air on DAZN.
