HONOLULU – Former UFC champion Lyoto Machida has been fighting internationally for more than a decade, but even he admits his Bellator debut went different than expected. “Tough opponent, tough fight,” Machida told MMAjunkie following his win at Saturday’s Bellator 213 event . “I believe because it was my first fight in Bellator, in the beginning, I was kind of lost. Even though I have a lot of fights under my belt, many years in the UFC and other events, Bellator is different. Every time you step in a different cage, you can feel the difference, and that’s what I felt at the beginning of the fight.” Machida (25-8 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) and former Bellator middleweight champ Rafael Carvalho (15-3 MMA, 6-2 BMMA) met in the co-feature of Saturday’s DAZN -streamed Bellator 213 event from Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu.
Original post:
Bellator jitters? Lyoto Machida admits he was ‘kind of lost’ in debut win – MMA Junkie