Fronted from the FanPosts by Kid Nate

Following Rashad Evans' victory over Forrest Griffin at UFC 92, Lyoto Machida gave an interview to TATAME magazine where he stated the following:

Look, I think Rashad is a complete guy, has the wrestling as a background, but I see some flaws in his game, although I’m not worried with him now. My focus is Thiago. I look, but I don’t get much information of the opponents that I’m not focused, but I see some holes in his game (Rashad), but I prefer not to think yet, he is not the one for now.

Rashad Evans has yet to find flaws in Machida's game, but he's on the right track. After UFC 94, Evans told Sherdog:

With that said, there may be some kinks in his armor that I have yet to see that I can exploit when I look at the tapes more closely. Nobody’s unbeatable. Machida’s been looking slicker than I don’t know what, but everybody has a weakness even if you do look slick as oil. Everyone has a weakness.

Two days later, Evans elaborated on his strategy and plans:

"There are a lot of things [Silva] did against Machida that I won't do," Evans told ESPN.com. "Mainly, when I'm on the ground I wouldn't be so relaxed; I won't just lay there like he did.

"He underestimated Machida's ability to close the distance and his ground and pound. There are a lot of mistakes he made that I probably won't make."

[...]

"I already have my training partners in place for Machida; the partners who can give me the best look for Machida. We're going to put a good game plan together and stop this guy."

The questions now are, what are the flaws Machida sees in Evans and what will Evans' game plan against Machida look like?

Read more in the full entry.

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Five Ounces of Pain has an exclusive interview with #1 ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko. The Russian fighter responds to comments made by Dana White, Andre Arlovski and Arlovski's boxing trainer Freddie Roach. Roach has previously claimed that Emelianenko has "no technique" and that Arlovski will "knock him out." Here are some choice quotes from the interview:

Sam Caplan: During a recent press conference to promote "Day of Reckoning," Andrei Arlovski questioned the sincerity of a statement you made last month regarding the your loss at the Combat Sambo Championships. Can you respond to that statement?

Fedor Emelianenko: Maybe Andrei is trying to convince himself that I have been weakened in some way. But it [doesn’t] matter [as] we are not fighting Sambo with Andrei. The only thing I am 100 percent sure about is that I will be 100 percent ready to fight MMA against Andrei. And that is the only thing I care about right now.

Sam Caplan: One of Arlovski’s trainers, famed boxing trainer Freddie Roach, questioned some aspects of your standup from a technical boxing perspective, most notably your footwork. Do you feel Roach’s criticisms are relevant to MMA?

Fedor Emelianenko: The beauty about MMA is that every fighter has his own unique style and preferences. But it’s not a beauty contest. We fight to see which fighter’s approach prevails. But again, we are not boxing and we are not fighting Sambo. We fight MMA.

Sam Caplan: During a recent radio interview, UFC president Dana White once again made some negative remarks about you. He especially tried to discredit your victory over Tim Sylvia. Could you respond to that statement?

Fedor Emelianenko: I think if Dana White says something negative about his [former] champions then he is only saying something negative about his own organization. I have victories over many of the UFC’s champions. If he says something bad about them or me then he only makes his organization look weak.

Sam Caplan: If you fought for the UFC, do you think Dana would be referring to you as the number one heavyweight in the world?

Fedor Emelianenko: (Laughs) I think if I fought for the UFC, he would try to sell me as the greatest MMA fighter that ever lived.

As expected, Emelianenko handles himself well in this interview, but one has to wonder whether his opponents' mind games are having some effect on the normally stoic fighter.

Fronted by Luke Thomas.

The TAGG Radio Network recently interviewed Machida's manager Ed Soares. Here's what he had to say:

...I know he's not going to get a shot at the title right away.  Some things are in works right now for him to be fighting in October.

...Most likely he's probably going to have one more fight before he fights for the title.

When questioned on the opponent, Soares wouldn't spill the beans:

It's not signed yet. It's going to be a good match, though, for sure.

The interview can be heard here. Soares' interview starts at 31:07 and the Machida discussion starts at 38:54.

Personally I think this opponent could be Jackson. Wanderlei turned down Machida and chose to fight Thiago Silva instead. Since Wanderlei's preferences most likely takes precedence over Machida's, Thiago would be out of the picture as well. Shogun lost his last fight and has had a long injury-related layoff. Jardine just suffered a broken jaw and won't be able to fight for awhile. The other possible opponents for Machida are either already tied up in an upcoming fight or not worthy enough.