Chinzo Machida on Brother Lyoto’s Move to US: ‘He’ll Be Stronger’ for UFC Title Fight

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Needless to say, Chinzo Machida was pleased with his top charge’s latest performance.

The older brother and coach of former UFC light heavyweight Lyoto Machida told Sherdog.com this week that “The Dragon” precisely implemented the game plan put forth in training when he took out Ryan Bader on Saturday at UFC on Fox 4.

“Lyoto found the distance and knocked him out,” said the elder Machida, who trains Lyoto alongside their father, Yoshizo. “The strategy was to keep the fight standing and try to hit him as much as possible. The way the fight was, only Lyoto was landing shots. Bader wasn’t finding him, but he tried to get close anyway, and he ended up taking the backlash.”

Lyoto, 34, has made his training home in Belem, Brazil, for the duration of his nearly 10 year MMA career. However, the ex-champ will soon make the move stateside, where he’ll train full-time at Black House gym in Los Angeles. His older brother approves of the change and asserts that, even while living in Brazil, he’ll remain part of Lyoto’s training.

“He’ll live in the U.S., but two months before his next fight, I’ll be there to be part of the camp, and my father will arrive 15 days before the fight,” explained Chinzo. “It’s much easier for him to find sparring partners and train wrestling there. He’ll have Roger Gracie to help with jiu-jitsu, which is very important. Lyoto will have better training than here in Belem, and he’ll come stronger for his next title shot.”

The knockout of Bader guaranteed Machida a chance to reclaim the 205-pound belt against the winner of Sept. 1’s Jon Jones-Dan Henderson clash. While Chinzo prefers not to think about who his brother will face just yet, he echoed the prevalent notion that Jones -- who choked out Lyoto just eight months ago -- should be favored in the matchup.

“A fight is a fight, but Jones has the reach advantage and is in a good phase,” Chinzo said. “He should win, but we can’t rule out ‘Hendo.’ We aren’t thinking of opponents right now. Lyoto will be ready for whoever comes.”

Alan Oliveira contributed to this report.