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13/03/10 - Machida brother predicts Rua KO
Lyoto Machida will get the knockout when he next faces Mauricio ‘Shogu’ Rua, according to his brother Shinzo Machida. The Japanese-Brazilian retained his light-heavyweight belt in his first fight with Rua (UFC 104) but the decision was controversial and they are to meet again soon (UFC 114).
“I believe it will be a knockout for Machida, that’s what we are preparing for. We have been training since January, his hand is already 100%, hitting piles ... Now we are putting in the more specific training and we start the finishing touches in the last month,” Shinzo told Tatame.
Shinzo says that while the Machida camp believe Lyoto won the fight firmly, nobody in the family was happy with the fight or the controversy that surround the result. They are aiming to put all doubt to rest with the second fight.
“The biggest thing we learned from that fight was becoming more accustomed to a lot attention [from the media], the interviews and so on ... It was the first defense of his belt, it took a little focus off the fight. He may have a better performance than that this time. We changed a lot.”
“We will want to decide the result before the end. No one will want to leave it to a decision again. Lyoto was not very happy with the criticism and Shogun should not have been pleased with the result either.”
As for his own MMA career, Shinzo says that is on hold while the family focuses on Lyoto. Chinzo is a coach and training partner to his elder brother and does not want to distract himself from that role by preparing for his own fights.
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