What fluke? Even Lyoto Machida admits Chris Weidman owned Anderson Silva

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight number one contender, Lyoto Machida, will challenge Chris Weidman for the 185-pound strap in the main event of the UFC 175 pay-per-view (PPV), which takes place on July 5, 2014, inside Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

And "The Dragon" knows he'll be facing the best fighter in the world at his weight.

That's because the "All American" soundly defeated friend and training partner Anderson Silva in back-to-back fights, and despite the way both contests ended, Machida is not going to pretend that Weidman was the beneficiary of accidental circumstance.

According to his conversation with FOX Sports, those wins were 100-percent legit.

"There's no doubt he's the champion. He's the best there is in the weight class right now. He won those fights. You can't take away those merits."

Sorry, haters.

Critics were quick to attribute Silva's first loss at UFC 162 to "The Spider's" antics inside the cage, which resulted in a stunning knockout loss. Fast-forward to UFC 168, their epic championship rematch, and those same naysayers pointed to the Brazilian's shattered shin as a lucky break (no pun intended) for Weidman.

Not even Machida is buying that crap at this point.

How about you?