After more than two years away from the Octagon, former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida returns to combat sports in a middleweight pairing that pits the Brazilian karateka against 185-pound bruiser Derek Brunson.
They’ll do the three-round deed at the upcoming UFC Fight Night 119 mixed martial arts (MMA) on FOX Sports 1, taking place Sat., Oct. 28, 2017, inside Ibirapuera Gymnasium in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Watch them come face-to-face at Tuesday’s media event in the embedded video above.
Machida (22-7) has been out of action since United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) suspended “The Dragon” for 18 months for listing 7-Keto (which contains the prohibited substance DHEA) on his pre-fight declaration at UFC on FOX 18.
The Brazilian is coming off back-to-back losses to Luke Rockhold and Yoel Romero.
Brunson (17-5) recently snapped a two-fight losing streak of his own, while erasing this bad memory, by knocking out Daniel Kelly at UFC Fight Night 110 last June, good enough to leave him at No. 7 in the official rankings.
UFC Fight Night 119 is also expected to showcase the 205-pound bangfest pitting former light heavyweight No. 1 contender Glover Teixeira opposite rising slugger Misha Cirkunov.
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