In a media luncheon this week UFC President Dana White told reporters at a media luncheon in Las Vegas that Lyoto Machida has missed his opportunity at a title shot against Jon Jones and will now have to face Dan Henderson in a title eliminator.

According to White, Machida missed the boat when he turned down a shot at the title against Jones at UFC 152. Machida had been called up to replace an injured Dan Henderson, but chose not to take the fight citing that he did not have enough time to prepare for a rematch against Jones.

“He should have taken the fight. We’ve seen it, history always repeats itself. Look how long it took Rashad to fight for the title again. So you wanted to fight Jon Jones, you climbed up to the title fight and you don’t take it. Now you’re fighting (expletive) Dan Henderson. Now, you might not even get to the (expletive) title again. You lose to Dan Henderson you’re not anywhere near Jon Jones,” White said.

“You jump on opportunities when they’re available. You get a shot at the title, the biggest money fight you can be in, the highest profile fight you can be in. And if you win that (expletive) fight, the whole world changes overnight,” White explained.

Currently, there is no time frame for when the fight will happen. Henderson is still nursing a MCL injury and will have to fully recover before taking on anyone.

Tweet