Rashad Evans, the number one contender to the LHW title for like a year and counting, is missing his opportunity again in 2012 with the UFC opting to give Lyoto Machida a crack at Jon Jones in December at UFC 140. Machida has been sidelined since defeating Randy Couture at UFC 129 after a contract dispute with the UFC, one that lead him to believe the UFC was punishing him. Guess not.
The only other contender who a) won his last fight, b) is healthy, and c) has support for a title shot is...
Evans is getting over a broken hand, the UFC wants Jones to fight in December, Evans won't be ready, so that's that, mattress man.
Seriously, it seems like if anyone is being punished its Rashad. I know hes injured but it seems like he would be ready to fight within weeks after Dec. 10. Dude beat Rampage 16 months ago. Hes been the top contender the whole time and probably won't get a shot until March if everyone stays healthy and things go according to plan. Lyoto is somewhat interesting stylistically but after looking unbeatable in his ascent hes looked pretty meh in his last several fights. Beat Couture on a flashy Segal kick but had little to offer Rampage and Shogun beat his ass in a "win" before KOing him. Machida's bread and butter is his stand up so at first I assumed that Jones would wrestle him. But thinking more about it, I don't know if its even worth it to Jones unless Machida is doing well in the stand up. I've never seen Machida's BJJ but hes got a black belt and trains with the Black House guys. The only way to beat JJ at this point may be to catch him in a sub.
If Rashad keeps to his 3 week timeline, he should be good to go for the NYE card. If not that, then definitely the super bowl card.
