{"id":279194,"date":"2018-06-24T07:51:35","date_gmt":"2018-06-24T14:51:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=279194"},"modified":"2018-06-24T07:51:35","modified_gmt":"2018-06-24T14:51:35","slug":"lyoto-machida-issues-statement-on-move-to-bellator-mma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/lyoto-machida\/lyoto-machida-issues-statement-on-move-to-bellator-mma\/","title":{"rendered":"Lyoto Machida issues statement on move to Bellator MMA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After 11-straight years as a member of the UFC roster, former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida is <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/lyoto-machida\/breaking-former-ufc-champion-lyoto-machida-headed-to-bellator\/\">headed to Bellator<\/a>. News of Machida&#8217;s relocation was first reported by ESPN earlier this week.<\/p>\n<p>Shortly after this news surfaced, Machida took to Instagram to speak on the move.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BkWJH45hrWQ\/<\/p>\n<p id=\"IN8cnE\">\u201cHello everyone, I\u2019m here to announce a great change in my career,&#8221; Machida said in his Instagram statement (via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/2018\/6\/23\/17497056\/lyoto-machida-issues-statement-on-bellator-mma-signing-we-have-to-be-open-to-new-changes-ufc-mma\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MMAMania<\/a>). &#8220;My contract with UFC has finished, and I\u2019m going to a new house: Bellator, which is a great MMA event that has been growing a lot here in the United States. I\u2019m very grateful for everything that happened with me in the UFC.<\/p>\n<p id=\"1dzgIi\">\u201cI\u2019m very happy with everything I lived. I believe that everything in our lives is made of periods. All that comes is great and all that goes is also great. We have to be open to new changes, new challenges. This is how I think. My best regards to all of you, and I wish you keep on supporting me, because every time I fight and every time I practice, I do my best for all of you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lyoto Machida moves to the Bellator roster on a two-fight win-streak, having recently defeated Eryk Anders by decision and Vitor Belfort with a front-kick induced knockout \u2014 one of the best knockouts of the year thus far.<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, Machida actually holds victories over both Bellator light heavyweight champion Ryan Bader, and Bellator middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi. Other highlights of his career include wins over Dan Henderson, Tito Ortiz, Rashad Evans, and Randy Couture. He&#8217;s currently 24-8 overall.<\/p>\n<p>How do you think Lyoto Machida will perform in the Bellator cage?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>BJPenn.com<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>\u00a0on 6\/23\/2018. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After 11-straight years as a member of the UFC roster, former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida is headed to Bellator. News of Machida&#8217;s relocation was first reported by ESPN earlier this week. Shortly after this news surfaced, Machida took to Instagram to speak on the move. https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BkWJH45hrWQ\/ \u201cHello everyone, I\u2019m here to announce a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":277053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10087],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lyoto Machida issues statement on move to Bellator MMA | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/lyoto-machida\/lyoto-machida-issues-statement-on-move-to-bellator-mma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lyoto Machida issues statement on move to Bellator MMA | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After 11-straight years as a member of the UFC roster, former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida is headed to Bellator. News of Machida&#8217;s relocation was first reported by ESPN earlier this week. Shortly after this news surfaced, Machida took to Instagram to speak on the move. https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BkWJH45hrWQ\/ \u201cHello everyone, I\u2019m here to announce a [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/lyoto-machida\/lyoto-machida-issues-statement-on-move-to-bellator-mma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-06-24T14:51:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Lyoto-Machida.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/lyoto-machida\/lyoto-machida-issues-statement-on-move-to-bellator-mma\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/lyoto-machida\/lyoto-machida-issues-statement-on-move-to-bellator-mma\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tom Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87\"},\"headline\":\"Lyoto Machida issues statement on move to Bellator MMA\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-06-24T14:51:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-06-24T14:51:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/lyoto-machida\/lyoto-machida-issues-statement-on-move-to-bellator-mma\/\"},\"wordCount\":304,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Lyoto Machida\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2018\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/lyoto-machida\/lyoto-machida-issues-statement-on-move-to-bellator-mma\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/lyoto-machida\/lyoto-machida-issues-statement-on-move-to-bellator-mma\/\",\"name\":\"Lyoto Machida issues statement on move to Bellator MMA | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-06-24T14:51:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-06-24T14:51:35+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/lyoto-machida\/lyoto-machida-issues-statement-on-move-to-bellator-mma\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/lyoto-machida\/lyoto-machida-issues-statement-on-move-to-bellator-mma\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/lyoto-machida\/lyoto-machida-issues-statement-on-move-to-bellator-mma\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Lyoto Machida\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/lyoto-machida\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Lyoto Machida issues statement on move to Bellator MMA\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA &amp; 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