{"id":295212,"date":"2018-12-16T10:23:40","date_gmt":"2018-12-16T18:23:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=295212"},"modified":"2018-12-16T10:23:40","modified_gmt":"2018-12-16T18:23:40","slug":"lyoto-machida-explains-how-bellator-debut-felt-different-than-ufc-bouts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/lyoto-machida-explains-how-bellator-debut-felt-different-than-ufc-bouts\/","title":{"rendered":"Lyoto Machida explains how Bellator debut felt &#8216;different&#8217; than UFC bouts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Saturday night, in the co-headlining bout of Bellator Hawaii, former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida made his promotional debut opposite former Bellator middleweight champion Rafael Carvalho.<\/p>\n<p>After three closely contested rounds, Machida was announced the winner by split decision. While the former UFC champ is happy about this victory, he says he was a bit thrown off by the new setting.<\/p>\n<p>Post-fight, Lyoto Machida opened up on the differences between his previous UFC bouts and this first bout in the Bellator cage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTough opponent, tough fight,\u201d Lyoto Machida told <a href=\"https:\/\/mmajunkie.com\/2018\/12\/bellator-hawaii-lyoto-machida-kind-of-lost-debut-win\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MMAjunkie<\/a> of the experience.\u00a0\u201cI believe because it was my first fight in Bellator, in the beginning, I was kind of lost. Even though I have a lot of fights under my belt, many years in the UFC and other events, Bellator is different. Every time you step in a different cage, you can feel the difference, and that\u2019s what I felt at the beginning of the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverything is different,\u201d he added. \u201cThe walkout is different. I see my picture behind me and everything. Amazing show, but I think it\u2019s a natural process to get used to being here. My next fight will be better, for sure. Everything already sunk in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although he was somewhat joggled by the new experience of fighting for Bellator, Lyoto Machida says he&#8217;s very happy to have joined the promotion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m so happy to be here,\u201d Machida said. \u201cNo regrets at all. Man, the treatment, everything, the public, the crowd, I\u2019m so happy to be here. Bellator, for me, is my new home definitely.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With his victory over the former champ Rafael Carvalho, Lyoto Machida asserts himself as one of the top contenders in the Bellator middleweight division, and perhaps the next man in line for reigning champ Gegard Mousasi, who he holds a victory over.<\/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 12\/16\/2018.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Saturday night, in the co-headlining bout of Bellator Hawaii, former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida made his promotional debut opposite former Bellator middleweight champion Rafael Carvalho. After three closely contested rounds, Machida was announced the winner by split decision. While the former UFC champ is happy about this victory, he says he was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":295214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[44,10087],"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 explains how Bellator debut felt &#039;different&#039; than UFC bouts | 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\/bellator\/lyoto-machida-explains-how-bellator-debut-felt-different-than-ufc-bouts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lyoto Machida explains how Bellator debut felt &#039;different&#039; than UFC bouts | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On Saturday night, in the co-headlining bout of Bellator Hawaii, former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida made his promotional debut opposite former Bellator middleweight champion Rafael Carvalho. After three closely contested rounds, Machida was announced the winner by split decision. While the former UFC champ is happy about this victory, he says he was [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/lyoto-machida-explains-how-bellator-debut-felt-different-than-ufc-bouts\/\" \/>\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=\"2018-12-16T18:23:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Lyoto-Machida-Rafael-Carvalho.png\" \/>\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\/png\" \/>\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=\"2 minutes\" \/>\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\/bellator\/lyoto-machida-explains-how-bellator-debut-felt-different-than-ufc-bouts\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/lyoto-machida-explains-how-bellator-debut-felt-different-than-ufc-bouts\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tom Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87\"},\"headline\":\"Lyoto Machida explains how Bellator debut felt &#8216;different&#8217; 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