The UFC on FOX Sports 1 card scheduled for Dec. 20 in Sao Paulo is headlined by a middleweight battle between CB Dolloway and Lyoto Machida.
In the main event, Machida is almost certain to come in a favorite for the fight. Machida is coming off a loss in his last outing, as he failed to take the UFC Middleweight title from Chris Weidman back in July. Machida is at a crossroads and really needs a win. He is a former light heavyweight champion who went to the middleweight division with title aspirations. Falling short now means Machida has a lot of work to do to earn another title shot. It starts for him with Dollaway, who is on a two-fight winning streak and has won four of his last five.
Dollaway has been with the UFC for a long time and has run his record to (9-5) with the organization. Though that is solid, he is lacking a signature win over a name. He has no one on his resume with the pedigree of Machida, and this fight represents a big step up for Dollaway. Dolloway beat Francis Carmont in his last outing back in May, which is probably his most credible win. Even then however, Carmont’s star was beginning to fade and he would fight just once more with the UFC before getting cut.
The co-feature has former Bantamweight champion Renan Barao facing Mitch Gagnon in his first fight since May. Barao lost the belt in his last fight, to TJ Dillashaw, and then he failed to fight the rematch as he had problems cutting weight, so this is the UFC forcing Barao to the back of the line. He will be a big favorite over Gagnon, who is making a big leap in opponent quality here.
Here is a nice UFC piece on Lyoto Machida talking about his signature moves.
