Dave Meltzer reported in the print edition of The Wrestling Observer that the UFC is having a very hard time finding opponents for Lyoto Machida. Brandon Vera turned down a fight with him, and even Forrest Griffin has made it clear he has no desire to fight him:
The winner of Saturday night's clash is likely to face Brazilian hotshot Lyoto Machida next. And Griffin is wary of the threat The Dragon poses. He admitted: "I want nothing to do with that guy. Not at all."
It's not going to be easy to book Machida's fights going forward. The top guys have very little to gain by fighting him. If they lose a boring fight, it's terrible for their reputation and drawing power, and if they beat him, the win doesn't really do much besides boost their credibility among hardcore MMA fans. Even Quinton Jackson has given some signals of late that he is not interested in this fight. The other day he made it clear that he only wants to fight guys that come in and fight, not guys who run away.
Pleasing fans isn't the only obstacle for Machida now. The next one is going to be convincing fighters that there is any upside at all in fighting him, because you need two signatures to finalize a fight contract.
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