Mousasi claims Machida was 'oiled up' for UFC bout

Gegard Mousasi's career has been defined by long stretches of success, punctuated with singular, notable losses. And despite an overall record of 44-5, it seems to be something of an entrenched narrative that he just can't get over the hump into being recognized as one of the true greats of his era. I'm not sure that a win over Uriah Hall, who he fights this Saturday, September 26th in Saitama, Japan will be the win he needs to change hearts and minds, but there's definitely at least one loss on Mousasi's record that he'd like another shot at.

Back in February of 2014, Gegard Mousasi fought Lyoto Machida in the headlining bout of UFC Fight Night: Machida vs. Mousasi in Jaragua do Sul, Brazil. It was a fantastic, back and forth technical battle that saw Machida take a narrow decision. Now, however, Mousasi is going on the record to say that he's sure Machida was cheating that night. And if the two of them ever fought again, he'd want to make sure the Brazilian fighter wasn't greasing.

"I think it's going to be a very different fight fighting him in the U.S., not fighting him in Brazil. That would be a big difference," Mousasi told MMAFighting. "First of all, I think the newer drug policy is good. And he was very slippery in that fight, I think he put some oil in his body. Those things I believe would be different if he's not fighting in Brazil.

"One thing I know for sure is he was oiled up. He had a lot of oil in his body. You don't sweat it, but once you sweat it comes out. I'm fighting, at that moment I don't think about it, but looking back to the fight, I took him down and he got back right up, I wasn't able to grab something. I had his back, and I slipped from his back. Later one, even Luke Rockhold said he was slippery in his fight. Watching the pictures, he was shining as hell. What can I say? So those are things it makes difference, so, yeah, I think it's gonna make the difference if he fights somewhere else."

Of course allegations of greasing towards Brazilian fighters in particular (and Yoshihiro Akiyama) is nothing new, but this is the first time I can recall that anyone has thrown them at Machida. It may not be loaded gloves or PED use, but it's a pretty serious allegation of cheating for Mousasi to level at a top 10 fighter. Stay tuned as we'll be sure to keep you up to date with more information as it becomes available.