Lyoto Machida's Camp Not Interested in Fight with Alexander Gustafsson

Lyoto Machida and his camp seemingly want no part of Alexander Gustafsson.

The Brazillian's manager, Jorge Guimaraes, spoke to Fighters Only and expressed a lack of interest in fighting the Swede: “Lyoto is on stand-by list waiting for the winner of Jon Jones vs Chael Sonnen... Lyoto is the number one contender and he is only waiting to see who is going to be the winner of this fight."

Machida seems hellbent on avenging his UFC 140 loss to Jones, and from the article, clearly believes Jones will retain his title.

Gustafsson had thrown Machida's name to the wind in recent media interviews about a possible future opponent and he himself had been guaranteed a title shot after defeating Mauricio "Shogun" Rua last December.

Still, Machida and his camp remain undeterred in what they want:

"

The fight between Jones and Sonnen is going to happen now, it doesn’t make sense to fight Alexander. We’re almost there. If it were a little before, this fight could have already happened, but he just fought... and Dana White has made it clear that Lyoto is the number one. We’ll be waiting.

"

I understand Machida's point about waiting due to earning yet another title opportunity (don't forget he earned one after defeating Bader last August as well), but I believe he's forgetting Gustafsson was owed the same thing. It makes sense for these guys to fight to determine a true No. 1 contender, as both were guaranteed title shots with their victories.

Machida also needs to consider the fact that both Jones and Sonnen want nothing to do with facing the Brazilian. Jones already ran through the riddle of Machida once and both Jones and Sonnen have had their doubts about the Brazilian's drawing power.

This could lead them to take on opponents other than "The Dragon."

With the possibility of Jones or Sonnen injuring themselves at UFC 159 or wanting to take a vacation, it could be quite some time before we see Machida in the Octagon again.