After UFC 113, What's Next For Lyoto Machida?

Oh...the irony. This time last year, Lyoto Machida brutally knocked out an undefeated Rashad Evans. Now the shoe is on the other foot, and speculation is high surrounding who Machida will fight next after such a long, hard fall from the top.

After suffering his only loss, Evans candidly said the knockout psychologically affected him on a deep level. It was a triple whammy for Rashad: losing for the first time, losing by knockout and, most importantly, losing the belt.

For Machida, though, things are even worse than they were for Evans. During his second match against Shogun, Machida experienced a quadruple whammy: losing for the first time, losing by knockout, losing the belt and, most significantly, losing in the first round.

Machida faces nearly the same situation that Evans did, except the majority of UFC fans and the UFC President felt Machida lost his first match against Shogun. Their vocal opinions ignited the immediately scheduled rematch. The end result of Machida's second match with Shogun holds even more weight.

Machida will now be thrust into the highly competitive light heavyweight ranks. He'll likely face Brandon Vera, Matt Hamill, the loser of the Rashad Evans and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (i.e., Jackson) bout, Jon "Bones" Jones and possibly even Randy Couture. Each of these fighters are eager to beat the former champ.

How will Machida react to this devastating loss to Shogun?

If he's anything like Evans, the psychological impact of being knocked out will take the toughest toll on Machida. One thing's certain: Machida has a long road ahead if he wants to be considered a championship contender.

Perhaps his loss foreshadows what will soon happen to Anderson Silva. Machida was "undefeated" going into his second battle with Shogun, though this chink in the armor can certainly be applied to Silva.

Now that Machida's not the champ, perhaps there's a chance that Shogun himself will fight "The Spider" and knock him out, too.

As for Machida, though, we can expect to see him work through the tough light heavyweight ranks. Perhaps one day soon, he will have another shot at the title.

For Machida's sake, he'd likely hope to avoid Jon Jones for his comeback match. If he were to fight Jones, Machida would likely fall to 16-2-0. 

He'd be so far away from the belt that it wouldn't even be in sight.