
The black belt in karate, Bjj and former Ufc light-hw champion Lyoto Machida entered this fight with a mma record of 24-8-0 (50% finishing rate) and he is ranked as the No.13 middleweight in the world. He lost three consecutive bouts between 2015 and 2017, the last one against Derek Brunson (Brunson vs Machida) but then he has won over Eryk Anders (Lyoto Machida vs Eryk Anders) and Vitor Belfort (4-stars fight, Vitor Belfort vs Lyoto Machida).
His opponent, the former Bellator Mw champion Rafael Carvalho, has an official record of 15-2-0 (80% ko/tko victory rate – he has never won via submission) and he entered as the No.27 in the same weight class but he comes off the loss against Gegard Mousasi (Rafael Carvalho vs Gegard Mousasi); before this fight, in 2017, he had beat Melvin Manhoef (Carvalho vs Manhoef II) and Alessio Sakara (Rafael Carvalho vs Alessio Sakara). Machida vs Carvalho is on the undercard of Ilima-Lei Macfarlane vs Valerie Letourneau – Bellator 213. Watch the video and rate this fight!