Chinzo Machida: Younger Brother Of UFC Fighter Lyoto Machida Will Make His Debut In Bellator MMA At ‘Bellator 160’

Chinzo Machida, the brother of UFC middleweight fighter and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida, will be making his Bellator MMA debut at Bellator 160.

According to an article written by MMA Fighting, it reports Bellator MMA officials confirmed Chinzo Machida will be facing Mario Navarro in a featherweight fight in the preliminary card of Bellator 160. The fight seems to be an even match-up as Chinzo currently holds a fight record of three wins and two losses. Navarro, on the other hand, has a little more fight experience with four wins and four losses, but is on the initial end of a losing streak with back-to-back losses to Brandon Bender and Cleber Luciano. Navarro only has one win in Bellator MMA and it was a second round submission victory against Anthony Bain back in 2012.

Many in the MMA community will be anticipating if Chinzo Machida can live up to the bar set by his older brother, Lyoto Machida, over the course of 13 years. For those who do not remember Lyoto’s accomplishments, from 2003 to 2009, Lyoto was undefeated. He has wins over Rich Franklin (second round TKO), B.J. Penn (unanimous decision), Tito Ortiz (unanimous decision), Thiago Silva (first round KO), Rashad Evans (second round KO), and Maurício Rua (unanimous decision). Lyoto’s first official loss was in a rematch against Rua at UFC 113: Machida vs. Shogun 2 when Rua shocked the world knocking out Lyoto in the first round.

Since then, Lyoto Machida has accumulated more losses against other strong MMA fighters including Quinton Jackson, Phil Davis, Chris Weidman, Luke Rockhold, and Jon Jones. However, Lyoto is still considered one of the best in the business and currently stands at 22 wins and seven losses.

Chinzo Machida may not have the same accolades as Lyoto Machida, but Chinzo is at least at the initial end of a winning streak. According to Chinzo’s collected stats and fight history on Sherdog, his first win was against Cristiano Rosa back in 2005 with a first round TKO achieved with a soccer kick and punches. Afterwards, Chinzo lost back-to-back fights against Brayan Rafiq via submission with a guillotine choke in the second round and Leonardo Laiola via unanimous decision. Eventually, Chinzo would rebound with back-to-back wins against Brian Wood and Dmitry Gerasimov. Chinzo’s win against Wood, in particular, was memorable because he won with a highlight reel flying knee, as shown in the video below.

Also, Chinzo Machida is not in trouble with the United States Anti-Doping Agency either unlike his older brother. Lyoto Machida had to drop out of his rematch against Dan Henderson at UFC on Fox 19 after declaring he used a banned substance during an out-of-competition sample collection.

Bellator 160, full title Bellator 160: Henderson vs. Pitbull, will take place on Friday, August 26, at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Chinzo Machida versus Mario Navarro will be part of a fight card which includes other fights such as the women’s flyweight fight between Lena Ovchynnikova and Jaimelene Nievera and the featherweight fight between Georgi Karakhanyan and Bubba Jenkins. However, all eyes will look forward to the title eliminator main event between Benson Henderson and Pitbull Freire in which the winner will go on to fight the UFC Lightweight Champion, David Mason-Straus.

[Image via Paul Kincaid/Sherdog]