In August 2013, Lyoto Machida sustained a close decision loss to Phil Davis. Machida was crushed as he felt he had won the fight and with the defeat lost his chance to get another chance to fight for the light-heavyweight belt. It was definitely a big blow to Machida, but he kept the unrelenting spirit inside him of positivity and decided to make a change.Machida decided to drop down to 185 and knocked out Mark Munoz with a head kick in his debut at middleweight in October 2013. Then in February of this year he defeated Gegard Mousasi. As luck would have it for Machida, Vitor Belfort was dropped off the fight with Chris Weidman and allowed Machida to jump in and fight Weidman for the UFC middleweight title in May 2014 at UFC 174.
Within 7 months of that defeat at the hands of Phil Davis, Machida was able to get a title shot. In that same span of time. Oddly enough, Phil Davis hasn't even fougth a single time yet since defeating Machida.
It just goes to show you that with a very positive mindset, making adjustments, and taking action and opportunities, you can turn a seemingly "negative" event and lead forward to much greener pastures. In just over 4 months of debuting at middleweight, Machida earned a shot at making history in becoming a two-divisional champion in the UFC. If Machida pulls off the win at UFC 173, it would have taken him just 7 months from his debut at 185 to earn the belt. A testament to his skill, will, and mindset.
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