With just two days remaining before the UFC on Fox 4 fight card - scheduled to air live from the Staples Center at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday night on FOX - former champions Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua are focused on their upcoming fights: Rua in the main event against Brandon Vera, Machida in the co-main event against Ryan Bader.
However, as the two former UFC Light Heavyweight Champions return to the site of their first fight against one another, the prospect of a trilogy fight is certainly a tantalizing one, as was made obvious on Thursday at the pre-fight press conference.
"The trilogy will come for me and Shogun for sure," Machida said.
"For sure," Rua added, "this fight is going to happen very soon."
Machida and Rua first fought one another at UFC 104 in October 2009. Machida, defending the UFC title for the first time after winning it from Rashad Evans at UFC 98, scored a decision victory, but the judges' ruling was a controversial one, and a rematch was scheduled for UFC 113 in May 2010. On that night, Rua left no doubt, capturing the title from Machida with a vicious first-round knockout. Still, with the official record standing at one fight apiece, a third fight holds obvious interest, as does the prospect of having Machida and Rua coach against one another on The Ultimate Fighter, particularly the Brazilian edition of the show that debuted earlier this year.
"Obviously, whether we're in Brazil, the United States, Australia, they would be great coaches," UFC president Dana White said. "These two would be amazing coaches."
Chances are, however, that one of the two fighters will be otherwise occupied in the near future.
White has said that the most impressive victor from Saturday's main event and co-main event fights will be the next challenger for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship, currently held by Jon Jones ahead of his UFC 151 title defense. With both Machida and Rua favorites in their fights on Saturday night, chances are that a rubber match between the two fighters will have to wait a while.
If their comments on Thursday are any indication, though, it will happen sooner or later.