The Dragon’s Dark Side: Did Lyoto Machida Intentionally Cheat?

Lyoto Machida is known for being one of the nicest guys in the sport and has never even been at the wrong end of any speculation over alleged drug use – other than the time Gegard Mousasi called ‘The Dragon’ out years after Machida was victorious in their main event fight.

It emerged, days before his scheduled bout with Dan Henderson at UFC Tampa, that Machida had admitted to using banned substances and had been pulled from the bout.

SLAYING THE DRAGON

Machida was instantly hounded for this – as is every fighter who fails a drug test – but is it really fair to slay ‘The Dragon’ like this? I, personally, don’t think it is. Firstly, Machida did not try to hide the substance he was taking and even jotted it down when told to reveal all substances he had been taking. I believe Machida has no idea that the substance was banned, and he had good reason not to as the substance was only banned at the start of 2016.

Machida is a role model, not only to young fans, but to his children, and I doubt he would take the risk of tarnishing his legacy and setting a bad example for all that pay attention to him. I also believe the fact Machida didn’t try to hide the substance, and actually told the USADA worker he was taking it, makes it even more unlikely he was cheating intentionally.

Machida is renowned as one of the most disciplined fighters to ever grace the sport, both inside and outside the cage, and, in my opinion, has made a mistake and taken something he didn’t know he couldn’t.