At 41 and a veteran of professional mixed martial arts for 15-plus years, Lyoto Machida still loves to train. Every single aspect of it: from packing his gym bag to making the trek to his next session and putting in the actual work.
“I enjoy every single moment of the journey,” Machida told Sporting News during Wednesday's media day for Bellator 222, where he’ll face fellow MMA veteran Chael Sonnen in the co-headlining event at Madison Square Garden on Friday, live on DAZN.
In addition to his fondness of training, Machida also fuels his fighting career with another passion: cooking.
The former UFC champion first fell in love with cooking while suspended 18 months — from April 2016 to October 2017 — after admitting he used a banned substance in a drug test administered by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).
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“When I stayed out of fighting for almost two years, I tried to find something that I could enjoy more than my training,” Machida said. “I think it’s a way that I found to get involved more with my kids. They love when I make sukiyaki — it’s a Japanese dish with vegetables and meat.”
Over time, “The Dragon” has been able to pinpoint similarities between culinary arts and mixed martial arts, adding that the former aids his elusive, karate-based style and overall fighting in the twilight of his career.
“When you cook, you kind of find yourself,” Machida says. “You have your own moments. You cut the onion, you cut the tomato, you do everything on your own and you feel more concentrated and focused in a different style.
“When you train in martial arts, you’re already in this stage,” he continues. “But when you cook, it’s more peaceful and you could get the same aspects (as training).”
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“More peaceful” is not how you would describe promoting and entering a fight with the ever-opinionated Sonnen. But Machida (25-8) hasn’t found Sonnen (31-16-1) to be the trash-talking, venom-spewing fighter he usually is entering scraps with past opponents.
“He’s so quiet now,” Machida says. “I’m not sure why.”
Perhaps it's partly because Machida counts victories over MMA greats like Gegard Mousasi, Ryan Bader, Dan Henderson, Randy Couture, Rashad Evans and Tito Ortiz — to name a few.
Machida has heard Sonnen say he wants to exact revenge on behalf of his Team Quest stablemates, Couture and Henderson — a motivational theme that "The American Gangster" continued running with on Wednesday.
"I thought as a team, we got closer and closer, but that's a tough puzzle to solve," Sonnen told SN. "Machida's got some very unique skills. He does stuff that other guys don't do. If you're one guy who runs through Team Quest, you've got quite the feather in your cap and he will deserve that ... if he gets it done."
That said, Machida minces no words about what he expects if he gets his hand raised over Sonnen.
“I want the belt,” Machida said, with his sights set on Bellator heavyweight and light heavyweight champion Ryan Bader, whom the Brazilian knocked out in the UFC back in August 2012. “I’m not here to play around. I’ve been saying that since I signed with Bellator.”
With ambition like that, it’s a good thing Machida has the culinary skills to fuel his fighting fire.
