Rashad Evans expects to fight Lyoto Machida

Despite the announcements at UFC 96 that Rashad Evans would fight Quinton "Rampage" Jackson for the title if Rampage managed to defeat Keith Jardine, it looks like it's going to be Lyoto Machida who finally gets the title shot. Sherdog reports:

"As I learned, 'Rampage' might need time off," Evans told the Sherdog Radio Network's "Beatdown" show on Monday. "It'll probably be Lyoto Machida, but I haven't gotten a confirmation on that."

"I don't know. I've just got that feeling," said Evans. "Just listening to him when we were in the ring talking he was kind of like, 'Yeah man you're lucky I wasn't 100 percent' and he started making excuses and I was thinking like it sounds like an excuse-fest is about to happen, so I know he ain't going to take no fight with me. He's making excuses now."

And on facing Lyoto Machida:

"The kid's been phenomenal," said Evans. "He's been better than phenomenal. He's been looking better every fight. But that's the fight business. That's the fun part about a fight is the fact that you go in there with an opponent that sometimes seems insurmountable. But then you figure it out and that makes the victory that much sweeter. With that said, there may be some kinks in his armor that I have yet to see that I can exploit when I look at the tapes more closely. Nobody's unbeatable. Machida's been looking slicker than I don't know what, but everybody has a weakness even if you do look slick as oil. Everyone has a weakness."

Ooh, this is exciting. I really hope this happens, because as much as I like Rashad and Rampage, I love Lyoto Machida. Hmm, maybe "love" isn't the right word here. What do you call it when you have a life sized cardboard cutout of somebody and a print of their face on your pillow case?