Despite past accusations, Gegard Mousasi says Lyoto Machida's USADA suspension 'a little bit too much'

BELFAST, Northern Ireland – Gegard Mousasi has made plenty of strong statements about Lyoto Machida in the past. However, even he thinks the recent 18-month suspension handed out to the former UFC light heavyweight champion and middleweight title challenger was slightly harsh.

Mousasi (40-6-2 MMA, 7-3 UFC), who fights Uriah Hall (12-7 MMA, 5-5 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 99 headliner at SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland, fought Machida (22-7 MMA, 14-7 UFC) in February 2014 and lost a unanimous decision. Afterward, he accused “The Dragon” of greasing in the fight, which, if true, would not be legal.

His claims were never proven, but earlier this year Machida admitted use of a banned substance to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), which oversees drug testing for the UFC, prior to a scheduled fight with Lyoto Machida at UFC on FOX 18. He was pulled from the fight, and earlier this week was handed an 18-month suspension retroactive to April 8 of this year.

Although “The Dreamcatcher” still believes Machida was “greased up” for their bout, he said he can’t speak to potential performance-enhancing drug use.

“100 percent he was greased up (in our fight) – 100 percent,” Mousasi told MMAjunkie. “I don’t know. Go watch back the fight, people that don’t believe me. He was shiny. You could put him behind the window and you can sell something. What can I say? That’s cheating. But other than that, he wasn’t caught for that fight for steroids. He looked lean, lean for a 36-year-old man with baby muscle and stomach of a 40-year-old. It was suspicious. But that, I can’t say anything about it. but at the end of the day he’s a fighter, you have to respect him and I think 18 months it a little bit too much.”

Machida hasn’t competed since June 2015 when he was brutally knocked out by top-ranked middleweight contender Yoel Romero, who is next scheduled to challenge current champ Michael Bisping. He won’t be eligible to fight again until October 2017, at which point he will be 39 years old.

Despite his past comments, Mousasi admits Machida’s suspension was probably overboard, and said he hopes his former opponent eventually comes back to the octagon.

“I said a lot of things about him, but at the end of the day, hopefully he come back soon,” Mousasi said. “I got nothing against the guy, but he got 18 months, some guys got less of a suspension so maybe he didn’t deserve to be suspended for that long. Hopefully he comes back.”

Machida, meanwhile, still claims innocence in the situation.

For more on UFC Fight Night 99, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.