UFC Fight Night 119 headliner Lyoto Machida credits new life outside octagon for getting him back

SAO PAULO – For the first time in his career, Lyoto Machida is learning what it’s like to deal with a lengthy layoff.

But it turns out, the Brazilian former champion said, it’s been pretty good for him.

Machida (22-7 MMA, 14-7 UFC) on Saturday headlines UFC Fight Night 119 in Sao Paulo against Derek Brunson (17-5 MMA, 8-3 UFC). It will be the first fight in more than two years for Machida, a former light heavyweight champion who has been trying to work his way to title contention at middleweight.

An 18-month suspension for a drug test violation has kept Machida without a fight since June 2015. But he returns at Ibirapuera Gymnasium in Sao Paulo. The main card airs on FS1 following prelims on FS2 and UFC Fight Pass.

And he returns with a new outlook on life and fighting.

“Most of the things I’ve been learning throughout this year and these months that I’ve been out was outside the octagon,” Machida told MMAjunkie today. “Our life is a fight. You have to face so many problems in your life. When something happens in your life, sometimes you don’t know how to act or what to do. That happened with me as soon as the episode happened about the doping.

“At the beginning, I was very stressed. I was very emotionally affected. Then, a couple months later, I could move (past) everything. But it was difficult because I had to accept everything. When you don’t accept everything, you’re going to struggle over and over again.”

And after Machida accepted that he was going to be sitting for a while, he started to turn the corner. He even said he thought at first that he might be at the end of the line for his MMA career, given the extended period he was going to be out.

But then he thought about his love of martial arts, and … well, he started cooking, even.

“I started learning different things, different potential that I had,” Machida said. “I could express everything. I learned how to cook. I stayed with my family. I stayed with my parents. I could travel more. I could enjoy life. Sometimes, when you are in fight camp, you don’t have this time. I thought positively and thought, ‘This is going to help me.’

“At the end of the day, it was beneficial to me because I could be a better person. Icould be a better human being. that’s the life. … This episode showed me life has more. Life goes beyond the octgon, beyond being an athlete.”

For more from Machida, check out the video above.

And for more on UFC Fight Night 119, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.