Caio Machado spent his formative years as a professional mixed martial artist cutting his teeth in the Battlefield Fight League promotion on the Canadian regional scene. He believes the time served him well in his climb to the upper reaches of the sport, paving the way for his turn on Dana White’s Contender Series in August and his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut a little more than three months later.
Machado—a Brazilian heavyweight who settled in Vancouver, British Columbia—will attempt to rebound from a Nov. 18 decision defeat to the unbeaten Michael Parkin when he takes on Don’Tale Mayes as part of the UFC on ESPN 55 undercard this Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The setback against Parkin was his first in more than five years. In response, Machado branched out with his preparation for Mayes. “I did travel a lot for this fight,” he said. In addition to his training at Franco Kickboxing and Pankration close to home, those travels took Machado to Hugo Goncalves’ Inside Muay Thai in Brazil and the UFC Performance Institute and Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas.
Mayes, meanwhile, enters the cage having lost two of his past three bouts. However, the 6-foot-6 Louisville, Kentucky, native presents a host of physical challenges for Machado, most notably the two-inch height and three-inch reach advantages he will possess. Mayes owns UFC victories over Andrei Arlovski, Josh Parisian and Roque Martinez.
“At this high level, no one sucks,” Machado said. “Everyone is skilled and dangerous, especially heavyweights. Everyone at heavyweight has heavy hands and can drop or be dropped. Mayes is a good fighter who’s had lots of interesting opponents, but as far as our games go, I feel I have more techniques and speed. My speed and stamina will make the difference in our fight. He won’t be able to keep up. He won’t be able to find me with his strikes.”
The 32-year-old Mayes last competed at UFC Fight Night 231, where he dropped a three-round unanimous decision to Rodrigo Nascimento in their Nov. 4 rematch. It has been business as usual for Machado ahead of their encounter, though he did focus on correcting some of the perceived flaws that cost him against Parkin.
“Without being rude, I don’t see anything special about Mayes that would necessitate a change in my game,” he said. “He avoids the ground and will want to bang it out. I like doing that, too. During this camp, I worked on improving myself. I felt my cardio and physical strength could have been better last time around.”
Still just 29 years of age, Machado holds high hopes for his 2024 campaign.
“My plan is to reach the Top 15 by year’s end,” he said. “I want to remain injury-free, fight three times this year and always look for tougher challenges.”