Lyoto Machida drops to 185, faces Tim Kennedy at UFC Fight for the Troops 3

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida (19-4 MMA, 11-4 UFC) will make his middleweight debut this November when he takes on military hero Tim Kennedy (16-4 MMA, 1-0 UFC) at the UFC’s third “Fight for the Troops” show. UFC President Dana White announced the fight late Wednesday evening on “FOX Sports Live.”

Machida is coming off a controversial split-decision loss to Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis at UFC 163 in Brazil. Since losing the 205-pound strap to Maruicio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 113 in Montreal, “The Dragon” has gone 3-3 inside the octagon. Prior to the Davis bout, Machida was coming off back-to-back wins over Ryan Bader and Dan Henderson respectively.

Meanwhile, Strikeforce import Tim Kennedy made his UFC debut at July’s UFC 162 event, where he scored a unanimous decision victrory over Roger Gracie. While under the Strikeforce banner, Kennedy fought for the middleweight title on two occasions, but was unsuccesful in his bids to dethrone then champions Ronaldo Souza and Luke Rockhold.

The UFC’s “Fight for the Troops 3” event is set to take place November 6 at Fort Campbell, a U.S. Army installation in Kentucky. The main card is expected to air on FOX Sports 1 and the event is expected to serve as UFC Fight Night 31.

Stay tuned to BJPENN.com for further updates!