Rafael Carvalho Not Sure Why He Lost Decision to Lyoto Machida at Bellator 214

Rafael Carvalho spoke with MMAjunkie following his loss to Lyoto Machida at Bellator 214. Highlights are below:

On losing to Lyoto Machida by decision at Bellator 213: “It was clear that I won Round 1. The second one I may have won by a small margin, but I still won. And the third one, he undeniably won, because of the takedown and all. But it’s what my master says, you can’t leave it up to the judges. So I made that mistake, of leaving it up to them. Not that I made a mistake – it’s just, dealing with a dangerous fighter like Lyoto, you can’t just go in there carelessly, thinking you’ve got it in the bag. But, now, it’s about picking up the pieces and moving forward, because life goes on.”

On his reaction to the loss: “I have no words to express it, because I don’t know the criteria the refs use nowadays. You can’t tell what they’re thinking, what type of fight that they watch. The athlete who moves backward wins, and the one who’s moving forward and pursuing the fight more isn’t winning. So you can’t tell which fight they’re watching. If they’re really paying attention to the event, I don’t know. I can’t tell. I can’t have that perception…I believe maybe Lyoto, himself, might not believe that he won this fight. It’s tough. It’s tough to say, because the way it was – I’m not taking away from Lyoto’s merits, not at all. But I haven’t come to terms with the way the judges saw it.”

On his punch that broke his broke Machida’s nose: “I saw his nose was crooked, bleeding abundantly. In other cases, the doctor, when they go in, they stop the fight (to preserve) the integrity of the athlete. And that’s another thing that’s complicated. Say it was with me, maybe they would have made a different decision. I don’t want to say things without proof, or raise false (suspicion), but it’s strange. Because in any other event, when they see the athlete broke their nose, the doctor promptly says, ‘There’s no way, stop this,’ so as not to make it worse.”

On Machida’s name value potentially factoring in: “It was Lyoto’s debut. I’ll give you a fight as an example: (middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi’s) debut fight. His eye was totally closed, the doctor comes in, takes a look – many things go through your head.”

On what’s next for him: “I’m going over my options and, who knows, I might move up a division. (Muhammad Lawal) said, ‘Move up to 205. You’re tall. You’ll be strong and fast.’ He said, ‘If you move up, I’ll fight you.’ I said ‘Cool, it’s a deal, then.’”

On how he gets to a title shot: “It’s what I always say: I don’t mind having to do this walk all over again. To climb to the top of the mountain. I don’t fuss over it. Maybe that’s even better for me, to go step by step, respecting those who are in front of me.”