Former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida makes his middleweight debut Saturday night in Manchester, England, where he faces recent training partner Mark Munoz.
The UFC Fight Night 30 main event became official on Friday when the participants made weight. Munoz stepped on the scale first and weighed 186 pounds. Machida weighed 185.
"It was very hard [cutting to 185], but I did this for four weeks," Machida said "It's tough to face me friend Mark Munoz, but we are professional.
"The winner buys dinner. I will buy the dinner."
Machida and Munoz accepted a late offer from UFC officials just two days after training together. Each fighter was preparing to face other opponents -- Machida was in line to meet Tim Kennedy in a Nov. 6 light heavyweight bout. Munoz was originally set to take on Michael Bisping on Saturday.
While they were both initially reluctant to fight one another, they eventually agreed.
Machida will seek to rebound from an Aug. 3 unanimous-decision loss to Phil Davis at UFC 163. Munoz eyes his second win in a row -- he dominated Tim Boetsch in July en route to a unanimous decision.
Lightweights Melvin Guillard and Ross Pearson weighed 155 and 156, respectively, for their co-main event showdown.
After a cup of tea at featherweight, Pearson returns to the 155-pound division where he seeks to extend his win streak to three. Guillard eyes his second win in a row.
With the exception of flyweight John Lineker, every other fighter on the card made weight. Lineker, who has had difficulty making the 125-pound limit in recent bouts, tipped the scale at 128 -- two pounds above the nontitle flyweight limit. His opponent, Phil Harris, weighed 125.
Lineker was given an hour to cut the weight, but opted not to accept the offer. He will relinquish 25 percent of his purse.
