this time he competed under the name of Lyoto, written in all caps. He was discussed by Inoki as a symbolic "successor" figure for himself, as Naoya Ogawa and Kazuyuki Fujita had been in the past. In his second fight, he defeated future UFC Hall of Famer Stephan Bonnar by technical knockout due to a cut in the inaugural event promoted by Jungle Fight in Manaus, Brazil. This was Bonnar's first professional loss. On 31 December 2003, he took part in Inoki's annual event Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003, where he fought future UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin in a catchweight bout in which both men weighed in at 214 lbs (97 kg). In front of over 40,000 fans at Kobe Wing Stadium, Machida defeated Franklin via TKO in the second round. He staggered Franklin with a counter left punch and knocked him down with a front kick to the face, finishing up with punches which forced the referee to stop the fight. This was Franklin's first professional defeat. Following this, Machida went on to compete for the K-1 promotion, where he beat kickboxers Michael McDonald (by submission) and Sam Greco (by split decision) under MMA rules. When K-1 began promoting Hero's, a series of fight cards featuring only MMA bouts rather than cards mixed with kickboxing matches, Machida was transferred there. He took on former UFC Welterweight Champion B.J. Penn on 26 March 2005, in Saitama at Hero's 1 in an openweight match. Machida weighed in at while Penn weighed in at . Machida won by unanimous decision. Ultimate Fighting Championship Machida made his UFC debut on the preliminary card of UFC 67 against Sam Hoger and won by unanimous decision. He was expected to fight Forrest Griffin at UFC 70, but Griffin became ill with a staph infection and was replaced by undefeated David Heath, whom Machida beat by unanimous decision. He next faced judo practitioner and Pride Fighting Championship veteran Kazuhiro Nakamura at UFC 76. Machida won by unanimous decision and Nakamura would later test positive for marijuana. At UFC 79, Machida faced Sokoudjou, a judo practitioner making his UFC debut after back-to-back upset knockout victories over Pride veterans Antônio Rogério Nogueira and Ricardo Arona. Machida submitted Sokoudjou with an arm triangle choke at 4:20 of the second round. Machida's next fight was at UFC 84 against former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz, in what was thought to