If he can't have this Brazilian bomber, perhaps Luke Rockhold would be willing to settle for another.

Lyoto Machida, who is fresh off a wildly-entertaining five-round war against Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight champion Chris Weidman at UFC 175 on July 5, 2014 (video highlights here), wants to face Rocky next inside the Octagon.

Machida (via Bloody Elbow) says he is injury free, despite his 25 minutes of action against "All American," and he should be ready to get back into the swing of things this October. And what better way to do it than by facing another former champion.

His words:

"I had no injuries against Weidman, after the fight I went back training moderately. In September I'll start working hard and in October I'll be able to have a fight. It's up to the UFC to choose my opponent. I would like to face Rockhold. He's a former Strikeforce champion, I respect him a lot. I don't dislike him, we get along well, but it's a fight that makes sense for both of us and for the fans, once we have good ranking positions and think on the belt."

In addition, Machida says he has no plans on going back up to light heavyweight, despite coming up short in his 185-pound title bid.

"I haven't thought after my bout with Weidman about leaving the middleweight division, not for a second. I want to still test myself against top 10 guys. Beside Rockhold, there are other fighters that I want to face, but they have fights scheduled."

While a fight between Rockhold and Machida would be interesting to say the least, it might be a bit difficult for "The Dragon" to get his wish.

Rockhold is currently on standby to see if "frail" Vitor Belfort will flunk one of his mandated pre-fight drug tests ahead of "The Phenom's" middleweight title fight against the aforementioned Weidman. Should Belfort not be able to make the Dec. 6, 2014 date to face Chris at UFC 181, Rockhold is ready and willing to step in.

Should his title fight hopes not happen this year, Luke will likely shift his focus to Michael Bisping, as he recently declared he's ready to put their bitter war of words to rest.

Of course, that's only if "The Count" manages to "squeak by" Cung Le at UFC Fight Night 48 next month.

And since Rockhold, who is currently riding a two-fight win streak, is only eying a title fight, a Belfort do-over, or at the very least a contender coming off a win, signing on the dotted line to face someone coming off a loss might not be on his agenda.

Then again, Joe Silva can use his veto powers to make this happen.