Ladies and gentlemen, have you ever been super excited about something that everyone around you didn't consider a big deal? Well that's how I feel about this fight. For me, Machida versus Mousasi is one of the most intriguing match-ups we will see this year. And I'm trying to determine why this fight isn't generating more buzz. Because in my mind, it should be front page news. ESPN should be covering it, interviewing the fighters, their trainers, their close friends--do they have pets? Let's interview them, too!
The winner of this fight should be the consensus number one contender at 185 pounds. The champion, Chris Weidman, who is coming off back-to-back wins against the greatest of all time, Anderson Silva, will be facing Vitor Belfort shortly. The winner of that fight will almost certainly face the winner of this fight. That means this fight between Machida and Mousasi is of paramount importance. We could be watching the next middleweight champion. So again, why does it feel like no one cares?
Is it because Lyoto Machida and Gegard Mousasi are relatively unknown? Well, that may apply to Mousasi, who has spent most of his career outside of the UFC, but that doesn't apply to Machida. Machida is a well-known commodity who has fought a number of big name opponents over the years. In fact, he had generated a ton of buzz long before ever being signed to the UFC. Why was that, you ask? Because as a young prospect, he had already beaten several UFC notables such as former middleweight champion Rich Franklin (and this was before Franklin won the title), former 170 pound champion B.J. Penn, and The Ultimate Fighter standout Stephan Bonner. When he finally made it to the UFC, hardcore fans were drooling all over themselves anticipating how he would do against the best of the best. His first three fights in the UFC were not electrifying (he won all three by unanimous decision), but in those fights he displayed something that had never been seen in the Octagon before. He displayed what a world class practitioner of karate who had also trained extensively in jiu-jitsu and takedown defense looked like. And it looked good! His opponents were befuddled. They could not adapt to his rhythm. All of their punches fell short. Their takedowns were stuffed. Their kicks sliced through the air, but missed the elusive karateka.
Let me tell you why this was so ground breaking. Prior to Machida, karate did not have a favorable reputation for effectiveness in the octagon. In the early UFCs, where most of the competitors were not cross-trained, the karate guys usually lost to the guys versed in ground fighting (jiu-jitsu, wrestling, sambo, etc.) or to the guys versed in combat sport striking (muay thai, boxing, kick boxing, etc.). Over the years, some champions like Georges St. Pierre claimed a karate base (meaning they began their martial arts training with karate but then branched off and studied other fighting arts as well), but St. Pierre's fighting style was far more wrestling based than karate based by the time he was fighting for world titles. Machida was the first competitor to utilize a karate-first style successfully.
When it was announced that Machida's fourth fight in the Octagon would be against Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, fans went nuts! The message boards at Sherdog and The Underground were filled with threads about the fight. Sokoudjou was coming off giant wins against two of the best 205 pounders in the world: Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Ricardo Arona. And not only had he beaten those top ten guys, he knocked them out. Cold. There was enormous hype surrounding Sokoudjou. Many expected him to catch Machida with a bomb and put him to sleep. But that is not what happened. Instead, Machida's point-fighting defense proved too difficult for Sokoudjou. Like everyone else, he couldn't hit what he couldn't catch. Machida was only in the line of fire long enough to blast Sokoudjou with quick counter strikes, and then he was gone, like a ghost. In the second round, Machida landed one of those laser beam punches and then showed the world that he was more than a one-trick pony. He slapped on a tight arm triangle choke and submitted Sokoudjou!
At that point, the mma world was officially in love with Lyoto Machida. Not only could he pick apart opponents with karate, he could also choke them unconscious! This catapulted him into the most high-profile fight of his career (up to that point): a goodbye match against the always-in-the-news, UFC badboy, Tito Ortiz. This was supposed to be Tito's last fight in the UFC. Tito's public arguments with UFC President, Dana White, were the stuff of legend. Consequently, Dana did Ortiz no favors by matching him against Machida. Dana could have, and some argued should have, given Tito an easier fight as a going away present. After all, Tito had been the standard bearer for the UFC for years. Indeed, there was a time when Tito was the face of mixed martial arts for most North Americans. Some believed he deserved better. Throwing an old, ring-worn Tito Ortiz in against a young, hungry Lyoto Machida was seen in many circles as throwing Tito to the wolves. And that is pretty much what we saw on May 24th, 2008. Tito lost every second of every round except for the end of the third round, when he caught Machida in a triangle choke. For a moment, it looked as if Tito would shock the world! But Lyoto slipped out of the choke and went on to dominate the rest of the fight.
Lyoto's next match was against a man who has been in the news quite a bit this past week: Thiago Silva. For those of you who missed it, Thiago Silva was arrested this week for allegedly attempting to shoot his ex-wife and her new lover. Some reports state that he also threatened to shoot everyone at the new lover's jiu-jitsu school. Details are fuzzy at the moment, but it does appear that he had a standoff with SWAT officers before finally being taken into custody. The UFC immediately fired Silva and Dana White said he would "never fight again" in the Octagon. But in January of 2009, Thiago Silva was an undefeated monster of a man. He had finished all four of his UFC opponents and all but one of his nine pre-UFC opponents. And he did so with a gusto rarely seen in the sport. At times, it looked like he really enjoyed hurting his opponents. If anyone was born to be a fighter, it was Thiago. He looked like the guy who was only happy in the heat of battle, only happy when stalking prey and smashing them.
Going into the fight, fans were split on who would win. Both men were undefeated. Both men brought formidable skill-sets into the Octagon, and both men looked unstoppable. But Lyoto needed less than a round to show the world that Silva was indeed stoppable. Machida dove into Silva's guard with a reverse punch that had everything behind it, and he knocked out Silva with that punch. It was a sensational performance--the kind of performance that left no doubt that he was worthy of a title shot. By all accounts, he was the most deserving contender to face new champion Rashad Evans, who had recently knocked out Forrest Griffin to win the title.
I could write at length about Rashad Evans. His career has been up and down. His story is a fascinating one that played out on The Ultimate Fighter--where he competed as a heavyweight!--and continued in the UFC. But that would be too much of a digression. Suffice it to say that Rashad Evans was an undefeated champion when he stared across the cage at Lyoto Machida. He was a crushed, brutalized former champion when he left the cage. Machida hit Rashad with a perfectly timed left hook that folded the champion in half. The disfigured, brain-addled picture of Rashad's face as he lay crumbled on the canvas remains one of the most frequently Photoshopped images on the net--at least on mma sites. Here it is for those of you who have never seen it:
And here is the GIF of the knockout:
Crazy, right? That's what Machida did to an undefeated champion. As you might expect, this caused a planet-wide breakout of Machida fever. Joe Rogan famously declared, "Welcome to the Machida era!" And at the time, it truly felt as if the Machida era would last forever. Who could possibly have the tools necessary to stop the master karateka? Surely it wouldn't be Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (pronounced Hoo'-uh, by the way), who had lost his first foray into the UFC, and then struggled against a past-his-prime Mark Coleman before knocking out an also long-in-the-tooth Chuck Liddell. Rua didn't look like the same man who wrecked top competition in Pride years before. This Rua looked like a shadow of his former self. Most expected Machida to easily defeat his fellow countryman. Rua would merely be the first notch on Machida's belt, the first of many title defenses.
But someone forgot to tell that to Rua. Shogun harnessed the essence of what had made him so great when he burst onto the scene in Japan, winning the 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix, which was, at the time, the most prestigious event any 205 pound fighter could hope to win. He seemed unaffected by Machida's elusive karate style. Over and over again, Rua slammed his shin into Machida's leg like a baseball bat. Indeed, he seemed to win most of their exchanges. Not only had he solved the Machida puzzle, he presented one that Machida was unable to solve himself. After five rounds, most expected ring announcer Michael Buffer to shout, "...and NEW champion!" But he didn't. He shouted, "...and STILL champion: Lyoto 'The Dragon' Machida!"
Some called it the worst decision of the year. Machida had defended his title, but few considered it legitimate. UFC President Dana White was one of those who felt that Rua deserved the victory, and he scheduled an immediate rematch. Seven months later, Rua would not leave it up to the judges. He knocked out Machida and it took him less than a round to do it.
And just like that, the Machida era was over.
He had to start over again. His first fight after the loss was against former champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, star of The A-Team and all around bad mama jama. Here is a photo of Rampage from the movie:
On November 20th, 2010, Machida fought Rampage in the main event of UFC 123. In a lackluster affair that saw neither man hurt, Machida received a visit from old man Karma himself, and lost a decision. Most thought he won the fight. Even Rampage quipped, "That dude whooped my [butt]."
Suddenly, Machida had lost two straight. The man who had appeared unbeatable now looked like he would be in danger of losing his UFC contract if he didn't win his next fight. He had to turn things around in a hurry if he didn't want to lose his job. The UFC matched him against the legendary Randy Couture. And turn things around he did. Machida landed a leaping front kick to Couture's face that left the fabled warrior unconscious.
With one electrifying kick, Machida had reignited fan fever. No one could stop talking about the win, and just like that, Machida found himself, not only back in the good graces of the UFC, but back in a title fight! This time against the young, undefeated Jon Jones, who had brutalized the man who knocked out Machida: Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. That's right, Jon Jones had beaten the man who had beaten Machida. Brutally. And now Machida would face his conqueror's conqueror. Say that five times fast.
Machida gave a good account of himself. In fact, he is the first man to have won a round against the reigning champion, Jon Jones. After the first round, many fans wondered if Machida's style was too complex a problem for the champion. Few men had been able to adapt successfully to Machida's karate style. Perhaps Jon Jones would be the same. But Jones showed why he is a great champion. In the second round, he closed the distance, pushed Machida up against the cage, caught him in a standing guillotine, and choked him unconscious. When he let go of the choke, Machida collapsed lifelessly to the canvas.
Once again, Machida would need to bounce back from a humiliating defeat. He did so immediately against The Ultimate Fighter Winner, Ryan Bader. Bader looked to bully Machida the way Shogan Rua had, but he learned that doing so requires split-second timing and a cast iron jaw, because Machida caught Bader with a perfectly timed counterpunch as the Arizona wrestler bullrushed him. It was yet another breathtaking performance by Machida.
But Machida followed up that brilliant performance with with two not-so-brilliant performances. In fact, some would describe them as boring. The first was a split-decision win against certain Hall-of-Famer Dan Henderson, the second was a controversial loss to wrestling stand-out, Phil Davis. Like I said, neither fight did Machida any favors with fans or with the UFC brass. No one knew what to expect from Machida. Should they expect the guy who could knock you out with a perfectly timed counter strike or the guy who would run circles around you and rarely engage in anything significant?
This gave Machida reason to reinvent himself once again. He had began his career as a pudgy heavyweight. Then he had dropped some pounds and looked in great shape at Light Heavyweight (205 lbs). But Machida figured he could shed a few more pounds. 20 pounds, to be precise. So that is what he did in October 2013. He successfully made the cut to 185 pounds and faced his friend and training partner, Mark "The Filipino Wrecking Machine" Munoz.
Which Machida showed up? The knockout artist or the guy who danced around opponents without actually fighting them? I'll let this clip answer the question:
As you can see, Machida looked amazing. The weight cut didn't seem to have any negative affect on him. In fact, many thought he looked better than ever. And that was his last fight. This weekend, he fights again.
If he were facing just an average UFC fighter, I would still be excited to see Machida fight. The above clips demonstrate why. When he is on his game, Machida is one of the most dangerous fighters on the planet. But he isn't facing just anybody. He is facing Gegard "The Dream Catcher" Mousasi. And like Machida, when he is on his game, he is one of the baddest men on the planet.
Check out my next post, and I will show you why. Until then, touch gloves and come out fighting.
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