Props: lyotomachida.com
In a great fight between “Sugar” Rashad Evans and Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida, Machida was able to again win both rounds of the fight, and take the belt from Evans, who was defending it for the first time. Machida was on his game tonight. He is definitely showing the Karate (at least Shotokan) is nothing to sneeze at. Machida dominated both rounds. Round one was basically slow for the first half, Machida throwing a couple of really solid kicks to the body of Evans, but when Machida decided that he had found his opening, get out of the way, cause he was like a raging bull going through Evans. He would strike Evans in the face with viciously fast blows, and it seemed like he had “The Force” when Evans would punch or kick, because Machida would just move out of the way, and continue his domination.
Round two proved to be the greatest part of the fight. Machida saw his opening, and when he struck he rattled Evans, knocked him down, and unlike many fighters who throw and couple more punches, and their opponent is able to back off and recover, Machida kept coming. He saw the opening and kept pushing, finally landing several punishing blows, one of which caught Evans in the jaw with his mouth open: Lights Out!
Machida is beginning to appear to be like one of these guys that is invincible. His fighting stance is very strange, he does not lean forward at all like most fighters, but almost leans back, making it harder to judge the distance and get in on him. He is also very fast. His head movement, and his striking with both his fists and feet are lighting fast. It’s as though he knows what his opponent is going to do, and is ready to react before they are able to do it. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has said that Machida is a boring fighter, but tonight he proved to be very exciting, and he is quickly becoming one of my favorites.
What is the deal with Matt Hughes and Matt Serra! UFC showed the UFC 98 Countdown: Evans vs Machida tonight on Spike. I think it is interesting to hear Serra say how Hughes is so arrogant, and rude to other people around him, when he is the one talking so much trash on the UFC 98 Countdown. What is up with that guy. He talks about Hughes being so arrogant, but his attitude is the same thing. What a hypocrite.
Quinton Rampage Jackson and Keith “The Dean of Mean” Jardine fought in UFC 96, with Rampage coming out on top. Although before the fight, my money was on Rampage, Jardine fought a great fight. His odd fighting style, with his aggressiveness allowed to him to take (in my opinion) the first round. Rampage was just able to be aggressive enough to keep the judges on his side for the second and third round. Right at the end of the third round Rampage had some solid blows that knocked Jardine down and he was able to take the third round.
