With an amazing win over “Sugar” Rashad Evans on Saturday night’s UFC 98, Lyoto Machida takes the light heavyweight belt and fulfills a long-awaited dream—to be a champ. He’ll also continue his reign as an undefeated UFC fighter. Pretty remarkable.
You may not know much about Machida, but you should know this, he’s an elusive fighter with a rhythm that makes him a huge challenge to any opponent. His father, Yoshizo Machida, a Japanese-Brazilian Shotokan karate master, moved to Belem, Brazil, around the age of 20, when he was the 3rd-ranked karate master in the world. Lyoto was born into a family that inspired him to become a champion. Training every day beginning at the age of 3, Machida continued to excel through various martial arts, including sumo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
His southpaw stance and off-tempo rhythm make him formidable, not to mention his incredible speed and ability to strike at the most obscure angles—whether he is leading the chase or recoiling—his strikes are difficult to forecast. Plus, his leg sweeps are ridiculous—his movement is so fluid that most opponents don’t stand a chance deciphering his footwork. His record attests to his vast skill set: Machida is said to have never lost a single round based on the judges’ score cards in any of his fights.
Makes you wonder if Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida will hold on to the belt for quite sometime. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to comment below.
Which brings me to my main thought. Will karate see its long-overdue comeback? I can’t help but think that it will. This will bring a whole new following into the UFC crowd and perhaps draw more people to karate. It will certainly be interesting to watch the progression of the challengers for the light heavyweight group. Imagine matchups with some of the guys in the 205s; I mean, we’ve got Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Keith “The Dean of Mean” Jardine, Eliot Marshall, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Brandon “The Truth” Vera, Thiago Silva, Wanderlai “The Axe Murderer” Silva, Andre Gusmao, and Ryan Bader (just to name a few). I bet we’ll see Rampage and Machida fight next. What a great matchup that will be.