The fight took place in March of 2005, and the strongest impression I got from watching this match was how far Lyoto Machida has come in the last four years. BJ did a great job against a bigger stronger opponent, and yes, he hit Machida harder than Tito, Thiago Silva, or Soukoudjou were able to, but was clearly outpointed by a faster, more accurate Machida. Leg kicks were a major part of this bout, as Machida scored multiple leg kicks over the course of the fight. Notice at the announcement of the decision, BJ applauds his victorious opponent, in a way that said to me he conceded defeat.

Comparing the Machida that beat BJ and the fighter that will meet Rashad Evans is a valid part of an in depth analysis, but in my opinion, Lyoto Machida has come light years in the four years since the Penn fight. He displays an almost psychic anticipation of his opponent’s movements, defending successfully against their strikes, but staying within scoring range to counter. Machida picked Tito apart, as anyone who looks at Ortiz’s face following that fight will attest, and we all saw what he did to Thiago Silva.

Rashad Evans has had a similar evolution since winning TUF. His success against Chuck and Forrest have contributed to his growing confidence, helping Rashad wield a more well rounded repertoire of weapons in the ring, including devastating punching power. The head kick against Sean Salmon had already demonstrated that the fighter previously assumed to be most talented in the wrestling realm had more options at his disposal, and the total knockout of Liddell confirmed the arrival of a potential champion.

The Machida/Evans match has all the elements of a classic battle, with two ascending fighters at the height of their learning curve, at the peak of their powers. Whatever you think of Machida’s past competition, his unblemished record says he finds a way to win. He’s taken a lot of heat for not being “exciting” enough, for being a “boring” fighter, but I can’t see how a real fan fight would find perfection boring. He displays true martial arts prowess in the MMA ring, in a way that has set him apart as unique among the elite fighters presently active.

I respect Evans fighting ability, another fighter who has almost always found a way to win, has never been officially defeated in the pro ring, but I favor Machida in this match up. I feel Machida will be able to defend successfully against Evans’ standup striking, and has ground skills to more than match Rashad if it goes to the mat. I see it as a five round decision victory, but Lyoto showed impressive power against Thiago Silva, maybe that will come into play once again. Either way, I think it will be an excellent fight, and Machida is a deserving challenger for Rashad’s title.

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Yes Grappo I feel that most of the people here and the ufc are using some of machidas prior out of ufc fights as credentials to get a title shot. I feelin that case that they should list them on The UFC website.

That goes for just about every fighter, not just Machida. Think Rampage, Noguiera, CroCop, Wanderlei, Shogun, A. Silva, etc, ad nauseum. Many of them got a title shot in their 2nd UFC fight, providing they won their first. At the very least, they got contenders to face in their 1st or 2nd outings. That’s all about past experience, and UFC.com doesn’t list any of their fights outside the UFC. I agree that the entire resume should be listed (PRIDE especially, since ZUFFA acquired them and they are defunct anyway.) Not saying Machida is on the same level as those guys in terms or accomplishment and recognition, but he had an impressive enough resume coming into the UFC, and it took them entirely too long to give him opponents that could test him. If you think he’s getting special treatment now, maybe they are making up for the fact that they screwed him over to begin with.

Like you say the penn fight was sloppy. Isnt the first round longer? Penn was clearly ahead after the first found and then after the second round because no one did much penn is still ahead then on the third round when penn is dead tired machida lands a few good strikes but never puts penn in danger. This puts them at about equal and thinking out side the box had penn in better shape (hard to do when you are out of your weight class) penn would have been tougher. Machida had no excuse being so sloppy and this makes penn look good because he showed he was there to fight. In a decision there is alot more to look at than a flashy head stomp that had no effect. Its everything who wants it more.

No they were three 5-minute rounds.

You and I just see the fight very differently I guess. I watched it again after your original post and took notes to evaluate it as accurately as possible. I gave the first round to Penn for being more aggressive and landing a couple of big punches and the takedown. He basically blew his gas tank throwing haymakers because he knew he was screwed if he didn’t finish it quick. 2nd round Machida landed a lot more strikes and had a takedown, as well as pretty much controlling the fight. 3rd round Penn didn’t do anything but land one jab and Machida landed punches, kicks and multiple takedowns. How can you deny that, when it’s fact?

It was a sloppy, boring fight, but neither one of the guys were in top condition, or fighting in the styles that we’re accustomed to seeing from them. Fighters have off-days. That was Machida’s 6th MMA fight. He’s honed his style and improved vastly since then.

Let me ask you this – If Penn and Machida were to rematch, just how do you think that would go?

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Good Luck to both.

p.s. C’mon Machida..LOL

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Like you say the penn fight was sloppy. Isnt the first round longer? Penn was clearly ahead after the first found and then after the second round because no one did much penn is still ahead then on the third round when penn is dead tired machida lands a few good strikes but never puts penn in danger. This puts them at about equal and thinking out side the box had penn in better shape (hard to do when you are out of your weight class) penn would have been tougher. Machida had no excuse being so sloppy and this makes penn look good because he showed he was there to fight. In a decision there is alot more to look at than a flashy head stomp that had no effect. Its everything who wants it more.

Also RU486 you make machida sound like he has never been hit but in both the franklin and penn fight he got hit. Penn not known for being the best striker. Rashad is faster and has knock out power, machida will get hit. And rashad is a much better striker than tito he can close the gap. He never tried to sub penn and had a hard time getting up. Penn is weeker than rashad and not known for wrestling or holding someone down. This is MMA Rachad trains for jujitsu its not like he has never seen it.

Oh yeah that sloppy spin kick of machidas could get him in trouble he needs a few lessons from Cung Lee that man can throw kicks.

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perfecto
And if you are going to count all of his previous fights outside of the ufc as credentials for him getting a title shot than they should be listed on the ufc stats dont you think.

Not sure what you mean by UFC stats. Do you mean the fighter stats on the UFC website?

perfecto
I wondered why penn wasnt brought up its because penn won that fight. Penn dominated machida on the ground the first round and then after that had plenty of counters to keep his score up. Not to mention penn fought way out of his weight class and machida still wasnt stronger he is going to have trouble with that. The only thing machida did impressive in that fight is that sweet little back trip nice but then he was all oh no he is down what should i do. I cant stand penn but i felt bad for him he got robbed.

I didn’t mention Penn because BJ was almost 190 in that fight, and Lyoto was out of shape as well. I’m not going to use Penn as an example just because he’s a big name. They were both fat and tired, and it was a sloppy fight.

That said, I think your assessment of the fight is way off. Penn was not robbed. Watch it again. Penn won the first round. 2nd round, they were about equal with punches, but Machida landed a lot of powerful leg and body kicks, as well as the takedown. 3rd round Penn landed ONE good jab. That was the only strike that really connected on his part. Machida took him down 3 times, landed a few punches, a nasty head stomp, and ate him up with body kicks. The last 2 1/2 minutes they were basically hugging each other. I have no idea how you could honestly believe BJ was robbed. He arguably won the first round, but undoubtedly lost the last 2.

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Anderson Silva has said that Machida gets the best of him when they spar, so I really don’t see Rashad having any luck on this one. His one chance is to shoot (quickly) for a takedown and work the clinch game. He doesn’t want to go to the ground. Machida will submit him. Rashad hasn’t really fought a BJJ based fighter. Machida is a black belt and trains at Black House with Anderson Silva and the Nogueiras. His ground game is rarely seen, but believe me it’s strong coming out of that camp.

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