UFC 104: The Dragon versus Shogun

Machida’s karate against Rua’s Chute Boxe; this is war

Lyoto Machida had to fight a fellow Brazilian tough guy to prove he is not a boring fighter. Machida totally dominated and knocked out Thiago Silva in the very first round of UFC 94 with punches. Both Machida and Silva were undefeated at the time. It was Machida who gave Silva his first loss in 15 fights. It was Machida’s 14th straight victory.

Tomorrow, Machida will defend his UFC light-heavyweight title for the first time. Machida took the title from another unbeaten fighter, Rashad Evans. It was Machida’s most impressive win in his MMA career. It was a display of aggressive striking against one of the hardest punchers in MMA. Evans didn’t fall without a fight. At least he tried to make a fight of it, standing longer than he had any business staying on his feet while Machida was making his head a speedball.

Another Brazilian is matched up against Machida: Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, who has been inconsistent since jumping from Pride FC to the UFC after the buyout. Rua was once one of the most feared strikers in Pride, winning over such bangers as Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Alistair Overeem, and Ricardo Arona via knockout. Rua is not a bad grappler himself, submitting compatriot Renato “Babalu” Sobral by rear-naked choke, and the freakishly-strong Kevin Randleman by kneebar.

Rua can fight standing up or on the ground. But then, Machida is just as versatile, maybe even more so. Machida surprised many after he escaped from Tito Ortiz’s clamped-on triangle choke in the final round of their classic UFC 84 match, winning by unanimous decision.

Machida has been on a roll. Rua is just finding his feet. Machida is under pressure to keep his streak alive, while Rua needs to prove that he is still a force to reckon with in the 205-pound division’s top ranks. Rua also has the added pressure of proving that his win over Chuck Liddell in UFC 97 was no fluke, that he simply won over a veteran fighter who was too old and past his prime.

“It is funny and surprising to hear people say I beat an old man to get my title shot because these same people, before that fight, were saying I was going to get killed,” Rua said.

It is funny to think that Rua claims he is not under any pressure at all. “I think maybe that’s because I fight better when I am not under the pressure, and now all the pressure is off of me and on the champion,” he said.

The champion is always under some degree of pressure, but you can never say that the challenger is under less pressure. These are two warriors who make their living hurting other people in an arena. They know they can get hurt seriously or even die. Pressure is always there, no matter how cool they look or claim to be.

I wish I could say that the odds are even in this match-up. They are not. Sportsbook has it -500 for Machida and for +300 Rua. That is a rather accurate reading of this fight.

Speed:
Machida is one of the fastest strikers in MMA in any weight division. That is not to mention his strength. The good thing about Machida’s velocity is that it is not wasted on random quick strikes hoping he gets lucky. He is quick with his hands and with his feet. He only strikes with either punches or kicks when he sees an opening. While Rua is not as quick as Machida. Coming from a muay Thai background, being a Chute Boxe alumnus, Rua is more of an aggressive striker who will rush in with strong strikes with either hands or feet seeking to overwhelm his opponent. That works well with fighters who stand in front of Rua. With a smart opponent like Machida who uses a lot of feet movements for defense and attacks, Rua will have a hard time tagging him.
Advantage: Machida

Power:
You could say both are equally strong. In 15 fights, Machida has had only five knockout wins. In contrast, Rua, has a record of 15 KO wins in 21 bouts. But statistics can be deceptive. Rua’s aggression and reliance on power has earned him such a high knockout rate. Machida is a much more cautious striker. He sticks to his strategy of waiting before pouncing. But his knockout record is enviable. Of the five who suffered KO losses to Machida include such stellar names as Stephan Bonnar, Rich Franklin, Silva, and Evans, Machida’s power has been evident against such formidable opposition.
Advantage: Even

Stamina:
Machida has gone the distance eight times in 15 occasions, reaching the three-round limit nine times overall. He is no stranger to winning by decision. His relative youth, general good health, and splendid training would have allowed him to go two more rounds if needed be. Rua’s staying power, on the other hand, is suspect. Especially in the Mark Coleman fight, he was on the verge of gassing out against a much-older opponent, winning by KO with barely 24 seconds to go in the third and last round. That was a win for Rua, but then again, it was against another of the UFC’s legends, a veteran who had seen better days in the Octagon. Respect for Rua was still not quite unanimous.
Advantage: Machida

Guile:
Hands down, the edge goes to Machida. He is the least-hit fighter in UFC history if not all of MMA. His hybrid karate style, with lots of sidesteps, forward and backward motions that depend on an opponent’s movements have proven so confusing that his foes get frustrated, throwing caution to the wind, abandon their strategy and rush him just to land a blow or try to take him down. But Machida’s arsenal includes a black belt in Brazilian Jiujitsu, a background in both sumo and muay Thai. He is an extremely well-rounded martial artist. But that hasn’t made him overconfident. He will stick to his strategy of waiting out opponents, only committing to strike if he sees a reason to, decreasing the risk of being countered. You try to take down Machida and he will quickly step back, step to the side, or slide in to evade or throw a straight punch, a kick to the head or body, or even a knee (remember the strike to the abdomen that felled Ortiz?). Avoiding being hit while hitting one’s foe in the cage or ring is a very safe (some say boring) methodology. Machida has mastered this technique. You could say that Rua is the almost complete opposite. From Pride to UFC, Rua has fundamentally maintained an attacking style per the Chute Boxe school of fighting. Rua earned the nasty reputation of savaging downed opponents with stomps and diving punches. His foe might lie on the ground on his back, defending with up-kicks and kicks to the legs, but Rua will simply allow his foe to commit and miss then get back at him with a kick of his own or a strike with his fists or elbows. It is highly improbable that Rua will get Machida in this position.
Advantage: Machida

If the last two KO wins by Machida are a measure of how he will fight Rua, UFC 104’s light-heavyweight bout will not last five rounds. Or Machida will revert to his usual ways and stay safe from a distance, sniping at Rua, stretching the match to its full period, and try to eke out a decision. But is seems The Dragon has tasted blood and he likes the taste of copper on tongue. Fight fans hope that Shogun will accommodate The Dragon and it will be a fight to the death – so to speak. May the best man win, and may they still have their complete faculties after the fight is done.

Let’s get it on, indeed.

UFC 88: Breakjaw

Breakthrough for Rashad Evans; maybe Chuck Liddell's career is through

Polled by sherdog.com on UFC 88: Breakthrough's main-event match of Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans, MMA pros Randy Couture and Jaime Fletcher proved to be the most prescient. Couture said pre-fight: “Tough one to pick! Can make a case for either guy, but in my mind, it depends on Evans. We know what Chuck is gonna try to do. Can Evans pull the trigger and push himself and Chuck? That’s the question.” While Fletcher had this to say: “Liddell by KO. Rashad is a good fighter, but Chuck takes chances, is hard to take down and looping punches from weird angles are hard to deal with.”

Both were non-committal but came closest to making good predictions. Could Evans pull the trigger and push himself and Chuck? Yes, Evans did pull the trigger and push himself and The Iceman. And what result did this create? Fletcher provides the rest of the answer: Chuck takes chances, is hard to take down and looping punches from weird angles are hard to deal with. Only that it was Evans' looping punches from weird angles that were hard to deal with, giving Liddell possibly the most devastating knockout he ever suffered.

Ironically, or prophetically, Liddell had his two-cents' worth: “I don’t tend to take any shots, so he won’t have to show his takedown defense with me. I am planning on striking. We’ll see how he responds.”

And boy, did Evans, respond.

Evans jabbed, missed, jabbed and missed again. Liddell's jab missed too and almost simultaneously both fighters loaded – Evans with a looping right hand and Liddell with a right uppercut. Evans' punch landed, Liddell's didn't. With full force and his stance perfect for a strong strike, Evans hammered Liddell on the left jaw. The slow-motion replay shows Liddell's head bearing the brunt of what might as well have been a rock on a fist. Liddell fell backward unconscious. Any more strikes after that would have been overkill.

Evans tried that particular punch a few times before striking the motherload and mother of all knockouts – the kind where the victim is asleep even before hitting the deck without a pillow and a good-night lullabye. Evans faked with a short left jab and quickly followed with that arcing right bolo punch which found its mark on Liddell's jaw.

“Age won’t be a factor in this fight. I feel sharp and I’m ready for Rashad.” Liddell was right on the first one, he indeed looked fit and moved well for a 38-year-old, sadly for him, he was wrong on his second statement. He was sharp but he wasn't ready for that looping right by Evans. Call it a lucky shot, call it carelessness but luck had nothing to do with it. Evans obviously practiced that shot knowing Liddell is a sucker for a quick strong strike. It helped that Evans had Keith Jardine, who knocked down Liddell 12 UFCs ago, giving him tips on how to deal with The Iceman. It helped that Greg Jackson trained Evans. It helped that Liddell is 10 years older than Evans and has taken a lot more damage in a decade of fighting in the UFC.

Good punch. Liddell always had a problem with standing up to a good punch. When Quinton “Rampage” Jackson kayoed him in UFC 71, Rampage's right hook didn't look much but it knocked down The Iceman and eventually he was knocked out with a few more shots on the ground. Rampage's strike is nothing compared to the one-punch bomb that Evans almost decapitated Liddell with.

Yes, maybe encroaching middle age and all those knocks on the head in mixed martial arts have something to do with it. That is not to count the time Liddell spent fighting as a kickboxer.

The main co-event of the night was the Rich Franklin-Matt Mitchell encounter. It didn't have the fireworks of Liddell-Evans but it had its moments. Strangely, some will remember this fight not for the rare kidney shot that took down Mitchell in Round 3, but for the hearing-impaired (this politically-correct thing can be difficult) Mitchell looking at his cornermen asking for instructions with Franklin just a few feet away ready to pounce on him. Ironically, Franklin won but he looked like he lost with that huge cut under his right eyebrow.

This is one of those fights where you start rooting for one fighter but gradually is impressed by the other fighter and end up wishing no one gets hurt. If only a draw could be had for all fights like this.

This fight is a breath of fresh air especially with the memory of the bad aftertaste of Mitchell's bout with Michael Bisping in UFC 75, the calling out in the traditional media and in the Internet. This time, Mitchell let his fists do the fighting for him, not his mouth and his manual sign-language skills. After he lost, there was no rancor evident, Mitchell took it like the man that he really is, while Franklin, gentlemanly and a sport that he has always been, consoled his former training partner and said: “Thanks to God I don't have any serious injuries, and thanks to God my opponent doesn't have any serious injuries.”

I am not sure, though, if God approves of two grown men fighting for the entertainment (and edification) of thousands of people live in the arena and millions more on TV, while adding to the hundreds of millions in the bank accounts of Dana White and the Fertita brothers.

Anyway...we love MMA. Call it a sport, call it sports entertainment like its distant cousin professional wrestling, but one thing millions of God's creatures in hundreds of countries will agree on – this is one fragging bloody affair we don't tire watching month after month if White and the F Bros. had their way. And watch out for Affliction 2! Dang! Randy Couture is back in the UFC! Looks like there won't be a Fedor-Couture I at least until the year ends. The
Emelianenko will have to content himself with fighting lesser lights in his chosen organization and for lesser money, we think.

Hollywood Dangerous. Oh, before we forget, another of MMA's greatest fighters ever – Dan Henderson – call him Dangerous or Hollywood but one thing's for sure, he will deliver win or lose. He lost both his Pride welterweight and middleweight belts after he made the jump back to the UFC after it bought out Pride FC, but judging by the way Henderson fought a very game but less experienced, less-gifted (meaning, he doesn't have the striking ability of Henderson) and shorter by five inches, Rousimar Palhares, Henderson still has a lot of fight left in him.

The Brazilian jiujitsu black-belt Palhares was surprisingly adept with his striking especially with his kicks (marvel at those wheel kicks!) but he was simply outsized (outreached?) by Henderson, who landed the more solid blows while escaping from Palhares' submission attempts. Henderson deserved the Unanimous Decision victory. Palhares may have lost but he proved he deserves to be in the big leagues by lasting three rounds with a future hall of famer.

Other results:
Nate Marquardt over Martin Kampmann by TKO in 1:22 of Round 1. Marquardt overpowered the muay Thai specialist from Sweden with a surprise roundhouse to the side of the head followed up with punches to the head and body, a knee to the head. All Kampmann could do was cover up and wait to be knocked out or for the referee to put a stop to his suffering. The Referee Stoppage came first.

Dong Hyung Kim over Matt Brown, Split Decision in 3 rounds. This one was an injustice. Except for a late takedown in the 3rd round by Kim, Brown dominated the fight. An SD is always controversial. “I don't fight for the judges, I fight for a submission and the fans,” Brown took a shot at the men on the table. Kim had his say too: “I will be different next time.” This was a translation, so maybe he meant something else, because if he means he will win decisively next time, we sure hope so.

Tim Boetsch over Michael Platt, TKO 2:03 R1. Boetsch misses with a left hook to the head but his right straight/overhand lands squarely on Platt's chin. Platt falls on his back, Boetsch follows up with more strikes. Referee Herb Dean steps in to stop the punishment.

“I would like to thank God, without Him none of this is possible,” Boetsch said. A brawler after my own heart, someone who flashes the website nosubmit.com (Jesus Didn't Tap).

Kurt Pellegrino over Thiago Tavares, UD. Tavares almost gets armbarred but improbably escapes the hold of Pellegrino. Pellegrino though gets all the judges' nod.

Jason “The Athlete” Macdonald over Jason Lambert, Submission Rear-naked choke R2 1:20. Both very good grapplers with Macdonald with the edge on striking but he wins this with a real tight rear-naked choke. The Athlete was in Lambert's guillotine choke twice in the first round but survived with great stamina and high pain-threshold level.

The Truth Ducks The Dragon…For Now

Brandon Vera refuses to fight Lyoto Machida

Brandon “The Truth” Vera, despite two straight losses in less than 10 months, is still one of the most marketable UFC fighters. Vera has the power, speed, skills, and length, to beat most of the top fighters in the heavyweight division. With his move to go down to light-heavyweight, has only added more fuel to the furnace that is the 205-pound division.

Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida, on the other hand, is a fast-rising star in the 205lb category. By virtue of a five-fight win streak in the UFC, Machida could be the most promising warrior in the arena.

Put Vera and Machida in the Octagon and you get a surefire hit in so many ways. Both excellent strikers with respectable ground skills, these two mestizos will have blood pumping in their cool veins and temperatures rising in the fight venue. Machida-Vera I (the Japanese-Brazilian’s name gets top billing over the Filipino-American by virtue of a superior fight record) might just set records for pay-per-view and gate receipts.

At 13 and 0 against Vera’s 8-2-0, Machida naturally will become the odds-on favorite in both Vegas betting and fan polls. But an immaculate record is no guarantee of another victory over an inferior slate. We could do a rundown of their strengths and weaknesses:

Speed:
Machida is not only fast, he is slippery. Rich Franklin and Michael McDonald found out about this the hard way. So did Tito Ortiz and Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou. You want to keep Machida right in front of you so you could hit him, but he almost always stays a safe distance from a punch or leg strike, while moving just enough to hit you with one of his rather unorthodox karate-flavored snap kicks and hand strikes. Grapplers may want to take him down, first distracting him with a punch or fake before lowering for a single or double-leg takedown, but the Shotokan and Brazilian Jiujitsu black-belt Machida is wise to the ways of the ground and pound, or ground and submit. While Vera is more of a striker, a muay Thai stylist who tries to capitalize on his substantial reach to land a blow. Vera has respectable talent on the ground, but it is doubtful if he could escape from a tight triangle the same way Machida did against Tito Ortiz.
Advantage: Machida

Power:
Machida only has three victories by way of knockout (all TKOs) and eight triumphs by decision in his 13-fight win run. That is testament to his reliance on speed and under-reliance on power. Machida will not only wear opponents out by evading their strikes, clinches, and takedowns, he will add on to his foes’ frustrations by hitting them almost at will, but almost never engaging them in an all-out brawl. He will hit and pull out, dance away, then come back for more when he sees an opening. Vera is a kickboxer more than a feint-hit-and-backout artist. Vera will try to pound the man in front of him with a straight punch, a roundhouse or lower kick, and go for the kill if he sees an opening or if his foe is hurt enough. Vera is a tiger shark with the tendency to go on a feeding frenzy if he as much as smells a milliliter of blood. Machida, on the other hand, is a mite, sucking blood in small degrees until he is bloated enough to let go and come back for more at a later time. By then, he will be big enough as a great white shark to munch a huge mouthful.
Advantage: Even

Stamina:
Vera has only gone the distance once in 10 MMA fights. Machida has finished the maximum allotted rounds nine out of 13 times, including eight in the last nine. Vera evidently was on the verge of gassing out against Tim Sylvia in UFC 77, one of the reasons he lost by decision to the “Maine-niac.” Machida comes prepared for his fights, with a cardiovascular conditioning comparable to that of Olympic long-distance runners. Vera, we hazard to guess, doesn’t as much care for jogging and sparring for periods of time longer than five minutes.
Advantage: Machida

Guile:
Hands down, Machida bags this one. The poker face, the cool demeanor, even his ever-polite language that refuses to trash talk, even complimenting his opponents, are hallmarks of an honorable warrior with the calculating powers of an assassin who waits and waits before delivering the death blow. In sharp contrast, Vera is a loudmouth, a loveable one, though, much like his paisan Hulk “Terry Gene Bollea” Hogan. Vera plays to the crowd and the media, generating enough interest for his fights. He gets the attention and the amused smiles, but Machida earns the respect and perhaps the fear.
Advantage: Machida

Machida 4, Vera 1

All these comparisons might ultimately be in vain. Vera just refused to take on Machida for Sunday’s UFC Fight Night 14. For reasons of being unprepared, the usually game Vera did admit that a month’s notice isn’t the best way to get ready for a formidable fighter like Machida. He did not rule out, though, a future pairing with Machida.

Vera told www.mmajunkie.com, “For sure, I turned down the fight with Machida. Don’t get me wrong. I’m down to fight Machida but not in my first time cutting down to 205 on four weeks’ notice.”

The MMA fighter cut in the mold of Tito Ortiz in the trash-talk department did pay tribute to Machida by admitting that he can’t simply jump into the ring or Octagon with a supreme athlete like The Dragon: “I want to be ready for Machida. That bastard’s good. I want to make sure I’ve got good sparring and a good game plan for Machida.

“Machida’s not somebody you can just jump in the cage with and fight. I don’t care who you are; if you think you can just beat Machida because you’re tougher than him, he’s probably going to whoop your ass.

“He doesn’t go in to destroy people and finish them. Man, you can’t hit him, and he just keeps touching you. People just get frustrated and pissed off. So, I did turn down the fight with Machida, but I’m down for sure to fight Machida, given good time.”