Photo via ufc.com
Have you forgotten how good he is? Is his sheer dominance but a distant memory? The man went undefeated through his first 16 fights. He has TKO victories over Rich Franklin and Stephan Bonnar. He knocked unbeaten Thiago Silva out cold on his way to decimating Rashad Evans for the title(which I was thrilled to see live in Las Vegas) and successfully defended his belt against Mauricio Rua. The man did not lose a round in the UFC until his 8th fight with the company including a three round embarrassment of Tito Ortiz. If you have forgotten, you are about to be reminded.
Has this dominant force vanished with one loss? Absolutely not. Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida is not a fad. He is not a flash in the pan and he is damn sure not overrated. Being unfairly saddled with Joe Rogan's proclamation of "Welcome to the Machida Era" and all the expectations that came along with it was the first problem for Lyoto. He was seemingly untouchable and was promoted as such. This made it all the more shocking when Shogun gave him all he could handle at UFC 104. The fight was incredibly close. Machida won and while it was certainly a close decision, it was in no way a robbery or some kind of miscarriage of justice.
Almost as soon as the decision was announced the live crowd and most of the hardcore community decided the man that would pay the price for the close decision was not the judges or Rua's corner (who constantly told him he was winning the fight). Machida was to blame. He was booed loudly in the arena after the fight and was booed loudly in Montreal during pre-fight introductions. Why? What did he do to deserve that? Win a unanimous decision? Successfully defend his belt? I was amazed at the reactions he received.
He was a victim of his own dominance and success. He and the UFC had created this aura of invincibility and it was not only surprising to see him be in a competitive fight, it was shocking. He had made every foe look slow, foolish and miles below him on the food chain and when Shogun Rua knocked him out in the first round at UFC 113 the Machida Era was over. In reality, it was over for many fans after he beat Rua in the first fight.
Saturday night is the start of the road back to the Light-Heavyweight Title for The Dragon. He will be fighting Quinton Jackson in the main event of UFC 123. Rampage is coming off a loss to the man Machida beat for the belt, "Quittin" Rashad Evans. Rampage looked slow, plodding and was completely outclassed by Rashad who incidentally looked slow and was completely outclassed against Lyoto Machida. This is a bad news situation for Jackson who has a very serious chance of getting clowned for 15 minutes Saturday night.
Some have forgotten what kind of fighter Machida is. In the "what have you done for me lately" environment that exists he has been dropped in status from deity to overrated. Shogun has the belt now and Machida is getting ready to take the first step back toward the top of the mountain. To those who have dismissed him or written him off, Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida is about to remind you how good he is.
I'd be shocked if Rampage even comes close to hitting Lyoto. All Lyoto has to worry about is Rampage's boxing. That limited skill set will not cut it against The Dragon. There's really only one guy in the 205 division that can hang with him at this point and that's Shogun. Jones isn't far behind.
ReplyDeleteI did think that Lyoto lost the first fight and so did the crowd that is why there was booing. Lyoto is a great fighter, Rua is just a bad matchup for him. MMA is all about matchups of strengths and weaknesses. I have not heard anyone say that Machida is overrated though, not sure where you are getting that. I have heard such hyperbole to both extremes about other fighters much more often: Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin, Fedor, BJ Penn. There are no deity's in MMA. A single mistake or a bad matchup can easily result in a loss no matter who you are. That is the nature of the sport.
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