UFC Middleweight Title Bout: Chris Weidman vs. Lyoto Machida
Odds: ( -185 Weidman / +150 Machida )
Betting Pick: Weidman
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In the main event of UFC 175, UFC Middleweight champion Chris Weidman will look to defend his title against former UFC Light Heavyweight champion Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida. Weidman clearly cemented himself as the UFC’s top 185 pounder with emphatic back-to-back wins over former pound for pound #1 Anderson Silva, and now he’s looking to cement his legacy as one of UFC’s most dominant young champions. Standing in his way is Machida, the notoriously slippery counterpuncher who can turn the slightest mistake into an embarrassing knockout. If Weidman wants to put together the kind of reign Silva once had, he can’t rest on his laurels and take this fight lightly.
Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida is one of the most off-kilter but effective fighters in the UFC. His style is defensive almost to the point of absurdity, right up until he figures out a pattern or sees an opening, at which point he counterattacks quickly and accurately. Machida is a dangerous striker with all four limbs, and is a master at sneaking strikes through at odd angles so that they are difficult to guard against. His best attribute, as anyone who has ever seen Joe Rogan call one of his fights could tell you, is his famed “elusiveness”. Machida is hard to hit, hard to pin against the cage, and hard to get a hold of. He’ll slip right out around the side of you, and for good measure he’ll land two punches on his way out.
As Ric Flair once said, “To be the man, you’ve got to beat the man.” By that rubric, Weidman is definitely “the man” following consecutive victories over long-time Middleweight king Anderson Silva. Weidman is still a young fighter who hasn’t even come close to realizing his full potential, but when you add wins over Mark Munoz and Demian Maia to the two against Silva, his resume already stacks up with anyone else in UFC’s 185 pound division. Weidman is the future of MMA in more ways than one. Not only is he a young champion with a lot of room to grow, his style is such a mix of every fighting discipline that it’s hard to identify his strengths and weaknesses. His background is grappling and he trains with Matt Serra and Ray Longo, but he also knocked out the UFC’s best striker in highlight reel fashion. If he continues to grow and evolve as a fighter, it’s scary what he could be in five years.
Put simply, Machida, even as a former champion at a higher weight class, is out of his element here. Weidman is a way better wrestler and grappler than he is and has more punching power, to boot. Machida will score his points and dance around like he always does, but in a five-round fight he can’t keep Weidman from catching him and punishing him eventually. Machida is slippery and resilient, so this one should go the distance, but I see Weidman retaining his title with a hard-fought unanimous decision.
Prediction: Chris Weidman by Unanimous Decision.
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