Photo by Nick Laham/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Things were going according to plan right up until the point that UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones landed an elbow to the head Lyoto Machida, that’s when things got all “dizzy” for the challenger.
As we all know, that elbow caused a gash to open up on ‘The Dragon’s’ head essentially beginning the end of the Brazilian’s night as Jones would follow up shortly afterwards with more strikes, and finally a standing guillotine to end the fight in the second round.
With a little time to reflect on the match, Machida spoke to Tatame.com about the fight, saying that “I did my game and he was falling for it.”
What are your thoughts about the fight against Jon Jones?
Well, I guess it was a hard fight. The preparation was tougher in all aspects. We went there and tried to do our job. We set a game plan that, from where I’m standing, until a certain moment was working, but he landed that elbow and I got dizzy, I couldn’t see things straight anymore and it disturbed me because I couldn’t see. And on that moment I thought: “I gotta do my best here and now”. And that’s what happened.Could you feel you were frustrating Jon Jones on the first round, because he tried to hit you and be couldn’t find you?
I felt him a little loss on the first round, but I was focused on not making it a big deal, because each round was a different one and I had to will them all. I did my game and he was falling for it.How did you train for this most important aspect of Jon Jones’s game: taking down and throwing the elbows?
I guess I didn’t have enough time. He took me down launching an elbow on me, and that surprised me a little, because I thought he would take me down but I would have a little time to think it straight. It was very fast and I had my head close to the fence, he hit me with an elbow, I couldn’t see and I tried to stand up and he hit me even more…