Lyoto Machida (17-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) may not have an opponent yet, but the man he was asked to replace at UFC 133 could very well be his next opponent.According to Machida’s manager, Jorge Guimarães, he is already in talks about the matchup between…
Lyoto Machida (17-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) may not have an opponent yet, but the man he was asked to replace at UFC 133 could very well be his next opponent.
According to Machida’s manager, Jorge Guimarães, he is already in talks about the matchup between Machida and young up-and-comer, Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis (9-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC).
“We already contacted them and we’ll be able to talk more about that soon. He [Davis] is the most concrete option in the division,” Guimarães said in an interview with Yahoo! Sports Brazil. “He’s be a huge opponent for Lyoto, who’s one of the biggest idols of the sport in Brazil and needs to fight again soon.”
Machida also discussed the possibility of fighting Davis.
“It’d be a clash of styles. Davis is a wrestler, who keeps a strong rhythm on all the rounds until the end. I would need to adjust some aspects in my training to fight him, but this technical change always were one of my best characteristics. I won’t have any problems,” said Machida.
Davis would be coming off of a knee injury that forced him to withdraw from a fight with Rashad Evans at UFC 133. Davis was last seen in the octagon pulling off a unanimous decision victory over Machida’s Blackhouse teammate, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, at UFC Fight Night 24.
Machida was last seen knocking out Randy Couture in jaw-dropping fashion at UFC 129. Machida was asked to replace Davis at UFC 133, but demanded “Anderson Silva money” to take his spot on short notice.
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With Jon Jones fighting Quinton Jackson at UFC 135, and the winner of that fight more than likely fighting Rashad Evans, the light-heavyweight title is not without challengers. Based on a report being passed along by MMAMania.com, the winner of Jones/Jackson vs. Evans may already have a challenger in line as well. Rumor has it that Lyoto Machida vs. Phil Davis is in the works for a future card.
As you may remember, when Phil Davis was forced to withdraw from his fight with Rashad Evans at UFC 133 due to a knee injury, Lyoto Machida was originally set to replace him. However, Machida felt he was worth that “Anderson Silva money” and declined the bout. So having the two potential Rashad Evans opponents fight each other for the right to potentially fight Rashad Evans sort of makes sense, I guess.
Can crushing: You’re both doing it wrong.
With Jon Jones fighting Quinton Jackson at UFC 135, and the winner of that fight more than likely fighting Rashad Evans, the light-heavyweight title is not without challengers. Based on a report being passed along by MMAMania.com, the winner of Jones/Jackson vs. Evans may already have a challenger in line as well. Rumor has it that Lyoto Machida vs. Phil Davis is in the works for a future card.
As you may remember, when Phil Davis was forced to withdraw from his fight with Rashad Evans at UFC 133 due to a knee injury, Lyoto Machida was originally set to replace him. However, Machida felt he was worth that “Anderson Silva money” and declined the bout. So having the two potential Rashad Evans opponents fight each other for the right to potentially fight Rashad Evans sort of makes sense, I guess.
Excluding Rashad’s decision to stand and trade with Machida and an aging Randy Couture, is Machida capable of stopping a wrestler like Davis? For that matter, is Davis ready for a striker like Machida? According to Lyoto’s management, yes to the latter. As translated by MMAMania, “He’d be a huge opponent for Lyoto, who’s one of the biggest idols of the sport in Brazil and needs to fight again soon.”
As for the former question, Lyoto handles that one: “It’d be a clash of styles. Davis is a wrestler, who keeps a strong rhythm on all the rounds until the end. I would need to adjust some aspects in my training to fight him, but this technical change always was one of my best characteristics. I won’t have any problems.”
Famous last words, or is Lyoto’s striking going to be too much for Phil Davis? Better question, will this fight actually get made? Your call, Potato Nation.
Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, Rankings, Light HeavyweightsJon Jones is the undisputed champion of the light heavyweight division, but figuring out who deserves to be No. 2 at 205 pounds is tough.
Is it Rampage Jackson, who gets the next crack at Jone…
Jon Jones is the undisputed champion of the light heavyweight division, but figuring out who deserves to be No. 2 at 205 pounds is tough.
Is it Rampage Jackson, who gets the next crack at Jones’ title? Is it Shogun Rua, the previous champion? Is it Rashad Evans, who beat Jackson? Is it Lyoto Machida, who beat Evans? Is it Dan Henderson, who ran through the Strikeforce light heavyweight division and then beat an opponent who outweighed him by 16 pounds in Fedor Emelianenko?
Good arguments can be made for any of them. So who do I have at No. 2? Find out below.
1. Jon Jones (1): Jones was in Denver on July 19, his 24th birthday, for a press conference promoting his upcoming fight with Rampage Jackson. Jones said several times that now that he’s 24 he doesn’t think anyone should call him young anymore, but the reality is that Jones is both the best fighter in the division and the youngest in the Top 10. His age is an important part of why people are so excited about what he can do: He could be a long-reigning champion in a division that has seen a great deal of turnover at the top.
2. Rashad Evans (4): Evans’ impressive victory over Tito Ortiz at UFC 133 moves him back up to No. 2 in my book. Evans looked as good as he’s ever looked, and it was especially noteworthy that he looked physically stronger than he ever had before. The way he picked Ortiz up and slammed him down with a minute left in the first round was particularly impressive. Whether Jones or Jackson is the light heavyweight champion after their UFC 135 fight, Evans will be a very worthy opponent.
3. Shogun Rua (2): We’ll learn a lot about Shogun when he takes on Forrest Griffin at UFC 134. If Rua can avenge the loss to Griffin from four years ago and come out of the fight healthy, he’ll be in the mix (as Dana White likes to say) for a shot at the light heavyweight title some time in 2012. But Rua’s knees have given him so many problems that it’s hard not to wonder, even though he’s only 29, if he’s on the down side of his career.
4. Lyoto Machida (3): Machida’s decision to turn down a fight with Evans was a surprise, because Machida thoroughly whipped Evans when they fought two years ago. If Machida had accepted that fight and won, he’d probably be next in line for a title shot. Now he may be sidelined for an extended period of time, as most of the other top light heavyweights already have fights lined up.
5. Rampage Jackson (5): Jackson looked sluggish in his UFC 130 victory over Matt Hamill, and at age 33 he doesn’t seem to have the punching power he once had: In the last four years, Rampage has fought 23 rounds inside the Octagon, and other than his knockout of Wanderlei Silva at UFC 92, he’s never been particularly close to finishing anybody. If we’re going to see an upset of Jon Jones at UFC 135, we’re going to have to see a much better Rampage than we’ve seen recently.
6. Dan Henderson (6): Henderson is the Strikeforce light heavyweight champion, but his impressive win over Fedor Emelianenko was probably his last fight in Strikeforce: His return to the Octagon is likely coming soon. Machida would be a good opponent for him in his UFC return.
7. Forrest Griffin (7): Griffin will have a great chance to move up in the rankings when he takes on Shogun Rua at UFC 134. A win over Rua, whom Griffin has already beaten once, would vault Griffin into the Top 5 and probably put him only another win away from another shot at the light heavyweight title.
8. Phil Davis (8): A knee injury forced the 9-0 Davis to pull out of his scheduled UFC 133 fight with Evans, and there’s no word yet on when he’ll return to the Octagon. With five UFC wins in less than 14 months from February of 2010 to March of 2011, Davis had been building up a lot of momentum that this injury slowed down. But he’ll be back and quite likely fighting for the light heavyweight title by the end of 2012.
9. Thiago Silva (9): Silva is currently serving a one-year suspension for using a banned substance and cheating on his UFC 125 drug test. Some will drop him from the rankings for that, but Silva’s record (14-2 with 11 wins by knockout, two wins by submission and losses only to Evans and Machida) is strong enough that I don’t think you can put together a list of the Top 10 light heavyweights without him.
10. Rafael Cavalcante (10): The former Strikeforce champion, Feijao will face a largely untested opponent, the 4-0 Olympic wrestling silver medalist Yoel Romero, in his return to the cage on September 10.
UFC 132 saw one of the most impressive knockouts in recent memory when Chris Leben was able to defeat one of his idols, Wanderlei Silva, in the semi-main event.But the event may also be memorable for another reason as former middleweight No…
UFC 132 saw one of the most impressive knockouts in recent memory when Chris Leben was able to defeat one of his idols, Wanderlei Silva, in the semi-main event.
But the event may also be memorable for another reason as former middleweight No. 1 contender Chael Sonnen continued his verbal tirade on the organization by challenging yet another Brazilian fighter, Anderson Silva’s friend and fellow Black House member Lyoto Machida.
This came as somewhat of a surprise as Sonnen had been openly bashing Wanderlei in the media for the past few weeks leading up to this event.
“I was cheering for Chris [Leben],” Sonnen admitted tonight to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani. “I don’t have any ill-will towards Wanderlei; I hope he’s okay.”
Sonnen was in attendance and witnessed Silva get knocked out of the fifth time in his last eight fights.
“He can’t do this work,” Sonnen bluntly stated. “But I certainly hope he’s okay.”
“The only guy that would’ve finished him quicker is me.”
When asked if he would like to be the next to fight Silva, Sonnen shook his head and dismissed the idea entirely.
“No, it doesn’t make sense,” he explained. “Wanderlei is going to need to do something else. I don’t have any interest in getting in there with him. I don’t want to be the next guy to force him to have a flashlight shined in his eyes.”
But he did have his eyes set on a fight, surprisingly one outside his own middleweight division. For whatever reason, Sonnen apparently wants to fight former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida.
“There’s a karate guy at 205 pounds. I might stop there on my way back to 185. For a tune-up fight, take out Machida.”
Machida is coming of a huge win over Randy Couture at UFC 129. Though the fight against Sonnen would certainly be one that fans would look forward to, it’s hard to say that it would be a great fight for Machida to take if he hopes to move back up the ranks in the light heavyweight division.
With Sonnen having been off for nearly a year at this point and moving up in weight classes, it’d be difficult for matchmaker Joe Silva to give Machida much credit if he were to defeat the loud-mouthed 185-pounder.
That said, expect to hear much more about this potential fight in the coming weeks.
If you train in any area of Mixed Martial Arts or even if only a fight fan, you’ve undoubtedly heard of Hayabusa Fightwear. Some notable fighters sponsored by Hayabusa Fightwear include, Lyoto “The Dragon Machida”, Alistair Overeem, S…
If you train in any area of Mixed Martial Arts or even if only a fight fan, you’ve undoubtedly heard of Hayabusa Fightwear.
Some notable fighters sponsored by Hayabusa Fightwear include, Lyoto “The Dragon Machida”, Alistair Overeem, Stephan Bonner and Yoshihiro Akiyama.
Hayabusa Fightwear arguably make the very best fightwear and fight gear that money can buy and they’ve added an incredible new line of MMA training gear to their already amazing line of ass-kicking products; the Hayabusa Kanpeki Elite Series.
The word Kanpeki is of Japanese origin and means “perfection” in English and I can think of no better way to describe the product line.
Fashioned from top-quality, full-grain leather, each exquisitely beautiful piece of gear is constructed to last.
Functionality meets style with the Kanpeki line. Not a single centimeter of material went un-scrutinized. Everything was perfectly engineered down to the smallest details.
Hayabusa Fightwear represents the true spirit of a fighter.
I will be individually reviewing four separate pieces of training and sparring gear from the Hayabusa Kanpeki Elite Series in this Bleacher Report MMA featured slideshow.
“I’ve always been a fan of Steven Seagal’s. I’ve always admired his acting skills and even as I got older and started chasing some of my own personal goals. Because when I was a kid, I watched the Bruce Lee movies and going to Japan, living in Japan and training at the Takada dojo, traveling to Brazil, there was somewhat a similar situation to me and Seagal. So, getting to meet a person such as him, if I can explain to you how phenomenal his energy was, I can’t explain it unless you were because you just feel how motivating he is and how presentable he is. He’s a phenomenal person and a great guy.”
“I’ve always been a fan of Steven Seagal’s. I’ve always admired his acting skills and even as I got older and started chasing some of my own personal goals. Because when I was a kid, I watched the Bruce Lee movies and going to Japan, living in Japan and training at the Takada dojo, traveling to Brazil, there was somewhat a similar situation to me and Seagal. So, getting to meet a person such as him, if I can explain to you how phenomenal his energy was, I can’t explain it unless you were because you just feel how motivating he is and how presentable he is. He’s a phenomenal person and a great guy.”
It didn’t take Rodriguez long to follow in the footsteps of other fighters like Anderson Silva and Lyoto Machida become a believer.
“He moves like a cat and when he was demonstrating a couple of moves you could feel his power and his energy. I was like ‘yeah, I’m going to pay attention’, because he was moving me around like a lightweight and you can have your opinion, but the truth is Anderson Silva gives thanks and praise to Steven Seagal. You have to be respectful to him and mixed martial arts is exactly what it is, mixed martial arts. It’s many different styles, many different forms, many different philosophies, in conjunction with all these different styles you can be a better athlete. You have to be respectful to the older martial artist.”
Well, I guess it’s safe to say that Ricco Rodriguez is probably going to win back his UFC strap now. RIP UFC heavyweight division. “Suave” has put your asses on notice that he’s Out for Justice.
Lyoto Machida (17-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) may not have an opponent yet, but the man he was asked to replace at UFC 133 could very well be his next opponent.
Jon Jones