Left-handed fighters, better known as southpaws, have caused trouble for many right-handed fighters throughout history. The history of boxing dates back to ancient Sumer, ancient Egypt and ancient Greece, but The southpaw stance began with western boxi…
Left-handed fighters, better known as southpaws, have caused trouble for many right-handed fighters throughout history.
The history of boxing dates back to ancient Sumer, ancient Egypt and ancient Greece, but The southpaw stance began with western boxing well over 200 years ago and has since transitioned over to Mixed Martial Arts.
Standing with the right foot forward and left foot back, the southpaw is the exact opposite of a right-handed orthodox stance and poses many potential dangers to fighters that haven’t trained properly for a southpaw.
Some of the most famous southpaw boxers include, Marvin Hagler, Hector Camacho, Winky Wright, Joe Calzaghe and Manny Pacquiao.
Boxing has now made its way into MMA and is trained as one of the top three disciplines, along with Muay Thai and grappling.
In this slideshow, we will examine the top 10 best left handed fighters in MMA today, starting with the No. 10 ranking and moving down to the best southpaw at No. 1.
Lyoto Machida can’t seem to get enough attention these days following his UFC 129 win over Randy Couture.The Brazilian’s highlight reel knockout has not only been considered a Knockout of the Year candidate, but the spectacular finish also caught the e…
Lyoto Machida can’t seem to get enough attention these days following his UFC 129 win over Randy Couture.
The Brazilian’s highlight reel knockout has not only been considered a Knockout of the Year candidate, but the spectacular finish also caught the eye of a familiar foe: Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.
Rua praised the former UFC light heavyweight champion for his win over Couture, commenting on his finishing ability.
“It really was a beautiful kick, but I knew he’d win”, Rua said to TATAME.com
Rua also acknowledged the fact that he will meet Machida again at some point in his career. The two Brazilians have met on two previous occasions that saw each of them walk away with a win, ultimately setting up a third bout, which according to Rua seems inevitable.
“Lyoto absolutely is a guy I might have to fight again someday, and I believe I will. I don’t know when, but it’ll happen.”
After relinquishing his light heavyweight title to Jon Jones at UFC 128, Rua will return to the Octagon at UFC Rio where he will square off against Forrest Griffin, who also holds a victory over Rua from their first encounter at UFC 76.
Should Rua get past Griffin at UFC Rio, it is possible that a trilogy would likely occur between the two light heavyweights in the near future.
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has had one of the greatest careers in MMA history.He burst on to the Pride scene and took it by storm, starting his career with an impressive 19-3 record. Rampage is best known for his “powerbomb” slam against Ricardo Arona a…
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has had one of the greatest careers in MMA history.
He burst on to the Pride scene and took it by storm, starting his career with an impressive 19-3 record. Rampage is best known for his “powerbomb” slam against Ricardo Arona at Pride Critical Countdown 2004.
Rampage defeated Chuck Liddell at UFC 71 for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. He has posted a 6-2 record inside the UFC.
However, to many observers, Jackson hasn’t been “Rampage” since defeating The Iceman.
In the past couple of years, Rampage has been a very marketable person. His personality is very likable and this has led to endorsement and movie deals.
As his showbiz career was taking off, Rampage faced Rashad Evans and put on arguably the worst performance of his career in a decision loss.
Weeks after that, it was announced that he would face Lyoto Machida at UFC 123. Leading up to that fight, Rampage stated that he was going to be the old Rampage. When it came time for the fight, he walked out to the Pride promotion’s old theme song, and you could see the hunger in his eyes. For the first two rounds, Rampage controlled the pace and out-struck Machida, as well as scoring a couple of takedowns. In the end, Rampage received the split-decision win.
At UFC 130, Rampage will meet up-and-coming Matt “The Hammer” Hamill. This fight has a lot riding on it. With a win, Rampage will be one step closer to facing Jon Jones for the light heavyweight championship. If he loses, Hamill would move into that role, and Rampage might never receive another title shot under the UFC banner.
Hamill has the opportunity to not only defeat a legend, but break into the top 10 and be taken seriously as a title contender. With a loss, Rampage would start to take the path of many Pride veterans, but a win will keep him going.
Delivering a Knockout of the Night crane kick to the jaw of the immortal Randy Couture during their matchup at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida has rebounded from his defeat to both Quinton Jackson and…
Delivering a Knockout of the Night crane kick to the jaw of the immortal Randy Couture during their matchup at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida has rebounded from his defeat to both Quinton Jackson and Mauricio Rua and elevated his stature within the UFC light heavyweight division.
Holding notable victories over Rich Franklin, B.J. Penn, Tito Ortiz, Rashad Evans, Mauricio Rua and the aforementioned Randy Couture, Machida has competed against some of the sports best fighters.
This Brazilian born mixed martial artist is a former UFC light heavyweight champion and is currently ranked the No. 5 light heavyweight fighter on the planet.
With an overall MMA record of 17-2 with six knockouts, “The Dragon” has re-positioned himself amongst the list of contenders viable to face the current UFC light heavyweight champion, Jon “Bones” Jones.
Defeating Mauricio Rua in March of this year to claim the championship title, Jones’ reign at the top will be tested.
Known for his athleticism and unpredictability within his striking, Jones has demolished each opponent he has faced, including notable victories over Brandon Vera, Vladimir Matyushenko, Ryan Bader and most recently, Rua.
With an amazing 84.5″ reach, explosiveness, tremendous athleticism and a solid wrestling background, Jones may be the quintessential ultimate fighter created by engineers in a laboratory.
Receiving rightful accolades, I do believe that Machida may be the one light heavyweight contender who could challenge Jones for his championship.
“The Dragon’s” fighting style is grounded in karate. He is known for his elusiveness, dynamic strikes from various angles and planes, as well as his cautious, yet precise, counter striking.
Machida, like Jones, is extremely unpredictable inside the Octagon. Unlike Jones, who is more of an explosive, aggressive, mauling style of fighter, Machida is tactically precise and delivers punches and kicks with perfect execution.
That difference in the ability to deliver a perfect strike may off-set Jones’ advantages inside the Octagon.
Due to the elusiveness of both fighters, and the fact that both Machida and Jones create abnormal striking angles, the winner of this matchup will be determined by a random variable.
I believe the advantage in the variable department lies with Machida, because he is not only athletic, elusive, dynamic and a solid all-around fighter with a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, he is also extremely precise with his strikes and delivers knockout power with perfect execution.
If you doubt Machida’s stand-up brilliance; just ask Randy Couture.
Fully aware of the level of difficulty that faces Machida if he is honored with a title shot against Jon Jones, I still feel that of the talent pool that resides within the UFC, Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida’s fighting style would prepare the former champion with the ability to once again reign supreme within the UFC light heavyweight division.
The Dragon is back on the winning track after beating Randy Couture last weekend at UFC 129, which has once again ignited the talks of that one superfight that some have been buzzing about with UFC Light Heavyweight Champ Jon “Bones” Jones.That’s one t…
The Dragon is back on the winning track after beating Randy Couture last weekend at UFC 129, which has once again ignited the talks of that one superfight that some have been buzzing about with UFC Light Heavyweight Champ Jon “Bones” Jones.
That’s one thing you have to love about Mixed Martial Arts, boys and girls: regardless of a fighter and their record, one impressive win will always keep the hopes alive for a superfight.
Even more lovable is that there’s more than one superfight that many in the MMA world would like to see happen, and the fact that we are not fans of a sport that has few options for superfights outside of the tilting Anderson Silva-Georges St-Pierre superfight further justifies why this ever-growing phenom of a sport is one of the most damn fun to watch.
So on the real side of things, how would Machida fare if he really did face Jones?
Last Saturday, when Lyoto Machida used a real life version of Mortal Kombat and the “Crane Kick” all rolled into one, actor Steven Seagal took little time to take credit for teaching Machida the move.
In actuality though, Machida didn’t meet up with Se…
Last Saturday, when Lyoto Machida used a real life version of Mortal Kombat and the “Crane Kick” all rolled into one, actor Steven Seagal took little time to take credit for teaching Machida the move.
In actuality though, Machida didn’t meet up with Seagal until the night of UFC 129, and in fact, learned the kick from his father, not Seagal.
“There is this kick in Karate, ‘Kanku Dai’. When I started preparing, soon after hernia surgery, my preparation was a bit limited, so my dad [Yoshizo] gave me some kicks to train and told me to use it in sparring at times, but always very carefully because this is a shot that hurts, it’s like a poke,” Machida told Tatame.
Machida told Tatame the news that he did not meet with Seagal until the night of the fight and Seagal was the person who told him it would work.
“When I came to Canada I met with Steven Seagal and he said ‘Machida, this kick will work.’ But I was not worried about doing it or not, only if a chance came up. I was relaxed… and dropped the kick into place. There was nothing ‘out of nothing,” said Machida.
The Internet yet again took storm after learning that Seagal had taught yet another fighter a knockout inducing, epic “Knockout of the Night” kick. Seagal takes credit for Anderson Silva‘s front kick to the face of Vitor Belfort at UFC 126.
Rumors have it that Seagal working with the members of Team Black House is a PR stunt and a marketing exercise.
Seagal though says that he is working with the members on some awesome—legal—kicks.
“There are some real different entrances that I’m working on with the guys. There are some other things that I don’t want to talk about that you guys just haven’t seen at all yet. You haven’t seen it, but it’s legal,” Seagal said.
