Tag: Lyoto Machida

Changed Lyoto Machida Honored to be Fighting Retiring Randy Couture

Yes friends, if you haven’t heard, it appears as though the legendary career of Randy “The Natural”  Couture is coming to a halt, as the former champ announced this week that his upcoming April 30th bout with Lyoto Machida is likely going to be his last. Really, everyone knew that day would finally arrive for […]

machida ortiz

Yes friends, if you haven’t heard, it appears as though the legendary career of Randy “The Natural”  Couture is coming to a halt, as the former champ announced this week that his upcoming April 30th bout with Lyoto Machida is likely going to be his last. Really, everyone knew that day would finally arrive for the 47 year-old-phenomenon, and fittingly Couture’s final fight has all the makings of a good one.

Why? Aside from the whole ‘one of the greatest fighters of all time bit,’ as we mentioned earlier in the week, it wasn’t long ago people did a mental bow in their head every time they mentioned the name Machida. Of course, Machida didn’t look so mythical in his first tilt with “Shogun” Rua, got KTFO in the rematch, and then didn’t look very impressive in his split decision loss to “Rampage” Jackson. So what’s “The Dragon” learned from all this? (Thanks to MMA Bay for the quote)

“The biggest thing I learned is you constantly need to be changing and you constantly need to be evolving. At that moment, a lot of people think, ‘Oh, if it’s working, don’t change anything.’ But I realize now when you’re winning, when you’re the champion, that’s when you constantly have to be evolving because everybody’s gunning for you. Whether you’re winning or losing, you’ve constantly got to be changing.”

Yup, clearly guys were starting to figure out Machida’s shtick. The former champ also noted that he’s extremely honored to be fighting Couture, and is thrilled to get that fight down on his resume. Now it just remains to be seen if it will be recorded as a win. To bet on the bout head here.

Randy Couture Says He’ll Go Out on His Own Terms, Retire after UFC 129

Filed under: UFC, News We knew this day would come eventually, but Randy Couture has gone on so far past the normal limits of human athletic performance that maybe we started to believe it would never happen. Just two months shy of his 48th birthday, C…

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Randy Couture will face Lyoto Machida at UFC 129. We knew this day would come eventually, but Randy Couture has gone on so far past the normal limits of human athletic performance that maybe we started to believe it would never happen. Just two months shy of his 48th birthday, Couture says he sees the end of his mixed martial arts career racing towards him. He will fight Lyoto Machida at UFC 129 on April 30 in front of 55,000 fans, and win, lose or draw, he will call it quits right afterward to focus on acting and other interests.

It’s a decision he made once before. He retired in 2006 after losing to Chuck Liddell in the third fight of their trilogy, but with the benefit of hindsight, Couture says now that he knows that was simply a break necessary due to other trying events in his life. But this one, he says will stick.

Next weekend in Toronto will be the last time we see “The Natural” in his natural environment.

“I kind of want to go out on my own terms and decide when enough is enough, and I think that time has come,” Couture said during a Tuesday teleconference.

Lyoto Machida Believes Different “Shogun” Rua Fought Jon Jones

It wasn’t long ago that everyone and their favorite keyboard (yes, including us), were falling over themselves to toss a heaping ton of praise on Jon Jones, after he demolished “Shogun” Rua at UFC 128 in March. After all, the 23 year-old-phenomenon hardly broke a sweat while dismantling the man that had beaten the man. […]

rua machida

It wasn’t long ago that everyone and their favorite keyboard (yes, including us), were falling over themselves to toss a heaping ton of praise on Jon Jones, after he demolished “Shogun” Rua at UFC 128 in March. After all, the 23 year-old-phenomenon hardly broke a sweat while dismantling the man that had beaten the man. Remember the heralded Machida Era? And how Rua ended it with a series of ‘nighty-nighty’ right hands?

While there’s no questioning the fact that Jones is quickly approaching ‘baddest dude on the planet’ status, you don’t have to be a member of the “Shogun” Boosters Club to concede that Rua didn’t exactly look like his old self in the fight. The guy did spend almost a year on the DL with yet another knee injury. Well, Lyoto Machida recently offered his opinion to Sherdog.com on how Rua looked against Jones, and not surprisingly, he didn’t see the same dude that beat him down last May.

“Shogun is a tough guy…I know Shogun has more to show than that. Maybe he failed to bring his game or maybe he felt the pressure of defending the belt for the first time. As I’ve said before, there are other factors we don’t know about, other factors that may have interfered. They changed opponents on him. That can interfere with a fight. I have no doubt he could have fought better. I’m sure if Shogun was the same fighter he was when we fought in Los Angeles the fight would have been much more difficult for Jones…”

Guess we’ll get a better idea on this when Rua rematches Griffin this August.

UFC 129 St Pierre vs Shields

George St Pierre vs Jake Shields If you take the Dan Henderson vs Jake Shields fight and remember that Henderson had Jake in bad places early in that fight before tiring out and laying on the ground for a few rounds. Now imagine if Henderson had crisp clean striking, cardio for days, a game plan, […]

George St Pierre vs Jake Shields

If you take the Dan Henderson vs Jake Shields fight and remember that Henderson had Jake in bad places early in that fight before tiring out and laying on the ground for a few rounds. Now imagine if Henderson had crisp clean striking, cardio for days, a game plan, speed, and a sick ground game. If you can imagine that then you can see George St Pierre easily winning this fight.

If this fight turns into a grappling game, Shields probably has a minor edge. If this stays on the feet, Shields has no chance and I mean NONE. I like St. Pierre even with the heavy favorite roll.

Jose Aldo vs Mark Hominick

Despite me thinking Aldo will likely win, Hominick is an excellent bet at +295. He won’t have reach, he won’t have speed, and he won’t have variety that Aldo brings. However, all it takes is one punch and Hominick carries his own sack of power. I like Hominick here as a value play.

Vladimir Matyushenko vs Jason Brilz

Perfect matchup here for these two stocky brawny wrestlers. I like Matyushenko here.

Randy Couture vs Lyoto Machida

If Randy beats Machida, he should end on a high note. He is coming in as a heavy underdog against Machida on the early line of -330 over at Intertops.

Machida has problems on his back. Can Randy take him down and beat him for 3 rounds? Yes I THINK SO.

If Randy stands with Machida it will be a short night. Machida’s style tends to take awhile to unravel. Randy tends to get better over the course of multiple rounds. Both fighters styles will have them meeting and peaking near the end of the fight and should make for an entertaining matchup.

I like Randy in this fight in the heavy underdog position.

Mark Bocek vs Ben Henderson

This is such a tough one to call. I think I’m running with Bocek here in his backyard.

Preliminary card (Spike TV)

Nate Diaz vs Rory MacDonald

Awesome fight. Rory can hit and take big hits. Problem is he’s been KO’d a decent amount now and it seems to be happening easier. Not only that he doesn’t have the ground game of Nate Diaz, not even close.

I like Diaz to win at any odds.

Sean Pierson vs Brian Foster

Pass

Preliminary Card

Claude Patrick vs Daniel Roberts

Daniel Roberts

Ivan Menjivar vs Charlie Valencia

Ivan Menjivar

Jason MacDonald vs Ryan Jensen

MacDonald back in the UFC. A one time title contender taking on the up and coming Ryan Jensen. Jensen’s wrestling and ground work as well as submission defense is good. MacDonald is decent everywhere, but best on the ground. MacDonald is probably an underdog, but I don’t see it on the early lines.

I like MacDonald to win here regardless.

John Makdessi vs Kyle Watson

Pass

Yves Jabouin vs Pablo Garza

Pass

MMA Top 10 Light Heavyweights: Any Stopping Jon Jones?

Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, Rankings, Light HeavyweightsThe Jon Jones Era, as you’ve surely heard, has begun: Jones is the new UFC light heavyweight champion, and everyone who follows MMA agrees that he’s going to be the champion for a long, long ti…

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The Jon Jones Era, as you’ve surely heard, has begun: Jones is the new UFC light heavyweight champion, and everyone who follows MMA agrees that he’s going to be the champion for a long, long time.

However, the light heavyweight division is so talented that it’s been nearly impossible for anyone to hold the belt for long: Chuck Liddell lost it to Rampage Jackson, who lost it to Forrest Griffin, who lost it to Rashad Evans, who lost it to Lyoto Machida, who lost it to Shogun Rua, who lost it to Jones. We’ve had seven different champions in the last four years, so why is everyone so sure that Jones is going to hold onto the belt for so long?

The biggest reason, I think, is Jones’ age. With the exception of Evans losing to Machida, every champion I mentioned above lost the belt to someone younger than him. But there aren’t any contenders on the horizon younger than the 23-year-old Jones. Not only is Jones already the best, but he’s going to keep getting better as the rest of the Top 10 light heavyweights in mixed martial arts get older.

So as I list the Top 10 light heavyweights below, I’ll talk about how I’d like their chances against Jones — even though I expect Jones to reign over all of them for a long time.

MMA Top 10 Light Heavyweights: Jon Jones Moves to No. 2

Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, Light HeavyweightsThe last time I ranked the Top 10 light heavyweights in mixed martial arts, I wrestled with the question of who’s the No. 2 fighter in the weight class: Lyoto Machida, Rampage Jackson or Rashad Evans?

N…

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Jon JonesThe last time I ranked the Top 10 light heavyweights in mixed martial arts, I wrestled with the question of who’s the No. 2 fighter in the weight class: Lyoto Machida, Rampage Jackson or Rashad Evans?

Now I have the answer: None of the above.

Jon Jones put on his fourth consecutive spectacular performance in beating Ryan Bader at UFC 126, and I can no longer put Jones below anyone other than champion Shogun Rua. With just about any other fighter of Jones’ age and experience I’d say the UFC is rushing him into a title shot in this situation, but with Jones I can’t argue: He has proven that he deserves to be considered the second-best light heavyweight in the sport.

So I’ve got Shogun and Jones, who will meet in the main event at UFC 128, at 1-2 in our light heavyweight rankings. Find out where the rest of the division stacks up below.