lets settle down on dismissing those hall of famers
Last edited by dbreiden83080; 05-16-2009 at 10:54 AM.
does anyone honestly care about Hughes vs Serra?
I do, i love grudge matches and respect Hughes so i am pulling for him..
Definitely rooting for Machida and Nover in this one.
I do...its definitely a fair well fight for me
Sherdog
Lyoto Machida and the Revenge of Karate
Saturday, Lyoto Machida may well wind up finishing what Minoki Ichihara started.
Ichihara, if not the pioneering karateka to step into a mixed-rules ring, was certainly the first to do it for the benefit of a television satellite truck. An elite daido juku fighter in Japan -- a hybrid of judo and kyokushin karate -- Ichihara admitted himself in the 16-man draw of the second Ultimate Fighting Championship in March 1994.
Stout, serious and possessed of Bluto-like forearms, he was eager to meet Royce Gracie, whom he had watched and admired during the first tournament. Like Gracie, Ichihara sported a gi. Unlike Gracie, he was unaware it did him more harm than good: Gracie used it to choke him into submission after five minutes of protracted struggling.
Because UFC II’s success on VHS made it the viral video of its time, karate’s combat impotence was not an easy thing to keep a tarp over. As events wore on, the idea that someone who spent a portion of the day in kata or in stilted, mechanical fight posture would be an effective antidote to the Gracies -- or later, the wrestlers, kickboxers and now wrestler-kickboxer hybrids -- became laughable. Traditional arts were relics, sneered at by fight fans who knew better. Fights were won or lost based on the time spent gathering mat burn, not perfecting cinderblock parlor tricks.
But everything comes back in style eventually. (Possible exception: Zubaz.) Ichihara had fought blindfolded: His karate had no prior knowledge of what waited for him in the ring. Like all styles, it learned. The wrestlers used to beat up the kickboxers until the kickboxers learned to defend themselves on the ground; the wrestlers started getting beat up by the kickboxers until their striking caught up. Now everyone can wrestle and kick, and the better athlete usually wins.
The advent of the athlete -- as opposed to the stylist -- in the past 10 years created narrow opportunity for karate to make cameo appearances in fights, but only under the control of cross-trained compe ors. Shonie Carter whipping a spinning back fist out of his pocket against Matt Serra in 2001 was a condition of his kickboxing and wrestling proficiency. He was in control of the fight, so he could get cute. You have to know the rules before you can start breaking them.
No traditionalist has validated that to greater effect than Lyoto Machida, who is taking his 14-0 record into a Saturday le bout with Rashad Evans, also undefeated at 9-0-1.
Machida is not a “karate fighter” in the sense Ichihara was; he’s trained extensively in jiu-jitsu, muay Thai and other styles to help complete his library of martial arts. What makes Machida a story is his footwork and defensive posturing, which is classically old-fashioned. And that’s frustrating, because the sledgehammer-swinging combat hybrid fighter of 2009 doesn’t go into a gym and practice mounting or defending attacks with hands low and chins up. For them, Machida’s style might as well be pluto-fu.
It’s a blend of technique that’s had answers for everyone from Rich Franklin (good striker with Western sensibilities) to Thiago Silva (jiu-jitsu, aggression) to o Ortiz (power, power, power). The only question left is the one Evans is more than capable of asking: What happens when an explosive wrestler decides he doesn’t want to keep swinging at air -- he wants to plant you on your ass and pummel until you sneeze bone fragments?
It’s a great question -- Evans/Machida holds more interest for me than any fight so far this year -- and the answer is going to have real influence on how aspiring fighters choose to train. When Royce Gracie proved his style’s efficacy in a real fight, schools began painting “and jiu-jitsu” in their front windows. Ichihara might find considerable irony in MMA franchises forced to add “and karate” to their yellow page ads.
Toiling in some putrid gym somewhere right now is a guy building a base of wrestling and kickboxing who’s going to start ending fights with some bizarre krav maga or kung fu mysticism. And it’ll work only because being eccentric in the ring comes with having a contemporary base.
When you can meet someone at his own game and not be disassembled by your own ignorance, you can begin to impart your own. Machida has figured this out. Now it’s up for everyone else to figure him out.
That was a good read
Long but worth it
Rashad will have Machida figured out by the 3rd round.
Countdown Show on e right now..
Full countdown show is on UFC.com right now..
Don't forget to get your picks in..
Light Heavyweight Championship bout: Rashad Evans vs. Lyoto Machida
Welterweight bout: Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra
Middleweight bout: Drew McFedries vs. Xavier Foupa-Pokam
Middleweight bout: Dan Miller vs. Chael Sonnen
Lightweight bout: Sean Sherk vs. Frank Edgar
Preliminary card
Welterweight bout: Brock Larson vs. Chris Wilson
Heavyweight bout: Pat Barry vs. Tim Hague
Lightweight bout: Phillipe Nover vs. Kyle Bradley
Light Heavyweight bout: Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Andre Gusmao
Welterweight bout: Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs. Brandon Wolff
Lightweight bout: Dave Kaplan vs. George Roop
Just saw the weigh in, Hughes and Serra are both in great shape, and looked mad intense.
Champion Rashad Evans (205) vs. Lyoto Machida (204)
Matt Hughes (170) vs. Matt Serra (171)
Dan Miller (185) vs. Chael Sonnen (186)
Frank Edgar (155) vs. Sean Sherk (156)
Xavier Foupa-Pokam (186) vs. Drew McFedries (185)
I see it exactly opposite. It's going to be a dull fight until the 3rd round and Machida will make a mistake leaving himself open. Rashad will seize the opportunity and deliver a punishing knockout.
Rashad Evans vs. Lyoto Machida - decision
Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra - reaching here, 2nd rd TKO
Drew McFedries vs. Xavier Foupa-Pokam - 1st rd sub
Dan Miller vs. Chael Sonnen - 1st rd sub
Sean Sherk vs. Frank Edgar - decision
Brock Larson vs. Mike Pyle
Pat Barry vs. Tim Hague
Phillipe Nover vs. Kyle Bradley
Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Andre Gusmao
Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs. Brandon Wolff
Dave Kaplan vs. George Roop
Evan Evan Evan...don't be hatin' on Miller because he choked out mongoloid head Rosholt...
Chael will get sub'd...again...
I wanna see Miller pop Sonnen's head off...
Machida
Hughes
Foupa-Kopam
Miller
Sherk
My bets...if Sherk loses, I'm f'd...lol
Risk: $5.00 (USD) To Win Amount: $1,153.93 (USD)
Rashad Evans +150
Matt Serra +190
Sean Sherk -300
Krzysztof Soszynski +105
Yoshiyuki Yoshida -500
Patrick Barry -330
Dan Miller -210
Drew McFedries +150
George Roop -180
Phillipe Nover -330
Risk: $5.00 (USD) To Win Amount: $338.87 (USD)
Lyoto Machida -200
Sean Sherk -300
Andre Gusmao -145
Phillipe Nover -330
Yoshiyuki Yoshida -500
Patrick Barry -330
George Roop -180
Dan Miller -210
Xavier Foupa Pokam -200
Matt Serra +190
Risk: $5.00 (USD) To Win Amount: $78.89 (USD)
Rashad Evans +175
Matt Serra +190
Yoshiyuki Yoshida -500
Patrick Barry -350
Sean Sherk -275
Risk: $5.00 (USD) To Win Amount: $39.74 (USD)
Lyoto Machida -200
Matt Serra +190
Phillipe Nover -350
Yoshiyuki Yoshida -500
Sean Sherk -300
Risk: $5.00 (USD) To Win Amount: $34.44 (USD)
Rashad Evans +175
Matt Hughes -275
Sean Sherk -275
Yoshiyuki Yoshida –500
Patrick Barry -350
Risk: $5.00 (USD) To Win Amount: $28.16 (USD)
Lyoto Machida -220
Matt Serra +185
Sean Sherk -300
Yoshiyuki Yoshida -500
Risk: $5.00 (USD) To Win Amount: $25.07 (USD)
Sean Sherk -300
Phillipe Nover -330
Yoshiyuki Yoshida -500
Patrick Barry -330
Dan Miller -210
Xavier Foupa Pokam -200
Risk: $5.00 (USD) To Win Amount: $5.28 (USD)
Sean Sherk -300
Phillipe Nover -350
Yoshiyuki Yoshida -500
DREAM 9
Risk: $5.00 (USD) To Win Amount: $22.03 (USD)
Ronaldo Souza -240
Norifumi Yamamoto -700
Gegard Mousasi -220
Jz Cavalcante -180
Bob Sapp -210
Mixed – MMA / NHL / MLB / NBA
Risk: $5.00 (USD) To Win Amount: $409.84 (USD) –
Denver Nuggets -3½ -110
Orlando Magic -1½ -110
Pittsburgh Penguins +1½ -260
New York Yankees -160 for Game
Boston Red Sox -190 for Game
Sean Sherk -300
Yoshiyuki Yoshida -500
Patrick Barry -350
Dan Miller -165
Phillipe Nover -400
George Roop -160
* violent hipthrust*
THIS explains a lot - Machida's father:
"Really, at the end of the day, I come from a background of martial arts. I always taught my children that in the Samurai days, if you were to get touched it would have been with a sword or a blade and you would have died. So the whole thing is to eliminate getting touched and that's what I've always instilled in my sons. Let's not pretend it's a punch. Let's pretend it's a sword. If you would have been hit by the sword, you'd be dead. That's how I trained him."
Badass
Five things to watch for at UFC 98
http://sports.espn.go.com/extra/mma/...ory?id=4198589
Evans faces slippery Machida in UFC 98 main event
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/..._UvHgD98BGR0G1
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