The Machida era has begun

Lyoto ‘The Dragon’ Machida became the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion at UFC 98 with a 2nd round knockout over Rashad Evans. Machida looked his usual self as he gave Evans no chance to land anything significant and scored with laser-like accuracy. After an uneventful first few minutes in the opening round, Machida briefly dropped Rashad with a short left after a leg lick in the only significant moment of the opening frame. The champion was more aggressive in the 2nd round which played right into Lyoto’s hands as he made Evans miss with ease before nailing the champion and dropping him again. Visibly hurt, Evans rose but was forced back into the cage by a barrage of strikes before being knocked out with another short left hand. The win sees the third UFC Light Heavyweight champion in as many fights with Forrest Griffin and now Evans both having lost their titles in their first defence.

This win surely puts Lyoto in the pound for pound mix. While he isn’t up there with the Silva’s, GSP’s and Fedors, he sits on or just below the same shelf as Penn and Torres. He’s gone through everyone he’s faced with such ease that it makes you wonder what is needed to beat him? The grapplers can’t get their hands on him and the strikers can’t land. His footwork, reflexes and defensive instints are on another level and he’s shown increased punching power so far this year with his two knockout wins. Rampage has to be next, although he might be looking for another fight before his next crack at the title. Light Heavyweight may have just joined Middleweight, Welterweight and Lightweight as a division with a seeminly unbeatable champion.

In the co main event, Matt Hughes won the long awaited grudge match with Matt Serra by unanimous decision. Serra had Hughes hurt in the first round after he followed up a head clash with a series of damaging punches before Hughes took Serra down and briefly had his back. The second round saw Hughes score with a takedown and control the entire round doing little damage from on top. The third was almost more of the same as Hughes scored another takedown and did nothing from on top as Serra attempted several submissions from his back. The lack of action forced a stand-up by Steve Mazzagatti before Serra took Hughes down and landed some decent shots from on top. Hughes escaped as the buzzer sounded and took the decision 29-28 on all three cards.

This fight made me kind of disappointed that these two didn’t fight over five rounds back at UFC 79. Rounds four and five would have likely decided the rightful winner in a razor thin fight that could have gone either way. I actually scored the fight for Serra as I thought he did more in the third round, but it really could have gone either way. I’d like to see these two fight again ASAP as there’s no one else out there that would make for a good fight with either of them right now. It was good to see them hug after the fight and exchange compliments, although I’m sure the ill-feelings between these two are fully resolved or ever will be.

Frankie Edgar scored the best win of his career with a unanimous decision over former UFC Lightweight Champion Sean Sherk. Sherk showed the complete lack of versatility in his stand-up game that got him in trouble against BJ Penn as Edgar boxed and moved and did it easy for most of the fight against the former champion. Sherk only attempted a takedown once and scored it, although Edgar got back to his feet in quick time. This win shakes up the division a bit and really establishes Gray Maynard as one of the top contenders as he’s beaten Edgar as well as a few other decent opponents. Also on the main card, Drew McFedries scored a devastating knockout over Xaier Foupa-Pokam in just 37 seconds. McFedries jumped on Professor X quickly and ended the fight with a barrage of hard, accurate hooks. Chael Sonnen scored his 2nd win in the Octagon with a three round domination over Dan Miller.

Preliminary Results
Brock Larson 1st round submission (arm triangle choke) Mike Pyle
Tim Hague 1st round submission (guillotine choke) Pat Barry
Kyle Bradley 1st round TKO (referee blunder) Phillipe Nover
Kryzstof Soszynski 1st round KO (punch) Andre Gusmao
Yoshiyuki Yoshida 1st round submission (guillotine choke) Brandon Wolff
George Roop split decision Dave Kaplan

UFC 98 Predictions

The Pacquiao-Hatton hangover ends this weekend with a good few days of fight action, none of it more spectacular then the UFC event this weekend. Headlining the card is Rashad Evans making the first defence of the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship that he won in December from Forrest Griffin. His opponent is the undefeated Brazilian star Lyoto Machida who has won all six of his fights in the UFC against the likes of Tito Ortiz, Sokoudjou and Thiago Silva. Outside of the UFC he has defeated two legends of the sport; Rich Franklin and BJ Penn (although Penn gave him a huge weight advantage). The co feature on the card is the long awaited grudge fighting between TUF6 coaches and former UFC Welterweight Champions Matt Hughes and Matt Serra. The two were expected to fight at UFC 79, but a back injury forced Serra off the card and both were then beaten in their last outings early last year.

Predictions
Main Card
Rashad Evans vs Lyoto Machida
Prediction- Evans by 4th round knockout
Yes I am picking against the so far unchallenged Machida (and when I say unchallenged, he’s definately beaten good fighters, just none of them have tested him yet). There’s a few factors in this pick. First of all is Evans new found boxing skills which is something Machida is yet to face in the Octagon. None of his opponents have had good technical boxing ability and with this I believe Evans can capitalise on some of Machida’s unorthodox evasive maneuvers and land his hard right hand. Next there’s Evans wrestling background, which Machida has faced in the past but not combined with the hand speed and boxing ability that Evans has. Rashad should be able to better use his stand-up to set up takedowns should he choose to take the fight down whereas someone like Tito Ortiz or Kazuhiro Nakamura had no set-ups to their takedowns which made them useless. Not to mention that Evans has probably the best tactician in MMA in his corner. If anyone can figure Machida out it’s Greg Jackson.
The key factor though is Evan’s incredible conditioning. I can’t remember ever seeing Rashad tired in a fight. Machida’s stamina has never really been questioned because he’s never had to fight in the late rounds at anything other then the pace he wanted to go at. If Rashad can land some shots or score some takedowns he could fluster Machida and break him down with his workrate. I think Machida will be overwhelmed especially as the fight hits the 3rd and 4th rounds and Evans will come over the top of him and score a knockout in what should be a very entertaining fight.

Matt Hughes vs Matt Serra
Prediction- Serra by 2nd round knockout
Yes I’m going with both Rashad and Serra. While Matt Hughes is very effective at what he does and it could work against Serra, I think he’ll need more then just good wrestling and a strong top game to win this fight. If the fight stays on the feet for a long period of time it’s big advantage Serra. If Serra gets on top in this fight it’s big, big advantage Serra. If Hughes gets on top of Serra he could very well get submitted although I think if Serra is on his back for too long he’ll do well to pull anything off on the bigger man. I think the big key in this fight is Serra’s improved stand-up and his punching power. Hughes’ stand-up has always been garbage and his keeness to trade in recent fights makes me believe Serra will take his head off with an overhand right and finish Hughes’ career.

ps- I’m going for Serra as well just so you know who’s side I’m on.

Frankie Edgar vs Sean Sherk
Prediction- Sherk on points
Sherk will give Edgar a chance if he’s stupid enough to box with him like he did with Tyson Griffin. If he fights like the Sherk who held the belt he’ll win this one easily.

Drew McFedries vs Xavier Foupa-Pokam
Prediction- Foupa-Pokam by 1st round submission
Like Sherk, Xavier gives McFedries a huge chance if he stands with him. He has excellent Muay Thai, but McFedries is as dangerous a banger as there is. Xavier’s submisison game is also good while McFedries’ is poor. If Xavier takes this to the mat he’ll tap McFedries quickly. If they stand up this could be fight of the night.

Dan Miller vs Chael Sonnen
Prediction- Sonnen on points
I’m picking this based on quality of opposition. I think Sonnen’s experience will help him in this one and his wrestling should dictate the course of the fight.

Preliminaries
Patrick Barry vs Tim Hague
Prediction- Barry by 2nd round knockout

Kyle Bradley vs Philipe Nover
Prediction- Nover by 1st round knockout

Andre Gusman vs Krysztof Soszynski
Prediction- Soszynski on points

Dave Kaplan vs George Roop
Prediction- Kaplan on points

Brock Larson vs Chris Wilson
Prediction- Larson by 2nd round submission

Brandon Wolff vs Yoshiyuko Yoshida
Prediction- Yoshida by 1st round submission

UFC 98 main card pull-outs

UFC 98 is another PPV card that has been changed on a number of occasions due to injuries. Originally dubbed UFC 98: Lesnar vs Mir II with that fight as the headline, Mir pulled out with an injured knee leaving Rashad Evans to step in making the first defence of his Light Heavyweight crown against Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson. Then Rampage pulled out leaving Lyoto Machida to take his place (don’t worry, nothing has happened to that fight). Josh Koscheck was set to face Chris Wilson on the main card along with the TUF 6 coaches grudge match between former Welterweight Champions Matt Hughes and Matt Serra and the Lightweight battle between Seah Sherk and Frankie Edgar, but Koscheck was forced off the card with an injury leaving Brock Larson to step in instead.

Now, top Middleweight Yushin Okami has now pulled of his main card fight with Dan Miller as well as James Irvin pulling out of his 185lb debut against Drew McFedries (also on the main card) leaving two holes in the main card. Replacing Irvin will be Xavier Foupa-Pokam and replacing Okami will be Chael Sonnen. The Okami-Miller fight had upper level implications and should Miller win over Sonnen he’ll likely be seen as one of the top contenders (although an announced UFC 102 bout between Demian Maia and Nate Marquadt is likely to land the winner the next title shot). Foupa-Pokam has drawn a pretty exciting match that has me about 90% as excited as I was for the Irvin-McFedries fight. Although winning seven fights by submission (which makes anyone favourite over McFedries), Foupa-Pokam is a lethal striker and a slugfest could be on if Xavier doesn’t decide to take it to the ground where he should be too much for McFedries.

The UFC 98 card now looks like this:

Main Card
Rashad Evans vs Lyoto Machida (UFC Light Heavyweight Championship)
Matt Hughes vs Matt Serra
Frankie Edgar vs Sean Sherk
(two to be added from Prelims)

Preliminaries
Dan Miller vs Chael Sonnen
Xavier Foupa-Pokam vs Drew McFedries
Houston Alexander vs Andre Gusmao
Pat Barry vs Tim Hague
Dave Kaplan vs George Roop
Brock Larsonvs Chris Wilson
Phillipe Nover vs Kyle Bradley
Brandon Wolff vs Yoshiyuki Yoshida

Koscheck off UFC 98; Larson vs Wilson

Josh Koscheck’s main card slot after he got sparked in one round by a newbie (Paulo Thiago) at UFC 95 is now canned after he suffered a foot injury in training. For us fans, I think this is probably a good thing and not because I don’t like Koscheck, but because the Koscheck-Wilson fight was weak and now we get to see something else on the main card. Brock Larson has reportedly stepped in to fight Chris Wilson on reasonably short notice as Larson scored a win at the Fight Night in Nashville last week. Larson choked out Jesse Sanders quickly in the first round and obviously took little if any damage in the fight and was able to get straight back to the gym. With the Koscheck fight off the main card, it leaves one of the following to fill in the 5th slot:

Brock Larson vs Chris Wilson
James Irvin vs Drew McFedries
Phillipe Nover vs Kyle Bradley
Houston Alexander vs Andre Gusmao
Pat Barry vs Tim Hague
Brandon Wolff vs Yoshiyuki Yoshida
Dave Kaplan vs George Roop

The top three are the front runners in my opinion. Larson is a good prospect with his only UFC loss coming to Jon Fitch way back at UFC Fight Night: Loiseau vs Tanner in October, 2005. He has currently won four fights in a row since being arm-barred by Carlos Condit in 2007. McFedries-Irvin should be electric as both guys have serious power and dodgey chins/defence and if I had my way I’d have that fight on the card. The other option is to give the TUF runner-up Phillipe Nover a chance to shine on the big stage, but if he’s that impressive they could always show him via tape delay.

UFC 98 looking massive

All rumours so far, but UFC 98 is scheduled for May 23rd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and so far the main bouts are good ones. The UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar will meet the interim Champion (and only man to defeat him) Frank Mir in a ‘unification’ fight. This is one of the most anticipated fights of the year and while I think Fedor, Arlovski and Barnett would rape both of these guys, I’ll definately be looking forward to this bout. It’ll be very interesting to see how they both match given how much better they both looked since their first fight at UFC 81 last year.
The co-main event will be between former Welterweight Champions and TUF6 Coaches Matt Hughes and Matt Serra in an injury delayed grudge match. People have been saying that no one will care when this fight eventually comes around, but these two definately care. Matt Serra hates Matt Hughes because ‘Matt Hughes is a dick’ and Hughes hates Serra because ‘Hughes is a dick’. It won’t take too long for these two to rebuild their rivalry. After UFC 94 next weekend, this is the next big MMA card I’m looking forward to.
By the way, I’ve included an MMA schedule on this page now, check out the link on the menu across the top. It’s still a work in progress and I hope to add more to it soon.