As the majority of mixed martial arts fans will know Lyoto Machida is the new UFC Light-heavyweight Champion, a statement that is becoming annoyingly regular.
Before the fighters entered the cage I was of the opinion that Rashad Evans explosive hand-speed and solid wrestling skills would at least give Machida his own problems to solve. But after hearing Rashad's striking coach say that if the crowd is "booing" then Rashad was doing well, my heart sank.
Rashad employed the tactic of trying to entice Lyoto in and that was all Lyoto needed. Machida proved to quick and elusive for Evans and one has to wonder if Evans gameplan was simply over complicating an already complicated enigma.
Evans landed his two strikes when he threw back at Machida. So perhaps if Evans had fought the way he did against Forrest Griffin, he may still be champion. Or if the wrestler in Evans had made an appearance, would he still be champion?
That is the million dollar question, but Rashad's sacrifice paves the way for future challengers. Now all of enter the cage with the Dragon know they must not stand back and counter punch to such an extent.
All you have to do is go back to Machida's fight against Bj Penn. Bj came out aggressive and mixed standup with grappling and fared a lot better than Evans did, hell he even landed a power-punch that delivered from a genuine Light-heavyweight fighter could of shut Machida off, could being the main word here.
So if I were in the corner of Machida's next opponent, which it appears will be Shogun Rua, I would simply tell him to fight the way he did against Liddell and simply go with the flow. After all, why change your style if it has gotten you so far?
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