UFC Weekly Report: The Lyoto Machida Era Has Begun, and a Hatchet Is Buried

What Machida Did Right and Where He Goes Next

Lyoto Machida fought his fight, plain and simple. He used his unorthodox style and remained at a distance out of Rashad Evans’ striking range but within his own range.

At a distance, Evans was unable to shoot for any takedown attempts without getting rocked in the process.

The battle of the undefeated records wasn’t all that exciting, but Machida shut all the critics up with this knockout victory.

He is an exciting fighter; scoring a knockout victory over the champ in a match where you dominated the whole match shows that.

Next for Machida is Rampage Jackson. I would have much rather have seen Rashad and Rampage thanks to the little WWE-like display when Rampage beat Keith Jardine. I don’t think Machida’s style will be as successful against Rampage.

Rampage showed a lot of patience in the Chuck Liddell fight, refusing to chase him around the ring. I see the same thing happening in this fight, but Rampage will pick the moments to swarm in quickly with his ability to control the cage.

What Evans Did Wrong and Where He Goes Next

Evans was in the worst position of his fighting career. He knew that he couldn’t chase Machida around the ring but really had no other option. He was able to land one flurry of punches, but that was it. I don’t like Evans, but I felt sorry for him.

You could tell in the second round he was completely lost in the ring, especially on his two kicks. He threw them out there and then took off running.

In the end, he took the first nap of his career. Let’s hope his career doesn’t spiral out of control now much like Liddell’s did after his first big KO.

From here, Evans is back to the gym and waiting for his next opponent, who I think will be Mauricio Rua. Both have victories over Liddell, and Rua is on a two-fight win streak. This is the match I see right now mainly by default.

I would love to see a match with Dan Henderson, but he’s got Michael Bisping up next, and after that he’ll probably get a title shot if he wins. Come on, he put up with all those brats from the US team; he has to get something.

Hughes and Serra Hatchet Buried?

Well, this match got the award for “Fight of the Night”—not really sure why, as it was a very dull match. I think they both wanted to slug it out, but after Matt Hughes got rocked in the first round, he got a little scared of Matt Serra on his feet.

I think the hatchet has been buried, but only because they both know there is no way they will fight again. Hughes is on the last legs of his career, and Serra has failed to impress since his victory over GSP.

I do think the win was a fluke, and Serra knows it; he really seemed lost after the match. I don’t see Dana White letting him go because of his brief reign as champion, but don’t expect him in any big-name fights anymore.

Hughes says he still wants to fight, and if that’s the case, then let him fight; I just don’t know who. Any rematch for him doesn’t make sense career-wise, and he’s not going to hold the title again. I would say his next opponent will be... [insert your own feelings here, 'cause I have no clue].

Sherk vs. Edgar: Who Would Have Thunk It?

I don’t think anyone expected Sean Sherk to lose this fight. Frank Edgar won this one in a very convincing fashion, and Sherk knew it. Dana’s blog said he ran out of the building still in fight gear.

So where does Sherk go from here? He has to stop this mentality of wanting to be a stand up fighter. He is a wrestler, and that’s exactly what he needs to do to win fights. Stop going for the fight of the night award and win matches.

His next opponent should be Joe Stevenson. They both need to rebound off of losses, and it would make for an exciting fight in my opinion.

Edgar just earned some major credibility in the lightweight division. I’d like to see a match between him and Clay Guida; they both have the energy to go three rounds nonstop.

Moving Forward to UFC 99

UFC 99 is coming up, and I have to say I’m not that excited about it. The main event is Rich Franklin vs. Wanderlei Silva. Both fighters are coming off losses, but Silva’s loss to Rampage was much larger on the scale.

Silva has not managed the success that he had in Pride, and if he loses this one, it’s time to hang the gloves up. I say this because to see a legend get beat on and lose that reputation of a great fighter is hard to see.

Time to Wipe the Cage Up—the little things from the Octagon

UFC Undisputed has been a huge success. Look forward to this becoming a yearly installment. I would say THQ has already begun working on next year’s edition.

The great thing is that with THQ behind the wheel you’ll see the same formula that the WWE games have. They will take a year to fine-tune an already great game and iron out the issues. THQ does a great job of listening to feedback.

Dana White’s twitter blog was a cool thing to see. He didn’t drop enough tweets, though; I mean, he really didn’t have a whole lot to do.

It doesn’t take long to drop a tweet in between fights. I’d like to see the thing used more, though I’ll likely get thrashed in the comments for this one.