Dragon's Reign: The Future For Lyoto Machida and The Light Heavyweights

Top to bottom the Light Heavyweight division is one of the most talented in the UFC. The division has known past champions such as UFC Hall of Famers Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell, the latter stands as a driving force for the UFC in the world of mainstream sports.

These days, the Light Heavyweight division is an impossible gauntlet of dangerous strikers and submission experts. Only a couple of years ago, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was untouchable atop the division after seizing the title from Chuck Liddell. Then he lost the title to Forrest Griffin, product of The Ultimate Fighter.

Since Forrest claimed the title, the division has gone through a period of chaos.

Not long after losing the title, Rampage suffered a break down which landed him in hot water with the law. He was out of the UFC for several months, which put his rematch hopes on hold.

He returned to the cage in a grudge match against Wanderlei Silva. In that match he scored a second round knockout victory over “The Axe Murderer” with a vicious left hook, reestablishing himself as a Light Heavyweight contender.

Jackson will be a coach on the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter, followed by a match with opposing coach Rashad Evans at the conclusion of the show. A win over the former champion would put Rampage in serious contention for the championship once again.

On his way back to the top, veteran Chuck Liddell faced “Sugar” Rashad Evans for the right to fight Forrest Griffin for the title. Evans was yet another product of The Ultimate Fighter, and was an underdog going into the fight against one of the most feared and prolific strikers the UFC had ever seen.

Then Evans formally introduced himself to the MMA world at large and derailed Liddell’s title hopes with a monstrous right hook.

Evans had earned the right to face Griffin in what would be Forrest’s first and only title defense. After two rounds of Forrest utilizing quick strikes and leg kicks to out point Evans turned the tables. Griffin went for a leg kick thirty seconds into the third round, which Evans caught and countered.

Evans took Griffin to the ground, asserted various dominant positions and proceeded to pound Griffin’s face until referee Steve Mazzagatti recognized Griffin’s head whipping back and forth between Evans’ fist and the mat.

At that moment, Evans held an impressive 18-0-1 record in his career and was the Light Heavyweight champion.

Machida’s road to the title was not as high profile as Evans’ or even Griffin’s was, but he did not go unnoticed.

Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida is often mentioned as one of the most unorthodox fighters in the UFC. He is a Karate practitioner and holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. In short, he can knock out an opponent, he can submit an opponent, or he can simply outlast an opponent.

In many of his fights, Machida opted to submit or out point his opponents, scoring numerous decisions in his career. But in the face of so much scrutiny, Machida exhibited his knockout power against Thiago Silva, knocking him out at the close of the first round of their bout.

The impeding fight between then champion Evans and challenger Machida was shaping up to be a battle of the powerful striker versus a well rounded mat technician. Evans had all the knockout power in the world and Machida had all the strategy in his corner.

Lyoto Machida’s fights are typical highlighted by calculated in and out point gaining strikes, circling and backpedaling around the Octagon awaiting the next moment to strike and defending himself to gain the scorecard advantage.

From the start of his fight with Rashad Evans, Lyoto Machida was a completely different fighter. He was the aggressor.

Rashad Evans did what he does best and danced around Machida for much of the first round. Machida barely took a step back, which goes against nearly every fight he had been in prior to that night. He moved towards Evans and threw feints at the champ to gauge the distance and find the opening he needed to win the fight.

Despite very little action in round one, Machida easily won it on the scorecards. Despite a change in strategy, yet another Machida fight seemed destined for a decision.

The second round held a noticeable change in pace. Both men threw more strikes, though not many landed for either. Machida scored with a few kicks early in the round, but brought it home with a few flurries that no one, especially not Rashad Evans, expected.

Evans continued to dance and move his head to bait Machida into throwing a punch to be countered, but he found himself on the receiving end of a left hook which spelled the beginning of the end for the champ.

With 1:28 remaining in the second round, Evans was rocked and Machida moved in for the finish. The next 15 seconds of the fight had Evans struggling to get back to his feet in his dazed state and Machida landing several punches to stop him.

Evans’ hands were dropped to his waist, where he tried to throw punches from, but he was out on his feet. He had stumbled backwards into the cage, which was the only thing holding him up. He tried to move away from Machida’s strikes while attempting to throw punches of his own, but it was all for naught.

Evans was swinging wild while Machida landed calculated punches to the champ’s head. A handful of brutal shots to the head later, Rashad Evans crumbled to the mat. And so began the reign of Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida.

Over the course of a year and a half, the title has changed hands three times. In contrast, Anderson Silva has held the Middleweight title since 2006. George St. Pierre won the interim Welterweight title in 2007 and the undisputed Welterweight title in 2008. BJ Penn has held the Lightweight title since early 2008.

The Light Heavyweight division is stacked from top to bottom to be the most competitive and uncertain of all of the divisions the UFC has to offer.

Lyoto Machida’s first title defense will be against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, who has beaten several top fighters in the division such as the now retired Chuck Liddell and former champion Rampage Jackson. Highly touted out of the defunct Pride FC, Shogun hasn’t been the fighter many thought he would be.

Despite a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Shogun tapped out to Forrest Griffin via rear naked choke. Even with that loss, Shogun could prove to be a worthy opponent for Machida. He can match Machida on the ground and keep him outside with his kicks.

The fight may come down to who can land the best punch in the stand up because both men can kick and roll with the best of fighters. It will be interesting to say the least.

If Machida gets by Rua there are plenty of fighters in line for the title. Without question the winner of the Evans/Rampage fight will be a strong possibility to get a shot. A rematch with Evans could be great if Evans was to make substantial adjustments and maybe find a weakness in Machida’s technique.

A fight against Rampage could be dynamite based solely on Jackson’s pre-fight trash talk and all around personality. It would also be a tremendous ending for Rampage’s comeback story, though undoubtedly it would only be the beginning of a new reign for him.

Newly re-signed Tito Ortiz could prove an interesting match since it would also be a rematch.

In their first meeting, there were times where it looked like Ortiz could have beaten Machida, though it obviously didn’t turn out that way. A title fight for Ortiz is likely a ways off since he hasn’t fought in over a year and would have to prove he can be a contender.

The first challenge for Ortiz in his return to the UFC will be against Mark Coleman. The bout is set for UFC 106 in November.

Former champion Forrest Griffin is coming off an embarrassing loss to Anderson Silva and would likely need at least two victories to be even close to consideration for a title fight.

“The Dean of Mean” Keith Jardine could put himself in position for a title fight with a couple of wins as well.

Jardine matches up well with Machida in that they both have unorthodox styles. Jardine prefers the stand up game and has stated that the key to beating Machida is to confuse him the way he confuses his opponents. If Jardine can score a victory over Thiago Silva at UFC 102 he would definitely be in the running for a title shot.

Rich “Ace” Franklin recently moved up to 205 and with a win over Wanderlei Silva under his belt he could climb into the title picture with another win over a top contender.

That match would be great because of the history Franklin has with Machida's training partner Anderson Silva. It would be a chance to gain at least some revenge for the embarrassing losses Silva has dealt Franklin.

A long shot for the title would be Randy “The Natural” Couture. He currently fights at heavyweight, and will be fighting Antonio “Minotauro” Noguiera at UFC 102, but a move back down to 205 is not out of the question.

At his age it may be difficult to win a couple of fights in the division and still have enough left to contend, but Couture’s career is highlighted by beating the odds.

The most intriguing, yet least likely match up is Lyoto Machida versus Anderson Silva. The two train together and Silva has made it clear he has no intention of fighting Machida at any point because of that. Despite his impressive victory over Forrest Griffin and his mission to beat the best, he will not fight the best fighter the Light Heavyweight division has to offer. Sorry fans.

Machida's Shotokan karate style is not often seen in the MMA world, let alone used so successfully. Machida has brought together an impressive skill set that gives him the capability to end it with a punch, a kick or a submission at any point during a fight. If he can harness the aggressive approach he took in his fight with Evans then the entire division is in for a show in the coming years.

No matter who Machida squares off against, title or no title, he is going to entertain. He can literally do it all with his skill set and that makes for great MMA. It doesn’t bode too well for his opponents, but it may mean he becomes the first champion since Quinton Jackson to successfully defend the title.

I for one cannot wait to see what Lyoto Machida has in store for Mauricio “Shogun” Rua or any other future challenger. The world is witness to the rise of The Dragon.