The quote in the title comes from the ‘Book of Revelations’ in the Bible, an admittedly odd choice to begin a post about Lyoto Machida, an half Brazilian half Japanese MMA fighter. The description was later turned into a series of water colour paintings by the poet William Blake. One painting in particular, ‘The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun’, would in turn be used as the motivation for a fictional serial killer in Thomas Harris novel ‘The Red Dragon’.
The character of Francis Dolarhyde goes on a killing spree in the belief that it will make him more like the dragon in the painting, which he perceives as being as powerful as God. Dolarhyde is very calculating and methodical in his actions, using film from of his victims home videos which acquires through his work as a videotape technician to carefully orchestrate his attacks, he is able to avoid capture by the FBI. While primarily referred to as the ‘tooth fairy’ in the beginning of the novel, he like Machida gives himself the name of ‘The Dragon’.
The link between the two men is perhaps unfair to Machida who seems like generally nice guy, never engaging in trash talking to his opponents and always conducting himself respectfully in victory. However like Dolarhyde the nickname ‘The Dragon’ is best suited not to Machida as person, but perhaps just who he becomes when he is at his most violent. While not considered a power puncher, Machida is responsible for some of the most devastating knockouts in the UFC. From a brutal onslaught of punches used to finish Rashad Evans to capture the UFC Title, or the spectacular flying front kick Lyoto used to retire Randy Couture. A kick that could be seen in the replay sending a tooth flying out of the mouth of Couture, possibly Machida and Dolarhyde could share a another mutual nickname, the ‘tooth fairy’.
However despite these highlight reel finishes Machida is primarily a defensive counter puncher. Fighting from a Southpaw stance, his strongest attribute is highly ability to avoid damage from his opponents. Machida uses a wide variety of feints and misdirection’s to confuse his opposition, landing punches of his own before promptly retreating back to outside his opponents range.
A cautious style that had lead to some fans stating he has a tendency to run from his adversaries during fights. Tito Ortiz could be heard telling his corner in between rounds of his fight that Machida is ‘‘fucking running all the time’’. This reaction was no doubt partly due to the frustration on Ortiz’s behalf as he was being successfully outmanoeuvred and was trailing on points, it gives a good indication to helplessness opponents feel while fighting him. However Stephan Bonnar was more complimentative about Machida‘s style, after suffering a first round TKO loss to Machida early in both men’s careers, he describe the contest being like fighting ‘a ghost’.
Machida is also very unorthodox in the sense that he is reliant on traditional martial arts for his success in mixed martial arts. While he does have the prerequisite of a solid ground game with his BJJ black belt, he is able to use Karate to great success.
The invention of MMA was seen by many as the deathblow for traditional martial arts as they would be shown to be ineffective in an actual fight. However the fighting style titled ‘Machida Karate’ taught by Lyoto’s father Shotokan karate master Yoshizo Machida was developed for real life combat. While most Karate schools teach with the aim of preparing students for Karate tournaments, with rules like no punching to the head, Machida Karate is altered to have more effect in a MMA contest. Yoshizo Machida’s transition of the martial art is similar in it’s ideology to Helio Gracie’s development of Brazilian Jujitsu from the traditional Japanese form.
Machida is also a great grappler and has terrific takedown defence, this is in part down to Machida’s Sumo training, he even successfully took part in Sumo Competitions, proving that other martial arts can be used successfully in MMA if they are correctly integrated into the existing essentials skills of a MMA fighter. Due to this Machida’s difference in style provides a great contrast to the existing fighter clichés as the wrestler/boxer from America or the Muay Thai/BJJ fighter from Brazil.
Lyoto Machida’s arrival in the UFC was far from awe inspiring, his first three fights were all slow paced unanimous victories in which he used his defensive point fighting style, which he had mastered in years of karate tournaments, to safely guide himself to gaining the judges decision. It wasn’t until he stopped the rapid rise of Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou in the second round of their fight by arm triangle choke that he began to gain recognition in the division. Sokoudjou was fresh of first round knockout victories over highly ranked Brazilians Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Ricardo Arona and was making his debut in the UFC. He was seen as a dangerous opponent for Machida, yet it was Lyoto who controlled the pace of the fight, reversing the Cameroonians judo throws with sweeps the second they hit the mat and countering his strikes with brilliantly timed trips.
Machida’s next fight would be against the UFC superstar Tito Ortiz. Machida would be selected to face Ortiz by UFC president Dana White, as it would be the last fight on Tito’s contract and after long running feud between the two men White wanted an opponent that would give Ortiz no chance of a farewell victory. The fight would see Machida expertly control the pace while avoiding takedowns from Ortiz, who was growing frustrated by his inability to connect with punches on Machida. In the third round Lyoto dropped Ortiz with a knee to the body and followed his opponent to ground in an attempt to finish the fight. Ortiz then managed to catch Machida in a deep triangle choke, which Machida somehow managed to escape from before the fight ended, with Machida being awarded an unanimous decision victory.
Machida’s next fight would be against aggressive Brazilian Brawler Thiago Silva, who like Machida sported an undefeated 13-0 record at the time. Silva’s aggressiveness would play perfectly into Machida counter striking style. The performance by Lyoto could be deemed a work of art, as he was able to repeatedly drop Silva with well timed attacks, all the while avoiding the power of his fellow Brazilian. Thiago relentless pushed the pace forward putting himself further and further into danger from Machida’s Counters. With Ten seconds left in the first round both men found themselves pressed against the cage wall, from here Machida was able to trip Thiago before landing a finishing blow to the jaw of his downed opponent, seconds before the bell sounded to end the round. It would be Machida’s first knockout win in the UFC and one that would, due to fortunate fight cancellations, lead him to a shot at the Rashad Evans Light Heavyweight title.
Evans had rose to prominence in the UFC with his two knockouts of fan favourites Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin. The latter earned him the title and his first defence was supposed to be against Rampage Jackson at UFC 100. However the fight was traded with Brock Lesnar v Frank Mir to UFC 98 due to a minor injury to Mir. With Rampage being unable to fight on such short notice, Machida was given the opportunity to fight for the title, an opportunity he would capitalise on.
Both Machida and Evans were undefeated going into UFC 98 and it was unclear what type of fight to expect going in. Despite recent success on the feet Evans was primarily a wrestler, would he try to knock out Machida or take him down to ground where he would be unable to employ his effective footwork. Evan’s coach Greg Jackson is seen by many as to being the best strategist in the sport, people felt he would be the man to develop a gameplan to solve the enigma of Machida. Instead it would be one of Jackson’s biggest tactical disasters, as Evans attempted to stay on the outside and try and play Machida’s point fighting against him, with the hopes of landing a big knockout punch. The gameplan resulted in a second round knockout with Evans losing his belt after being repeatedly dropped and then finished with a multitude of punches from the Challenger.
Sadly, Machida’s reign as champion wouldn’t last long either, as he came across his first Challenge to his new belt, Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua. The first fight at UFC 104 would be subject to vast controversy as Machida was awarded an unanimous decision victory following five rounds of action. While the fight was a lot closer than many people like to remember it, Shogun was able to frequently land heavy kicks to the body and legs of Machida, noticeably slowing down Lyoto in the later rounds. Machida would counter each kick with a straight left to the head of Shogun, who was keeping a tight guard.
Here in lies the controversy in the scoring, with neither man able to get the knockout, what causes more damage a kick to the legs or punch to the face? the judges opted with the punch and awarded the victory to Machida. While shogun clearly took the last two rounds the first three are open to debate, a lot of people only remember the attacks of shogun choosing to look past moments of success for Machida, such as rocking Rua in third. The controversy would also lead to people critiquing the judging criteria for UFC fights, Machida had successfully defended every takedown attempted by Shogun, as a result you would have to say Machida won the ‘effective grappling’ element of the fight, but what importance does that play in a fight that was mainly striking? It certainly shouldn’t be weighted the same.
Shogun would be granted a rematch at UFC 113, the fight was highly anticipated due the controversial scoring of the first fight. The previous encounter was the first time Machida had been made to look mortal, despite this he still the bookie’s favourite to retain his crown as many expected he would make the necessary alterations to his style to be able to defend more successfully against Shogun’s Muay Thai.
The fight saw a much more aggressive Machida attempt to push the pace against Shogun frequently throwing knees and scoring takedowns. However the new aggression saw Machida’s defence compromised, as he was found repeatedly flat footed when Shogun attacked which saw him take more punches to the head then usual. Seconds after landing a hard knee to the body of Shogun, Machida was tricked by a dummy leg kick which attempted to counter with a straight left which left him exposed to an overhand right by Shogun which clipped him on the side of the head, dropping him to the floor. From there Shogun’s killer instinct, the best in the sport, took control as he landed straight into full mount and threw a series of devastating punches to finish the fight.
The aura of Lyoto Machida had been shattered in brutal fashion, what was once proclaimed the ‘Machida Era’ by commentator Joe Rogan had lasted barely two fights. The once unbeatable monster had been usurped violently. The first fight against Shogun had turned public opinion against Machida, and the second had seemed to validate it. The idea Machida being this mighty Dragon who would dominate MMA for years to come had been crushed. Very few people entertain the opinion that Shogun was just a bad match up for Machida. Shogun’s ability to fire powerful kicks to body of Machida, while possessing a strong chin to be able to walk through Lyoto’s counters proved to be deadly combination. Any fighter who is reliant primarily on their kickboxing is going to be prone to suffer the odd knockout defeat, take a look at any successful K1 fighter and they have no doubt been knocked out at some point in their career. There are just too many variables to consider in the stand up department, which is why a more measured approach such as that of Georges St. Pierre leads to more long term success as champion. Anderson Silva has stayed Champion for long time while primarily being a kick boxer but hasn’t fought any fighter as dynamic as Machida or Shogun on the feet.
Machida would attempt to get his career back on track against the heavy hitting Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson. Machida could be seen to be very timid in the opening rounds, no doubt influenced by his knockout defeat to Shogun. The first two rounds had very little action with both fighters doing enough to take a round a piece. However Lyoto Machida looked more like his old self in the final round, rocking ‘Rampage’ with strikes and then controlling him on the ground. This time however Machida was on the wrong end of a bad judges decision that saw Jackson awarded a split decision victory, no doubt heavily influenced by the caution Machida showed in the first two rounds.
Machida would rebound from these consecutive losses with a vintage performance against an 46 year old Randy Couture. It was already decided by the Couture that he would retire from the sport win or lose after having a long successful career capturing world titles at two different weight classes. Couture had always mentioned in interviews that he wanted to take on Machida to see if his Greco Roman wrestling could be successful against Machida’s defensive counter fighting style. However it would not be the triumphant send off Couture had hoped for as he was unable to use his effective clinch game in the opening round and found himself unable to close the distance against Machida’s elusive footwork. The second round saw Machida bring the fight to a close with a sensational right footed front kick that instantly knocked out Couture.
As fate would have it, once again Machida now finds himself awarded a title shot due to the cancellations of other fights. This time he takes on the current big thing Jon ‘Bones’ Jones, who like Machida previously, is seen by many to be unbeatable. Also Once again Machida fins himself trying to take the title of a Greg Jackson trained fighter, will Jackson repent from his tactical error in their first meeting? Look for a future instalment of this blog where I detail the rise of Jon Jones as well as break down the stylistic elements of the match up between the two.
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