Lyoto Machida defeats Rashad Evans at UFC 98

I really thought Rashad Evans stood a chance against Lyoto Machida. He was an unorthodox fighter coming from one of the best camps in the world at breaking down opponents. I thought he'd come in and at least make it competitive, but sweet Jebus. I believe he landed one or two glancing blows to Machida's head and one solid kick to the body, and that was about it before he got put to sleep in the second round. Am I saying Rashad Evans was overrated? Absolutely not. I'm just trying to point out what a ridiculous human being Lyoto Machida is. A guy who can go into the octagon against people like Tito Ortiz, Thiago Silva, and Rashad Evans and make them look like amateurs. Based solely on the damage he took and inflicted, he might as well have been fighting an eighty-year-old blind person.

Rashad Evans vs Lyoto Machida officially on

UFC President Dana White confirmed yesterday that Lyoto Machida will fight Rashad Evans for the light heavyweight title at UFC 98 on May 23. Rashad was supposed to fight Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, but Dana White said Jackson needs jaw surgery and wouldn't be ready for UFC 98.

I'm glad Lyoto Machida is finally getting a title shot, but it shouldn't have taken Rampage having to get jaw surgery for it to happen. Despite Machida's destruction of Thiago Silva, there are still a lot of haters who find him to be boring. I don't fall into that camp, so I'm just hoping he manages to beat Rashad in exciting enough fashion to win some people over. Machida doesn't get the respect he deserves by the UFC or by the MMA fans, but hopefully a light heavyweight title can change all that. And, if not, he can always resort to plan B: weeping in the corner while crying out, "Why won't they love me?!" Which, actually, doesn't sound like a very good plan.

Rashad Evans expects to fight Lyoto Machida

Despite the announcements at UFC 96 that Rashad Evans would fight Quinton "Rampage" Jackson for the title if Rampage managed to defeat Keith Jardine, it looks like it's going to be Lyoto Machida who finally gets the title shot. Sherdog reports:

"As I learned, 'Rampage' might need time off," Evans told the Sherdog Radio Network's "Beatdown" show on Monday. "It'll probably be Lyoto Machida, but I haven't gotten a confirmation on that."

"I don't know. I've just got that feeling," said Evans. "Just listening to him when we were in the ring talking he was kind of like, 'Yeah man you're lucky I wasn't 100 percent' and he started making excuses and I was thinking like it sounds like an excuse-fest is about to happen, so I know he ain't going to take no fight with me. He's making excuses now."

And on facing Lyoto Machida:

"The kid's been phenomenal," said Evans. "He's been better than phenomenal. He's been looking better every fight. But that's the fight business. That's the fun part about a fight is the fact that you go in there with an opponent that sometimes seems insurmountable. But then you figure it out and that makes the victory that much sweeter. With that said, there may be some kinks in his armor that I have yet to see that I can exploit when I look at the tapes more closely. Nobody's unbeatable. Machida's been looking slicker than I don't know what, but everybody has a weakness even if you do look slick as oil. Everyone has a weakness."

Ooh, this is exciting. I really hope this happens, because as much as I like Rashad and Rampage, I love Lyoto Machida. Hmm, maybe "love" isn't the right word here. What do you call it when you have a life sized cardboard cutout of somebody and a print of their face on your pillow case?

Post UFC 96 thoughts: Rashad Evans' commentary

I wouldn't have guessed, but Rashad Evans is probably the best fighter commentator I've heard yet. And that's including Randy Couture. He was incredibly insightful and really showed the difference in mentality from a person who watches fights to a person who actually fights. I'm sure a lot of the insight came from the fact that he helped train Keith Jardine for Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, but it was extremely refreshing to hear. In addition to the very general (and also very entertaining) comments from Joe Rogan, you got a very detailed analysis of Jardine's gameplan. I felt like I was in his brain, and that's all thanks to Rashad Evans. For some reason the guy gets booed, but he's earned himself a tip of my hat. Oh yeah, and I guess Rashad Evans and Rampage Jackson are fighting for the title in May now at UFC 98. Poor Lyoto Machida. He should consider a new career in Never Ever Getting Title Shots. Because I think he would be very good at that job.

Dana White explains Rampage-Jardine-Evans

Wonder why Rampage Jackson is fighting Keith Jardine instead of jumping straight into a title match against Rashad Evans as many had expected? Dana White explains the whole situation in an interview with FanHouse:

When do you think we'll see Lyoto Machida again and who might his opponent be? That's a good question. That's going to depend on how the light heavyweight fights shake out in the next couple of fights. Obviously, Keith Jardine and Rampage Jackson are fighting (at UFC 96). Rampage is next in line for a title shot.

Assuming he beats Jarinde?
Yeah, Rampage was supposed to fight Rashad Evans, and Rashad wasn't ready to fight. Rashad was just coming off the Forrest Griffin fight, he was all beat up, he wanted to take some time off, so Rampage said f**k it, I want to fight anyway. Give me another fight.

Rampage wants to keep fighting and stay active, which I love. I love guys like that. That's the way Chuck Liddell was, too. Chuck didn't want to wait for anything, he just wanted to keep fighting. People respect that. I think that's why Chuck became so big.

So Lyoto is in that top tier but we'll have to see how the other fights shake out before we'll know who he's going to fight next?
Yes.

I don't see why Rampage Jackson or Keith Jardine should get a shot at Rashad Evans before Lyoto Machida. At this rate I suspect he'll finally get a shot at the light heavyweight title when he's somewhere in his 80's.