MMA And Its Athletes Continue To Evolve

by Kelvin Hunt on Oct 27, 2009 10:00 AM EDT in News Comment 14 comments

I'm about to be Machida'ed and Shogun'ed out, but after processing all that has happened in the aftermath of UFC 104 I found this to be the most interesting. I wrote about possible storylines to be on the lookout for prior to UFC 104. I wrote:

Of course this is the main event of the evening with the UFC LHW title on the line. How will the former #1 LHW in the world fare against the current #1 LHW fighter in the world is the question going into the bout. However, afterwards we could be praising the likes of the re-birth of the 2005 version of Shogun Rua, or we could be wondering if there's anyone out there left that could defeat Lyoto Machida.

Not only have we been praising Shogun's performance and re-birth of sorts, we now know that Machida's style is vulnerable to specific game plans.. Beforehand, it was the Machida era and most of us thought that nobody was going to be able to figure out a game plan that would solve the Machida puzzle for a long time. Machida has 8 fights in the UFC, but only half of those fights are against what I would call quality opponents with a legitimate shot at beating him(if you count a broke down game half-way passed him by Tito Ortiz).

So in a sense, it only took 3 fights for someone to develop an effective game plan to combat Machida karate. Who knew that Machida's wide karate stance would be vulnerable to leg kicks and kicks to the body? That's the game of MMA. It kind of reminds me of NFL defenses in football. If an offense comes up with certain plays that are really effective, it's not long before the defense finds a suitable solution and MMA is no different. On the flip side of this, how will the UFC light heavyweights evolve to combat the 2009 verion of Shogun's muay thai? Maybe we'll get to see more evolution as Machida prepares another gameplan for the Shogun re-match?

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“we now know that Machida’s style is vulnerable to specific game plans.”

Yes, any style is vulnerable but I don’t think it is conclusive that Machida’s style is vulnerable to specific game plans. Vulnerable to Shogun’s style and game plan, yes but we’re discussing one fight.

In the end the rematch will reveal a number of things.
- Will Machida do a GSP and make serious adjustments and decisively win like Huges-vs-St. Pierre II?
- Will Shogun crank it up a notch and completely expose Machida?

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by VeeisAnimated on Oct 27, 2009 11:23 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

The GSP analogy is flawed in that what beat him wasn’t a gameplan (landing a sledgehammer on your opponent’s jaw is never a bad thing, but gameplans usually involve a little more detail)

Bloody hell.

by 3PA on Oct 27, 2009 11:48 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

welcome back Shogun

how will the UFC light heavyweights evolve to combat the 2009 verion of Shogun’s muay thai?

great point! he seems to be back in the form of his life however i personally can’t justify the idea of any other fighter currently in the division, Anderson Silva excepted, being able to reproduce such a gameplan effectively against Machida! i am a big Shogun fan, but that aside he boasts a skillset of a level matched by Machida! tito fail. thiago fail. rashad fail.

"I had to fight all my life to survive. They were all against me... but I beat the bastards and left them in the ditch." ~ Ty Cobb

by RearNakedPoke on Oct 27, 2009 11:44 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

sorry 2nd paragraph wasn't a quote, my bad

"I had to fight all my life to survive. They were all against me... but I beat the bastards and left them in the ditch." ~ Ty Cobb

by RearNakedPoke on Oct 27, 2009 11:45 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

no problem

I think there are other gameplans that can be effective against Machida…I laid one out for Rashad Evans.

That game plan is definitely not the same one used against Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin. The Liddell fight was pretty even right before Evans melted the Iceman, but I had Evans losing the Griffin fight up until the point where he put Griffin away. Evans has really good hand speed and he can strike, but just trading strikes with Machida isn’t his path to victory. He needs to implore a strategy similar to Randy Couture/Tim Sylvia. This simply means to strike when Machida thinks he’s going to shoot for a takedown and vice versa. He can take Machida down. I mentioned that Machida is an economy striker, so a takedown or two coupled with Evans landing some shots should be enough to take the rounds. If stamina is an issue for Machida in the championship rounds, then it’s possible that Evans could put him away at that time. Also, Rashad Evans simply has more ways to win this fight. He has the power to put Machida away with strikes if he catches him. He can win a decision using a smart fighting strategy. He could also possibly win the fight via GnP in the later rounds.

Of course you would need a skillset similar to Rashad Evans to implement it.

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by Kelvin Hunt on Oct 27, 2009 12:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Whereas

I would counterpoint this gameplan by noting that Machida ended up showing a chin, and the endurance to go the distance, against Shogun. Not that getting smacked in the face, legs, body, etc. in the first place is the best indicator of that… LOL

But I would suggest that Evans couldn’t count on Machida gassing, and he had better not go with that “one big shot” mentality ever again!

by Chortles on Oct 28, 2009 12:13 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ok

I would counterpoint this gameplan by noting that Machida ended up showing a chin, and the endurance to go the distance, against Shogun

Which is why I said this…

I mentioned that Machida is an economy striker, so a takedown or two coupled with Evans landing some shots should be enough to take the rounds.

I could have worded this better…but I was referring to landing punches after the take down.

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by Kelvin Hunt on Oct 28, 2009 8:22 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

interesting points

im very reluctant to lend any credence to wrestling theories against machida, i just don’t know is he that susceptible to them with his sumo background and evasiveness?! i really don’t think he is, but i could be proven very wrong some day! i just look at tito who i regard as a superior wrestler to rashad and he failed to get anywhere realistically against him. maybe the Randy of old, but Rashad…i can’t see it. sorry! i do see where you’re coming from though!!

"I had to fight all my life to survive. They were all against me... but I beat the bastards and left them in the ditch." ~ Ty Cobb

by RearNakedPoke on Oct 27, 2009 1:02 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Well

Tito is a very one dimensional wrestler…he depends on the shot…and with his age/injuries he’s lost a lot of the explosiveness that he used to have…I don’t think he’s a superior wrestler to Rashad at all…Tito never really got Rashad down in their fight….and that was two years ago….in which Rashad has improved tremendously…albeit he’s depending on his striking too much as of late IMO…

Rashad is capable of taking Machida down with a shot…or from the clinch as evident in the fight with Bisping…he’s good at getting in close them dropping for the double or single from the clinch…and since Machida allows you to work from the clinch, I think he could be successful there…if he doesn’t rely on his striking ALL the time…

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by Kelvin Hunt on Oct 27, 2009 1:13 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

shooting is not Evans game tho Evans imo is a bad style match up for machida. Plus in all of Evans fights he rarely goes to the body. But I’m sure greg Jackson will have a miticulus gameplan. Your going to laugh but a keith jardine would be an intrusting style match up

by EVeezy on Oct 28, 2009 1:56 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions 0 recs

“praising Shogun’s performance and re-birth of sorts”

. . . I just noticed this Kelvin. I really like the re-birth of sorts part because way too many people are jumping the bandwagon saying Shogun is back! This is the same fighter that put Liddell away, he just had a different strategy for a totally different fighter.
Good Job!

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by VeeisAnimated on Oct 27, 2009 2:28 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Ehhh

I wouldn’t say he’s the same fighter that put Liddell away…he showed a lot more in the Machida fight…albeit was a longer…I don’t think you can deny that they guy looked similar to if not better than the pre-knee injury Shogun.

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by Kelvin Hunt on Oct 27, 2009 2:55 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs