What Happened To Rashad Evan's GamePlan At UFC 98?

Rashad will be back and learn from this loss. He’s a young man who’s mentally tough so he won’t let this loss ruin his attitude he’ll learn from it and like so many great fighters use it as fuel to make him better. As for his strategy, I agree with your assessment that it would have been in his best interest to initiate a takedown. I get the impression from footage that I’ve seen is that a takedown from the clinch position is the best way to take Lyoto the mat. Plus, Evans could’ve had the option to work soe dirty boxing from that position as well if he chose to do so. I would look for Quinton to do just that, if he tries to take Lyoto down at all. As far as striking goes I’d like to see guys throw more body shots at Lyoto. With very elusive and crafty fighters like Machida (or Mayweather in boxing), it’s often best to target the body early. Anyway, mad props to Machida for coming out and executing. Evans will be back. Believe that.

In the open thread…I was like…get a damn takedown!

Also, I will openly eat crow. It erks the hell out of me that Evans didn’t fight smart though…

The only thing I can think of as to why he didnt try for any take downs was because he didn’t want to get caught with a knee like Tito did. But you would think a good wrestler like him would have tried anyway.

Felix hit the nail on the head. With Lyoto’s great reflexes and speed he would of saw a single or double leg coming a mile away. I feel where Rick is coming from about it being easier to take him down from the clinch but Rashad is a traditional wrestler not a judo guy. That being said with Machida’s sumo skills I think he’s better than rashad as far as the clinch goes. I think Rashad/Jackson didn’t want an intricate or complicated gameplan. It seems like they just set guidelines. : Lateral movement, don’t chase him, let him come to you, explode at the right moment, throw a lot of fakes to see what he does, etc. The thing is, Lyoto didn’t even flinch at any of those fakes, Rashad couldn’t close the distance because of those quick, untelegraphed kicks. Lyoto would throw a powerful kick and before Rashad could recover from blocking, he would eat some fist. I think Rashad did exactly what he planned. Machida was just amazingly fast and accurate. He fought the perfect fight. It really showed how technically brilliant he is. If he can do that to Rashad, than he could do it to anybody in the division. That fight scared the hell outta me. I gotta get better……..

Thanks for that detailed response D’Juan…He may have ate a knee coming in…he might not have….he should have at least tried…cause he won’t winning it on the feet….

True dat

That picture saddens me :(

The x-factor was Machida’s explosiveness as I see it, I think Rashad was looking to draw Machida in and then maybe hit some quick 1-2’s dancing in and out using his own explosiveness eventually going for the big right at the right moment. But it was like Machida could read his mind and just threw him off balance and changed up his timing with swift unpredictable moves. Someone sold me that the guy to beat Machida will have to be proficient in greco (or maybe even muay thai) for clinch/cage-work. But yeah, whatever the gameplan was it didn’t work – what I do know is that the Jackson camp often have gameplans spanning over several rounds, maybe this one got abruptly cut off Saturday. I’ve said it before, wrestlers who turn into strikers and forget their wrestling pedigree is a bit of a pet peeve. Sure wrestlers often have insane punching power but this is Mixed Martial Arts – use all your tools, tool. With the division filled with strikers, I can see Machida reigning supreme for quite a while.

haha Kelvin eats crow ….. (which I do a lot more often)

I was ok with either fighter winning. I’ve been on the Machida bandwagon for some time now as you guys know. If Machida was going to win, I wanted him to do so convincingly. I was fed up with him being labeled as boring. But that was a CRAZY knockout. I predicted Machida to stop Rashad but not with a KO that brutal. That image of Rashad slumped against the cage will remain in my mind forever.

As I said before, im glad someone has come along and brought the Mixed back in Mixed Martial Arts.

i dunno, rashad’s taken other guys down whose wrestling i would say was better (ala Tito)….i think the takedown was a viable option