THE ERA OF MACHIDA AND SHOTOKAN KARATE HAS BEGUN!!
"My MIND is my sword and my BODY is my blade" - Lyoto Machida
Machida is now an impressive 16 wins and zero defeats in mixed martial arts competition, with his last two matches being KO's, which only goes to show that he is not only a good fighter but he is also an expert of his art.
Lyoto earned his black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jutsu in 2007 and is also proficient in SUMO. However, when you watch him in the ring you cannot help but realize that he is truly a shotokan stylist with more ability to be more elusive and quicker than anyone.
Many people like to discredit his Karate background as the main reason for his success and mention the fact that he is also a BJJ practitioner. The fact is, BJJ does not teach the footwork and lightning speed striking that seems to be the key to his success. Not only is he statistically the least struck in UFC history, Lyoto has also managed to keep the lowest rate of being struck by punches with no more than 1.5 punches per round to actually land on him.
That is impressive!
"The Spider" Anderson Silva is known to be the best fighter to ever fight in the UFC but even he has lost at least one round. Machida on the other hand still has not lost one round to date! (his most recent fight was his toughest test and he lost 2 very technical rounds against Shogun Rua but managed to take the match)
Say what you will about the man, he is boring to those who do not understand tactical fighting skills and strategies of traditional Karate, but he is very exciting to those of us who have been training the same techniques as Lyoto has for the last 30 years.
Just like the majority cheer for someone passing the guard on the ground getting ready to do some ground and pound, we cheer for his speedy footwork and tactical counter striking.
I think SHOTOKAN will gain a lot of popularity from Lyoto's success and I also believe that Lyoto is here to STAY!
Word is his brother is entering in to the UFC at the light weight divisions and he is been said to be much more aggressive than Lyoto. Watch out MMA world, Here comes SHOTOKAN Karate at its best!
Word is his brother is entering in to the UFC at the light weight divisions and he is been said to be much more aggressive than Lyoto. Watch out MMA world, Here comes SHOTOKAN Karate at its best!
