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Video: Lyoto Machida’s Spirit Is Ready (And He Will Not Be Touched)


(Courtesy of BadBoy.com)

Does anybody else feel sorry for Thiago Silva after watching this video of Lyoto Machida preparing for their fight at UFC 94? Machida really is one of the most focused, technically sound fighters in the world, and if he can score the mount on Silva as easily as he does with his training partner at the video’s 0:42 mark, forget about it. Plus, he has that "spirit" thing going for him, which is nice.

As Machida’s brother Chinzo points out, Lyoto "will only attack an opponent when he knows that the strike will hit its mark." And of course there’s the matter of his confounding defense. FightMetric put together this comparison of Lyoto Machida and some of MMA’s current champions, based on the number of strikes they absorb per minute of fighting ("SApM"):

Fedor Emelianenko: 0.59 SApM
Lyoto Machida: 0.64 SApM
Anderson Silva: 0.71 SApM
Georges St. Pierre: 1.01 SApM
BJ Penn: 1.23 SApM
Rashad Evans: 1.39 SApM
Frank Mir: 2.7 SApM

It’s a very telling statistic, when you consider that many MMA fans would name Fedor/Anderson/Georges/BJ as the top four pound-for-pound fighters in the world, in that order. Does Machida deserve to be ranked among them? He certainly has the talent; maybe by the end of the year he’ll have the accomplishments as well.

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Tito's Massive Skull- January 29, 2009 at 10:42 pm

Fantastic, Machida is fighting again. We all get to hear Rogan go on and on about how “Elusive” he is. You say elusive I say running away. No doubt he’s talented but fucking hell is he boring to watch. As much as we all want to see the most talented people be champs, Dana’s gotta sell PPV’s. Machida doesn’t have any draw because he’s fucking boring. I’m getting sleepy just thinking about him.

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Bootylam!- January 29, 2009 at 9:51 am

“Elusive”, “technical”, “slippery”… All adjectives I DON’T want to hear if I’M PAYING MONEY TO SEE A FIGHT!!!! Unlike many I actually buy the ppv’s that I can because that’s supporting our sport by putting my money in. You don’t train to dodge, duck, run, slide, and avoid contact, you train to FIGHT, so let’s see it. I’ve seen people compare Lyoto to Sugar Ray Leonard, but it’s wrong because Sugar could stand right in front of someone and smash them if he chose, Machida hasn’t demonstrated that. Like I said before, if you want “technique”, go watch that Paul Mitchell shit.

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...- January 28, 2009 at 11:47 pm

No, I don’t feel sorry for Thiago. Lyoto Machida is probably the most overrated MMA fighter in the history of the UFC. Dude can’t knock anyone out, has more Decisions then KOs and Subs combined and only attacks his opponents in the last 30 secs of a round.

His biggest wins in the UFC were a 5-4 bum who was just hype from pride. and Tito after he was way over the hill. So you can keep saying how skilled and focused he is but the man hasn’t beaten a quality opponent in about 4 years…

Thiago hasn’t really beaten anyone in the Top 10 either but since he doesn’t have a legion of Internet nut huggers. I hope Thiago wins.

I don’t hate Lyoto. i just hate how butt hurt his fans get when someone says they don’t like his style.

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That Angry Guy- January 28, 2009 at 10:40 pm

Machida is boring. Yes, he may be an “artist”, but who the hell cares. People don’t want to see a person run around the octagon for 15 fucking minutes, looking for a time to strike. If i wanted to see that lame shit, id watch boxing. People who have skill can work through the punches and react to them, not avoid them all together.

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AlphaDog- January 28, 2009 at 9:32 pm

Like that bitch. That was spelled just for you. Get a fuckn clue ahole. This site is about MMA!

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Anonymous- January 28, 2009 at 8:34 pm

There’s no way AlphaDog is real… “grammer”… really?

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anonymouse!- January 28, 2009 at 8:32 pm

Machida kicks ass. Personally, I find him very entertaining. Precision, control and dangerous execution.

I can see why some find it boring, but I reckon it’s somewhat along the lines of when I was thirteen, and was much too naive to comprehend the entertainment value in anything beyond a one-hit-knockout.

Though, one-hit-knockouts never hurt…

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AlphaDog- January 28, 2009 at 8:06 pm

@ anonymous !This isn’t english class bitch! I’m typing fast not proof reading you bastard! We’re blogging a step up from texting and chatting. Talk about MMA not grammer, another Machida nut hugger!

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Anonymous- January 28, 2009 at 7:52 pm

PATATOE

Worst bastardization of the word “Potato” I’ve ever seen.

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AlphaDog- January 28, 2009 at 7:47 pm

And FYI to Machida’s nut hugger Meohf ! Retreating is one thing but Machida runs around the cage! He is boring to more MMA fans than you think casual or hardcore. I guess you have the spirit as well! He will never draw major PPV numbers. So you say he’s the man for not getting hit! PPV will show you he will never sell! Which matters most when all is said and done! Its all about the draw and Sleepy Dragon will never hold that title.

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AlphaDog- January 28, 2009 at 7:36 pm

Machida is the most boring fighter in MMA today! I hope he gets KTFO and we stop hearing this dribble about his spirit! All this hype about Machida and he doesnt have 1 highlight fight. He runs around the cage until his opponent is rushing in from chasing his ass and he counters. BORING ASS fighter! I hope Silva kills his spirit and career in the UFC. Cage Patatoe why all the love for the most boring fighter ever??

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SmokeyNinja- January 28, 2009 at 6:37 pm

Martial arts is the business of teaching students how to hit and not get hit in return. As much as I love to see a good slugfest, when I see a athlete that can dominate their opponent without taking any punishment in return, I feel like I’m watching an artist work. But instead of painting a canvas or playing an instrument Martial artists use an opponent to show thier craft, which happens to be kicking peoples asses.

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Meohfumado- January 28, 2009 at 4:55 pm

What exactly is gorilla warfare? Is that when two silverback gorillas go at it?

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groovekill- January 28, 2009 at 4:46 pm

the first top fight machida had in the ufc and he spent most of the fight running from tito. there should be no reason to run from titos striking i dont think hes(tito) ever knoked any one out? has he? whats machida running from so much. its not just killer instint he needs to develop.machida started a patern of running and even when titos down he falls back on running away. yhea its a tactic in war its called gorilla warefare machida should paint his face in camo and hide outside the cage and strike when least expected. and its in martial arts then machida should go back to jk cause hes the only one runnig in mma except starnes.

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Meohfumado- January 28, 2009 at 4:29 pm

groovekill, you are pointing out two different aspects of his fight game. One is being elusive (not letting oneself be hit), and the other is going for the finisher (taking advantage when a guy is down to finish the fight).

They are separate things. I agree, Lyoto needs to work on getting that killer instinct when he hurts a guy, and needs to stay on it. But that has nothing to do with his ability to make the other guy miss.

And FYI: retreating, regrouping, and counter-attacking is a standard strategy in war and martial arts. It has been for thousands of years…

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groovekill- January 28, 2009 at 4:20 pm

elusive is blocking and circling. running in a backwards motion is called a retreat.
they should have shown him training with the brazilian track team practicing running away. watch the tito fight, and watch machida as he puts tito down with a knee and starts to run away as tito laying on the mat. dick riders.

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Clue-by-Four- January 28, 2009 at 3:40 pm

People who are hating on Machida because he actually uses his head for something other than blocking punches might want to instead spend their PPV dollars on events like the ‘WWE Royal Rumble’ or ‘Springer: Rowdy, Rude, and Reckless’. Those might be more their speed.

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Dr.- January 28, 2009 at 3:24 pm

Lyoto is a great fighter from a skill perspective but that’s not all what makes a fighter.

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Meohfumado- January 28, 2009 at 3:18 pm

People think fighting is only about doing damage to your opponent, but in the martial arts, avoiding damage is equally as important. Being skilled at avoiding damage though, for some reason makes you a “pussy” and going ballz out stupid swinging for the fences while taking a ton of damage makes you a “man.”

I don’t understand it myself. If the point of a fight is to win, Lyoto is the man. He never puts himself in position to lose a fight by doing anything stupid, and his style frustrates opponents into making those same mistakes.

Of course he’s too “technical” for average MMA fans because he doesn’t put on a great show in their eyes. Well if the “show” is all that matters, go back to watching TnA and WWE where the “show” is all you get. This man is a martial artist and he knows his shit, and the first lesson is don’t be where your opponent is striking.

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Dr.- January 28, 2009 at 3:16 pm

Lyoto “The Sleepy Dragon” does have great skill and people say he has a fighting spirit. Yes, it takes spirit to step into the cage. And while a number of people want him to finish a fight, they aren’t looking for him to swing away wildly. If that’s what I wanted, I’d go watch some BumFights. Machida does seem to be more interested in self-preservation though.

And saying that he only strikes when he knows the shot will land is bogus. Not all of Machida’s strikes land. You have to factor in people blocking the shots. Because will he is a good striker, he lacks the killer instinct to put someone away when they are in trouble. His only TKOs were against Franklin (Strikes), Bonnar (Cut) and Dimitri Wanderley (5-2; 3-1 at the time) (which was called a TKO because of “Exhaustion” at 3:24 of R3). Beyond that, he has 2 subs.

The fact that a 3-1 fighter literally lost because of cardio before Machida saw it and TKO’d from strikes means that he couldn’t hit him them if he only throws 100% certain shots. Sad.

I hope Thiago gets wise to that double-step kick and smashes Machida into the ground. I know that Lyoto will be as elusive as ever because he doesn’t want to ruin his modeling career with Lugz.

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rick dickulous- January 28, 2009 at 3:12 pm

I just beat the shit out of my little brother for doing the lyoto machida backpedal while sparring, and If I can do that to a 13 year old, Tiago should have no problems.

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NECROPHYTE- January 28, 2009 at 3:09 pm

Machida vs Silva?

Lyoto is a superior fighter.

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Anonymous- January 28, 2009 at 2:59 pm

My vote for post of the week goes to Jugger. (just give him the shirt now)

“I can’t wait till Lyoto has Silva in a full mount is about to ground and pound him into oblivion… but then stops and gives him a Mr. Miagi nose honk instead.

You didn’t think I was going to finish you, did you, Mr. Silva? Ha ha ha! You don’t know me very well do you, Mr. Silva?”

Thats funny as hell

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