Mixed Martial Arts Forum banner

Where does Machida Karate go from here?

3K views 32 replies 29 participants last post by  chilo 
#1 ·
Now that there does seem to be a weakness in the karate stance and technique, seeming to leave Machida subseptable to leg and body kicks, where and what do you think Machida will do to counter this, or is it just a flaw in the techique that will always be there??

Im interesting to see if his style will change, sparring with Silva to figure out a way to adapt, because honestly, he did less then Rampage did to adjust to the kicks, he seemed to have no answer but most great fighters come back stronger when a weakness is exposed, im very interested to see the adjustments Machida will or will not make in a future rematch??
 
#2 ·
There aren't many that can kick like Shogun. Most believed that Shogun, even with great kicks, would be countered the whole time(he was, that is why Machida won on points), but the counters weren't that hard and Shogun got away with it.

Machida's style is still very much dominating, as there aren't many, if none, that can kick like Shogun did tonight.

As far as fixing his style, he probably took a big notice today, him and his dad and brothers, and will find a way to tweak the style a bit to help protect from fighters that use kicks a lot.
 
#4 ·
If any of you guys spar or train you'll realize that Shogun came in with a great game plan. Unfortunately for him he was not able to execute his take downs or any other shots to truly hurt Machida. Machida was always countering and pecking away.

Shogun would throw the 1-2 combo ducking his chin in the process to the left and swinging his right leg to Machida's leg and body while Machida circled left. He did that same combo over and over. He's got the quickness and range to pull it. Just wasn't enough to pull off the win. Definitely deserves a rematch!
 
#11 ·
Heres the thing. Rua is a pure Mua thai fighter , even uses the traditonal stance and everything. Who none the better to emulate Rua's kicking and Mua thai then Anderson silva. Silva can easily emulate that same kick a thousand times in any direction, shit probably better then Rua's himself lol. With that being said , for sure Mach his father/brother and Andy will hit the gym when he's all healed up. And Andy is gonna throw that kick on Lyoto a billion time till he learns to defend it. Or make a new Karate technique to defend it. All champs or fighters for that matter always learn from losses. Obviously Lyoto lost this fight , tho 3 people in this earth didnt seem to think so otherwise, but that's beside the point. Even tho he's still the champ , he'll definetly learn from this and will most likely be ready and have an answer for Rua come rematch time.
 
#12 ·
I think it was a great test for Machida, Rua's style is so agressive that its testing for someone like Lyoto. I think he'll tweak his style to suit his fighter, perhaps his homework on Rua wasn't quite good enough.
 
#14 · (Edited)
I agree it's not the kicks. Muay thai kicks aren't new to Machida. He knows them well & against anyone else he would've been able to avoid them. But with pace & speed Shogun was pressing at him with he didnt get a chance to set himself up like he usally does in jumping in & out of the pocket. His karate's been exposed, there's no correcting it unless he completely change's style & add new attack tatics. Take Chuck Lidell for example, his style was figured out & everyone else after the Rampage knockout capitalized on it. But than again with Machida, I only think Shogun can give him the trouble no one else in the LHW has the muay thai technique of his caliber.
 
#15 ·
In the fight that I watched, almost every time Shogun did a body kick he was getting hit in the face, its just that the legs kicks are loud and they look harder so the crowd gets into it more. To judges though, hits to the head > body kicks, even if they don't "look" as bad.

I can see why some might think Shogun won the fight, but it wasn't as one sided as many of you think it was.
 
#18 ·
not really, if that was the case Chuck would've beat Jardine. And the loud noise you refer to isn't smoke and mirrors man, there is a reason a leg kick from Shogun is louder than a karate jab, because it is hitting 3 times harder. Also, a lot of Machida's so called counter punches didn't land that flush, just like his knees, from certain angles they looked good, but in the replay not one knee landed to Rua's face or head, most missed and the others hit him in the body. None of the knees landed like the one against tito though except in the openeing minutes of the first round. Now when Shogun did that jump kick to the body, that was a good coutner by Machida and it knocked Rua off balance, but what really did more damage, it was aparent the body and leg work was adding up and Machida slowed at the end of the fight, i bet he can hardly move today, i'd put a lot of money on it
 
#17 ·
As others have said, I think this simply says more about Rua than it does about Machida. I still believe, and I'm hardly a die-hard Lyoto fan, that Machida is capable of laying waste to 3/4s of the LHW division. But Rua showed last night that he, too, is a part of that upper echelon of UFC fighters, and so it comes as no surprise to me that he was able to give Machida problems. I always knew that if Shogun could return to form he would pose problems for any and everyone at LHW, and he proved that last night. We need remember that Machida has handed some rather lopsided defeats to some very talented fighters. That he was finally challenged last night is not at all reason to question his skills, but more so reason to tout the return of a Shogun who turned many heads back in the days of Pride. Lyoto said his next performance will be more convincing. I tend to believe him.
 
#20 ·
Hard to answer really IMO, it doesn't really need to go anywhere. It does need to incorporate a defense for the leg kicks(Lyoto reminded me of Rampage just eating them) but basically there is something else to work on defending you incorporate that into his training. The same training that won him the fight with his effective countering that Goldie and Joe said ZERO about.....

Here's what I overwhelmingly remember about last night....


Shogun landing nasty leg kick...Rogan freaks...at the point Rogan is freaking Lyoto has landed 3-4 head shot flush and not a word of them, then that turned into " he's just landing those leg kicks" with no comment on Lyoto's countering....

If your an honest MMA fan, go back rewatch the fight and focus soley on Machida's countering....even if you hate the guy you will see he is landing and then pay attention to see if you hear Rogan or Goldie saying a word about those counters.......THE DIDNT.....

People on the forum are smart, some people get wrapped up in what they are told from the UFC....example...Joe or Goldie will talk a fighter up when we all know that said fighter isn't all they are trying to make him out to be.....like listening to the way they described Alves before he fought GSP...trying to bring Alves to that level that GSP is in everyones mind, but in the wash the truth comes out....
Mute the fight watch it ten times then watch it the 11th listening to Joe and Goldie.....

I think the Judges saw alot more than we were....
 
#21 ·
For full disclosure, I have not seen the fight. I saw about a minute or so of highlights only. I will second your observation regarding the counter strikes. I saw what you described. The sequences I saw showed the Rua kicks being countered with multiple, well timed and well aimed counter strikes. I am anxious to view the entire fight.
 
#26 ·
Similar to when Shamrock exposed BJJ. It didn't mean that BJJ wasn't useful, it just meant that people can get around it and that you have to adapt. And remember, no matter how hard Shogun tried, he never came close to finishing Machida so its not like Shogun was killing and the only thing that kept Machida up was his chin. He moved well backwards laterally into the later rounds. If you look at the FightMetric thingy, you can the number of missed shots by Rua.
 
#27 ·
it was only leg kicks?? except.... rua still hit more heads shots too....
 
#28 ·
Well Machida should ebe going over to Shoguns house and giving him his belt. The Fightmetric report was all Shogun. Even if Machida got him with some couter punches shogun still landed more and harder shots. Machida never did anything to try and win this fight and they just gifted it to him. Nobody I was with, the UFC crowd or the f-ckning president of the UFC thought Lyoto won. Just completely robbed. Machida should be back to working up the ranks to a title shot.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top