I was doing play by play during the co-main event, and admittedly it is difficult to do the write up of the fight and score the bouts at the same time. When Lyoto Machida and Dan Henderson fought at UFC 157: Rousey Vs Carmouche to a decision I had pretty much the same score as the judges, and in fact I had scored the last round a draw. On the Fighters.com score card, Machida was the winner with a score of 30-28.
It wasn’t shocking to hear the boos from the fans in the arena, but the feedback on social media sites was that Henderson was screwed out of decision is what shocked me. People must have short memories when it comes to this sport, because what you saw on Saturday night at the Honda Center is exactly what makes Machida so good.
Machida has the ability to make good fighters look awful. He doesn’t do it by pounding them into oblivion, which he is definitely capable of doing, but he does it by not being anywhere near the punches of his opponents. Henderson is a great fighter, and dare I say a future UFC Hall of Famer, but Machida made him look silly by making him miss so much. His elusiveness is what prompted UFC Commentator Joe Rogan into screaming “Welcome to the Machida era” when he defeated Rashad Evans for his title.
When expert strikers fight Machida they run and try to brawl with him, and he historically picks them apart. When he fights wrestlers, he uses kicks and punches to keep his opponents on the outside, and that’s exactly what happened to Henderson on Saturday night. Henderson couldn’t get anywhere near Machida to land the big shot, barring one or two punches, and he didn’t do enough to win.
When Mauricio Rua defeated Machida everyone thought that the code had been cracked, and that it was all but a downhill slide for Machida. Machida’s win against Ryan Bader, and his win against Dan Henderson at UFC 157, are great examples as to why that is not the case. Machida will now face the winner of Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen for the light heavyweight title, and while the Machida era isn’t as impossible as Rogan made it out be, you better believe if he rematches Jon Jones he will fight differently. Lyoto Machida uses footwork and space like no other in MMA, and he should be heralded for it. Not jeered.
Photo Credit: UFC
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Thanks for the review this one’s closest to describing the fight as it is.
Thanks John Petit..this is the best post-fight review that I’ve seen. Lyoto is a fighter’s fighter…highly trained & dedicated to Martial Arts. And anyone whom has studies REAL martial arts will tell you that. He is an expert at striking, feinting, blocking & avoiding punches which is what you are spoused to do. (If you remember, Ali employed this tactic with big George Forman) Do you really think that Lyoto was going to stand & bang with Hendo?? He is a higherlevel than Dan unfortunatley…& used Hendos strenght against him. No way that Dan came close to winning that fight.
Machida is one of the few fighters with real skill, but most people think slugging it out like Neanderthals is fighting, ya brain dead fighting .
Machida is a master fighter and technician. He doesn’t have to fight to please you just to win his bout. Where hit and not be hit is the whole point you fools but then again your not fighters and if you claim to be one, its no wonder no one knows who you are and probably never will…losers.
DOMINANT WIN?? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
HOW COULD YOU CALL THE LAST ROUND A DRAW? HENDERSON GOT THE TAKE DOWN AND WAS IN DOMINANT POSITION FOR MOST OF THE ROUND AND THEN WAS ‘ELUSIVE’ THE REST OF THE ROUND.
HOW COME YOU GIVE CREDIT TO MACHIDA FOR BEING ELUSIVE IN THE FIRST TWO ROUNDS BUT NONE TO HENDERSON IN THE LAST?
You guys are funny, Lyoto won that fight SO EASY IT SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN SPLIT, I LOVE HENDO, BUT HE DID NOTHING ALL HE GOT IS A RIGHT HAND, HE JUST WALKED AROUND LOOKING TO MAYBE THROUGH A HAIL MARY, MACHIDA IS THE MOST ELUSIVE FIGHTER IN THE HISTORY OF UFC , A FIGHTER WHOS HARD TO HIT, BRILLIANT, JUST COS HE DONT STAND THERE AND HAVE A SLUG FEST LIKE A DUMMY YOU LOW IQ TYPES DONT LIKE IT, POUND FOR POUND HE TOP FIVE ALL TIME, YOU DUMMIES JUST DONT SEE IT, GET OUT OF THE DARLK AGES, theres a reason hendos face is smashed up and chidos doesnt have a mark on it, he;s a god
Machida’s elusiveness is too close to running away and that is why I, like many, thought Hendo won the fight. Sadly, judging is too inconsistent. In the Machida-Rampage and Guida-Maynard fight, that kind of elusiveness was judged to be a negative. It’s was simply an unentertaining fight.
It’s a win, dominant give me a break. You’ve watched enough fights to know that was anything but. Landing 38 significant strikes 15 minutes is not dominant. At least Henderson was the aggressor the entire fight. Just another boring Machida fight.
respectfully of course,
that’s my point, Henderson came forward and got nothing done. same guy who merked Fedor in less than a round by crowding him. Machida made him look like he was walking in post holes.
walking forward like fred flitstone getting your face smasehd in is hardly agressive, hendo should have won a trophy for most stupid, “hey lets keep walking slowly, ni fiegning side to side, just straight on slowly like a moving perfect target to a guy with the quickest front kick out there” aggressive??????? stupid more like!!1
Machida won a track match not a fight
great win for Machida, not sure about Jones tho