UFC 98: Welcome to the Machida Era

“Karate is back!” this was the sweet victory words of Lyoto “the Dragon” Machida after knocking down “Sugar” Rashad Evans making him the new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. With his elusive karate style he managed to throw ferocious combinations that landed on Evans’ jaw, he was caught first by a right hook followed by series of deadly combinations making Evans throwing punches instinctively and eventually knocked him down at 1:37 of the second round. It was the first time I saw Machida being the aggressor at the 1st round and I thought that could be his downfall but he caught Evans by a quick right straight he was rocked but recovered until the end of the first round. Evans managed to throw punches but Machida was not an easy target. Machida might be an elusive fighter but every punch he throws is precise and accurate making him a really unique fighter. As for Evans, it’s back to the drawing board but I still hope I will see him inside the octagon. I didn’t like the disrespect he showed Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell at least for now, he heave learned his lessons.

The grudge match between the two Matts was ended by a hug at the end 3 rounds. Matt Hughes won the fight but I believe that Matt “The Terror” Serra should have won the match for a lot of reasons; one is Hughes wasn’t able to go ground and pound Serra, he was on top of him so many times doing nothing, he threw body punches but Serra could take all of them he even tried to choke Serra but it didn’t wok, Serra was small for Hughes and yet he wasn’t able to capitalize. Serra rocked Hughes at the first round, they thought it was a head butt but why Serra felt nothing?. My heart was pounding while I was watching the fight, it was an amazing fight I'm a fan of both guys but i believe that Serra should have won the fight and I'm also impressed by their sportsmanship. They have ended their bad blood but i'm still hoping for part 2.