By Jim Slattengren: In Saturday night’s UFC 98 main event, undefeated Lyoto Machida (15-0) took out previously unbeaten Rashad Evans (18-1-1) in the 2nd round to capture the Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight title at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Machida, 30, who specializes in Karate, completely dominated Evans, 29, knocking him cold in the 2nd round with a hard left to the head.
The fight was in front of a huge crowd of 12,606 MMA fans who got to see one of the best fighters in the business with Machida. Evans was thought by many to be too strong and quick for Machida going into Saturday night’s fight.
Machida knocked Evans down once in the 1st round and then three more times in the 2nd, ending with Evans being knocked unconscious next to the cage fence.
Machida, who has never lost a round in his 15 wins in the UFC, was completely out of Evans’ league in the fight and far too good for the former UFC light heavyweight champion to deal with. Machida’s hand speed, defensive ability and his unorthodox manner of fighting seemed to have Evans totally confused in the fight and afraid to make a move for fear of getting countered by Machida.
Unlike other UFC fighters, Machida tends to lean backwards when fighting on his feet, making it hard to connect with punches to his head. Machida ability to land kicks without having to take a step forward made him a constant threat to Evans, as he landed a high number of kicks in the 1st round, and it seemed to make Evans fearful of trying to get in close to land something.
Machida used a lot of feints in the opening round, trying to get Evans out of position so that he could take advantage. There was little action in the first minute of the round as Evans looked nervous, afraid to even try to throw a kick or a punch. Machida stalked Evans around the ring, landing occasional inside legs kicks.
The crowd hated the lack of action and booed off and on through much of the round. However, it didn’t increase the pace of the fight any, because Machida was sticking to his tactical game plan of looking for openings, and Evans looked fearful of doing anything at all in the way of offense.
Finally, the southpaw Machida attacked Evans, landing a left kick to the midsection followed by a left to the chest that sent Evans down. The time ran out on the round before Machida could do any further damage.
In the 2nd, Machida with his right hand way out in front of him, stalked Evans around the ring kicking him every now and then to the shins with front kicks.
After getting hit with a handful of kicks, Evans attempted to attack Machida but walked into a straight left hand that knocked Evans to one knee on the mat. Although Evans wasn’t hurt, Machida rushed him as if he was, firing wild shots at him and missing most of them.
Evans got up off the canvas immediately, but then fell down again without getting hit. Machida then stood over Evans and tagged him with a left hand to the head. The punch didn’t do anything and Evans was able to get up without any problems.
However, Evans again slipped and fell down without getting hit. Machida then grabbed him around the waist with his right arm and nailed him twice with lefts to the head, and then cuffed him with a third left that knocked Evans forward on the canvas.
At this point, Evans still wasn’t hurt. He was having a problem staying on his feet because Machida was throwing tons of fast shots at him and he was having a hard time trying to get out of the way of them all. While Evans was down, Machida nailed him with a right to the head.
Evans then got to his feet once more and backed up against the fence. Machida hurriedly followed him throwing a lot of shots and missing pretty much all of them in his haste. However, Machida landed a nice right hand to the head followed by a fight kick to the torso.
At this point Evans was standing with his back to the fence trying to block the incoming fire from Machida and having zero luck in doing so. Machida then landed a right hook to the head that Evans didn’t see coming, snapping his head to the side violently.
Machida then landed a glancing right to the head and then a straight left that connected to Evans’ jaw just as he was coming forward. The punch dropped Evans backwards on the mat where he lay there with his eyes closed out cold. The fight was immediately stopped by the referee. Next up for Machida is Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
In other action, light heavyweight Krzysztof Soszynki stopped Andre Gusnad in the 1st round. Gusnad was controlling the action with front shin kicks through much of the round. However, Soszynski suddenly started firing right hands and connected with a big right to the head that sent Gusnad to the canvas badly hurt. The referee then stepped in and halted the fight.
In middleweight action, Drew Mcfedries destroyed Xavier Foupa-Pokam in a 1st round knockout. McFedries knocked Foupa-Pokam down in the opening seconds of the bout with a big right hook to the head. Once he was down, Mcfedries teed off on him with big shots to the head. Somehow, Foupa-Pokam was briefly able under the storm of punches, but was quickly knocked down again with a left hand to the head. The referee then stopped the action at this point.
Lightweight Frank Edgar defeated Sean Sherk by third round unanimous decision. The final judges’ scores were 30-27, 30-27 and 30-27. Sherk fought effectively in the 1st round, keeping the fight off the mat and throwing some nice combinations. However, in the 2nd and 3rd rounds, Edgar took over the fight with his fast shots and constant movement and dominated the last two rounds to get the decision.
In hindsight, Sherk may have been better off if he had tried to take the fight to the mat, because he didn’t have the skills needed to beat the quicker Edgar in the stand up fighting.
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