July - 2015
SCRAPP! FIGHT MAGAZINE
10
THE MACHIDA ERA???
Article By: Jeremiah York
On
Saturday night,
we will see Lyoto
Machida return
to the cage to face Yoel Rome-
ro in the main event of UFC
Fight Night 70 at the Seminole
Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in
Hollywood, Fla.
In this middleweight fight we
could either send the winner
into title talks or we could see
Machida dropping fast in the
rankings. At one time, when
Machida was an undefeated
light heavyweight who just de-
feated Rashad Evans for the light
heavyweight belt, UFC com-
mentator Joe Rogan stated ”
Welcome to the Machida Era”.
Machida would only defend his
belt one time in a very contro-
versal fight with Mauricio “Sho-
gun” Rua, before an immediate
rematch where Rua would KO
Machida in the first round with
heavy ground-and-pound and
take away the belt from a man
most considered unbeatable.
Let’s take a look at the career
of Machida and see if we can
understand why “the Machida
era” never really happened.
Born in Salvador, Brazil, on
May 30, 1978, to his Brazilian
mother, Ana Claudia, and his
Japanese father, Yoshizo Ma-
chida. Growing up in Belém,
Machida began training in
karate at three years old and
earned his black belt at the age
of 13. He also began training in
sumo at seven and Brazilian jiu-
jitsu at sixteen. He won a num-
ber of amateur karate tourna-
ments, including the 2001 Pan
American Karate tournament.
Later, he traveled to Thailand
to study Muay Thai, to Japan
to study grappling, and finally
to United States to pursue his
UFC career.
On May 2, 2003, he defeated
Kengo Watanabe by decision
in his professional début on a
card promoted by New Japan
Pro Wrestling in Tokyo. During
his early fights, he competed
under the name of Lyoto or
Ryoto. In his second fight, he
defeated future UFC Hall of
Famer, Stephan Bonnar, by
technical knockout due to a cut
in the inaugural event promot-
ed by Jungle Fight in Manaus,
Brazil. This was Bonnar’s first
professional loss.
(Esther Lin/MMAFighting)
