July - 2015
SCRAPP! FIGHT MAGAZINE
12
in a row. Machida was then set
to face UFC Hall of Famer, Ran-
dy Couture, on April 30, 2011,
at UFC 129. UFC President,
Dana White, had indicated that
Machida was under pressure to
perform in his upcoming bout
against Couture, saying, “this
is a must-win for him.” Ma-
chida defeated Couture via KO
with a jumping front kick to
the face at 1:02 of the second
round, earning his third Knock-
out of the Night bonus.
Machida would get his title
shot once again. This time fac-
ing Jon “Bones Jones at UFC
140. Machida would hurt Jones
in the first to only be battered
and damaged in the second
round by Jones vicious elbows.
Jones would get a standing
guillotine choke against the
fence that would render Ma-
chida unconscious.
Machida would go on to face
and defeat Ryan Bader and
Dan Henderson then he would
lose once again to Phil Davis in
what was a very contriversal
win for Davis. After the fight,
Machida would decide to drop
weight and take a run at the
middleweight belt.
Machida’s first fight at middle-
weight would be against his
friend and training partner,
Mark Muñoz, on Oct. 26, 2013,
at UFC Fight Night 30, replacing
Muñoz’s original opponent Mi-
chael Bisping, who was forced
out of the bout with an eye in-
jury. Machida defeated Muñoz
via head kick KO at the 3:10
mark of the first round, earn-
ing him his fourth Knockout
of the Night award. Machida
was praised for demonstrating
class and sportsmanship by not
throwing any more punches
to the grounded Muñoz after
knocking him down before the
referee stopped the fight.
In his second bout in the mid-
dleweight division, Machida
returned to Brazil and faced
former Strikeforce light heavy-
weight champion, Gegard
Mousasi, in the main event of
UFC Fight Night 36. Machida
won the fight via unanimous
decision after five rounds, also
earning his second ‘Fight Of
The Night’ bonus award.
Machida was then expected
to get a title shot against the
winner of the UFC 173 fight
between UFC middleweight
champion, Chris Weidman,
and Vitor Belfort. However,
after Belfort withdrew from
the bout on Feb. 28, 2014, it
was announced that Machida
would replace him in the main
event UFC 173 on May 24,
2014. On this date, it was re-
vealed that Weidman would
need to undergo knee surgery.
The title fight with Weidman
was rescheduled and eventu-
ally took place at UFC 175 on
July 5, 2014. Machida lost the
fight via unanimous decision.
Despite losing on the score-
cards, Machida earned his
third ‘Fight of the Night’ bonus
award for his performance.
Up next for Machida would
be C.B. Dollaway at UFC Fight
Night 58. Machida won the
fight via TKO only 62 seconds
into the first round after land-
ing a body kick that dropped
Dollaway, finishing him with a
barrage of punches that forced
the referee to stop the fight.
Machida also earned a ‘Per-
formance of the Night’ bonus
award.
Machida would the face rising
star Luke Rockhold for what
many thought would be an-
other title eliminator bout. Ma-
chida would once again feel
the agony of defeat after be-
ing badly hurt in the first round
by a devastating elbow to the
side of his head that he would
never recover from. Rockhold
secured a choke hold in the
beginning of the second round
that would force the ” Drag-
on” to tap.
Saturday we will get to see if
Machida can once again get
back in the winning column of
if he will put another loss on his
record. So the question is what
was this “Machida Era” that
Joe Rogan was talking about? I
am a huge fan of the “Dragon”
and I do hope he can secure
the win this Saturday, but at 37
years of age, does he still have
what it takes to compete with
these younger, stronger, faster
fighters? Maybe the “Machida
Era” is just beginning, or may-
be it never was. Either way this
will be a great match when the
“Dragon” faces Romero in the
5 round main event.
