Hyden's Take
HYDEN BLOG: Ronda Rousey's UFC 157 win, and Lyoto Machida's Fighting Style
Feb 27, 2013 - 10:00:13 AM HYDEN BLOG: Ronda Rousey's UFC 157 win, and Lyoto Machida's Fighting Style

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By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor

UFC 157 was this past week, giving us a chance to see Ronda Rousey make her UFC debut against Liz Carmouche. Rousey got the first round armbar, but the fight was much closer than that. Carmouche almost finished her - she was agonizingly close to finishing her, in fact - but wasn't able to put her way. Both fighters can keep their head high, although losing always sucks. The fight delivered great excitement and I hope that it exposed a lot more people to women's MMA and how great it can be.

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Lyoto Machida won his "fight" with Dan Henderson by split decision, but it was your typical Machida fight, avoiding an engagement and trying to counter shots that had no chance of landing since Machida was backing away the entire time. I've made it no secret that I hate watching Machida fights, and not just because they're boring. The main reason I hate the way Machida fights is that he's capable of so much more. Machida has the talent to be a much better fighter than he shows every time out. He isn't one of those fighters like a Ben Askren, Jon Fitch, Jake Shields, or any of the other fighters who generally employ a singular strategy and stick to it no matter what. When those guys are in there against good fighters, they employ the lay-and-pray strategy because typically they have to. Their best chance to win is by being boring and trying to cover their opponent like a blanket. I've given them grief over the years because they don't often try to win by going for a ground-and-pound victory or even seem to try for a submission, they just try to outpoint their opponent and that's more trying to not lose than trying to win.

Machida isn't like those guys, though. He's more talented, he's got more tools in the bag. For some reason, though, he refuses to use them at times. Machida has the ability to utilize his unorthodox striking to keep his opponents off-balance. I'm not saying that Machida should rush forward like a fool with his chin up, but he's fully capable of outstriking many of his opponents while still fighting smart.

Lyoto Machida is a very frustrating fighter to watch because you know he's much better than what he shows. There was no reason for him to fight the way he did against Dan Henderson last week. All he had to do was avoid the right hand, and he was golden. Considering how slow Henderson is now that would be a relatively easy thing to do. I like Henderson, but he's 42 and really slowing down.

So now Machida gets a shot at the UFC Light Heavyweight Title and Jon Jones after Jones decimates Chael Sonnen in April. As I've said before, when it comes to rematches I always ask what's different this time? In this case, it seems to be nothing. Machida seems to be the exact same fighter that lost to Jones at UFC 140 in December 2011. How can anyone expect a different outcome this time, especially when Machida appears to be the exact same fighter?

One of the things that makes Machida special is that he is so different from most every other fighter out there. He's like a knuckleball pitcher in baseball, if you don't know what he's about, there's a good chance you'll look foolish. Machida doesn't use that advantage, though. Just like a knuckleballer, the more tape you see of Machida, or the more you fight him the better you're going to do. Machida was able to give Jones a little trouble in their first fight. If he's the same fighter this time, which appears to be true, then Jones shouldn't have as much trouble as he did in their first fight. Look what happened when Machida fought Mauricio "Shogun" Rua the second time, he got knocked out and lost the UFC Light Heavyweight Title.

Machida doesn't vary his tactics enough. If you get a guy to chase you around the Octagon for a few minutes he's going to get frustrated and might step outside of his comfort zone to try to land something, anything, on you. That's when Machida should totally change it up and push forward. If you get a guy overextending, why wouldn't you switch it up and go for the finish right there?


Comments and suggestions can be e-mailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com