Why did lyoto machida lose

After turning his attention to other combat sports, Jim Alers is set to make his MMA return for the first time in over three years. Please enter an email address. Something went wrong. Lyoto Machida not focused on avenging losses in Bellator light heavyweight grand prix. More News. The Latest. News 17m ago MMA manager Jason House faces battery charge after allegedly assaulting father over finances Jason House is accused of punching his father, Kevin, several times during a meeting at a restaurant to discuss financial stake in Iridium Sports Agency.

When I was twenty-one I went up to the capital and met all manner of strategists, never once failing to win in many contests. After that I went from province to province dueling with strategists of various schools, and not once failed to win even though I had as many as sixty encounters. This was between the ages of thirteen and twenty-eight or twenty-nine. At the age of 29, Machida has not once failed to win in mixed martial arts competition.

The native of Salvador has taken these criticisms to heart though, and with his last two wins over Nakamura and Sokoudjou, he has shown a more aggressive style intended to not just win fights, but to finish them. First, he must beat Ortiz though, and to do that, it takes a single-minded approach to the fight that can only be achieved by constant training. As Musashi wrote:. In strategy it is necessary to treat training as a part of normal life with your spirit unchanging. Fight week.

For some fighters, the days leading up to their Saturday battle can be the worst part of their entire routine as pro athletes. Weight cutting, nerves, media obligations, waiting. One, some, or all of these can tear at their psyches, making them pray for the moment when the Octagon door closes and the bell rings.

Love him or hate him, the man has made his bones in mixed martial arts, and if he has taken you down and is raining elbows down on your head, there is probably no worse place to be. Despite his previous wins over the likes of BJ Penn, Rich Franklin, Stephan Bonnar, and Sokoudjou, this fight will likely be the one to define his career.

Win it, and he will move closer to a shot at the light heavyweight title held by Quinton Jackson. Lose, and he may have damaged his chances of getting to the championship anytime soon. For Machida, each fight requires not only reinforcement of fundamentals, but opponent-specific training and strategy.

In other words, his record means nothing when the bell rings. He humbly deflects such praise though. He lives the life of a samurai, the life of an athlete, the life of a father, son, husband, and brother. All of those elements have combined to make him who he is today, but ask him what he was born to be, and there is no hesitation in his response. Flawless both offensively and defensively, the Brazilian was closing in on a lopsided unanimous decision win when — with just 35 seconds left — Ortiz almost pulled off an improbable comeback with a triangle choke, the last maneuver you would have expected from the former UFC light heavyweight champ.

I had trained a lot of ground work so I was prepared, but it surprised me. For what seemed like an hour long ten seconds, Machida struggled as Ortiz then moved him into an armbar.

But Machida would pull loose, and with the crowd roaring, he made it through the round and to a well-deserved. Either way I was able to stay relaxed. But I do believe that I was better in both fundamentals — on my feet and on the ground. Regardless, Machida is preparing for Silva with the same Spartan work ethic that has become his trademark.

There have been few mistakes by Machida in his UFC career thus far, a stint that has encompassed five fights in which the Salvador native has yet to lose a round, let alone a fight. Keeping that streak of perfection has got to be a lot of pressure on the year old.

Does Thiago Silva have the tools to beat him? Does anyone at pounds? All that matters is Saturday night. His son, Lyoto, calls him his toughest critic. But just getting the title shot is not enough. You have to close the deal and take the belt. So when Lyoto Machida broke the news to his father that he would be facing Rashad Evans in the main event of UFC 98, the response was what you would expect from the karate master. Ever since that day, Machida has practically lived in the gym back home in Brazil, preparing more intensely than ever for the fight that will change his life.

My technical training remained the same. If he beats Evans and straps the light heavyweight championship belt around his waist, the change in his life is obvious — he will now be an international star and ambassador for mixed martial arts and the undisputed best pound fighter on the planet.

If he loses, it will be the first time he has ever tasted defeat as a pro fighter, and you never know how such a setback can affect you in or out of the Octagon. In fact, Machida has to go back years and years to remember the last time he lost any competition. I am just very calm, I like to relax and read. But when it comes to fighting, there is nothing more serious for him.

Machida, with the exception of a late triangle choke attempt by Ortiz in their May bout, has never been close to losing a fight. And if you think he fought stiffs before coming to the organization, the names Stephan Bonnar, Rich Franklin, and BJ Penn dot his victims list.

Bottom line, Machida has yet to face a fighter that can push him to the brink or over it, but every night, the man across the Octagon from him may very well be the first one to do it. I have trained other martial arts to learn how to defend myself against different opponents, but I never trained to learn how to use them.

So far, no one has been able to come up with a strategy to beat him either. But he has great hands and great takedowns. In terms of picking a winner for this bout, most pundits are stumped, and when pressed, the lines are usually drawn down the middle.

I couldn't show my skill. Machida says it was anxiety that prompted him to take the banned substance to begin with. He says Brazilian physicians prescribed 7-keto-DHEA as a stress reliever, not knowing it was added to the banned substance list in An month suspension at this stage of his career was a tough pill at first, but Machida now recognizes the downward trajectory of his career at the time.

He'd been finished in back-to-back fights in and wasn't handling it well. You can't just do anything for the money or to feed your family.

I was at a moment in my life where I was just training and competing because it was normal. Now, I have a goal back. I'm starving to fight. I want to be a champion again. During the suspension, Machida opened an academy south of Los Angeles, which he operates and teaches classes.