The Machida Era

Will last a long time. The only fighter in the LHW division that I see being a threat to Machida right now is Rampage, but I think Machida would still handle him. Would be interesting to see Rich Franklin move up to a possible rematch against Machida as well.

rampage is taylor made for machida! he'd tear him alive. rashad would too, they better set that up first. stylistically renato sobral and antonio rogerio nogeira would be interesting. don't see him losing either fight. maybe a HW that could drop down or anderson silva moving up. we all KNOW rich can't do it, haha. dan henderson might have the wrestling to make an interesting attempt.

machida, in logical theory, should remain champ a long, long time. my prediction is his first loss being to the hands of a HW he tries to move up in weight to fight. that's who i would put against fedor if i was dana.

I loved that fight. Machida destroyed Evans. That was crazy. I love Rashad and even picked him to win but I love a good fight and that was a good fight. Not just a wam bam knock out. He tore him up.

Great fight.

Who can beat this guy?

DFDmike wrote:rampage is taylor made for machida! he'd tear him alive. rashad would too, they better set that up first. stylistically renato sobral and antonio rogerio nogeira would be interesting. don't see him losing either fight. maybe a HW that could drop down or anderson silva moving up. we all KNOW rich can't do it, haha. dan henderson might have the wrestling to make an interesting attempt.

machida, in logical theory, should remain champ a long, long time. my prediction is his first loss being to the hands of a HW he tries to move up in weight to fight. that's who i would put against fedor if i was dana.

I hope they don't try putting Machida up to heavyweight like they're doing with Anderson Silva. I think it's different moving up to HW from LHW than it is from MW to LHW, so I don't think they'd have him do that. Machida is kind of a small LHW to begin with. Though, I could see them moving a HW down to LHW.. but who could they get to move down that's in the UFC right now that has a chance at beating Machida?

Anderson Silva vs. Machida would be a great match.. and I think Machida would have a chance to beat Silva, too.. but I guess they won't be fighting anytime soon.

Babalu would have been a great match for Machida... but I still think Machida could handle Babalu with relative ease, even though Babalu is a submission expert. I think Machida's standup and technical knockout power would be too much for Babalu, and he wouldn't even let Babalu take him to the ground.

I don't think Little Nog has much of a chance against Machida. He hasn't had a fight against a top opponent in years, and I don't think he should jump back into fighting a top opponent like Machida.. now, if the UFC actually signed him and then he worked his way up and started to fight more quality opponents and does well.. then maybe.. but honestly, I don't see him doing that either.

I'm really liking to sound of a Rampage vs. Machida fight... reminds me of the martial arts movies with the Chinese or Japanese fighter up against the big bad American, lol.. though, I think the big bad American would be the underdog in this fight, haha. A Rampage vs. Rashad fight still interests me as well.

In favor of a Rampage vs. Rashad fight.. I would like to see Machida's first title defense against Shogun. Even though, right now, Shogun may not actually deserve a title shot, regardless of his win against Chuck.. I think that would be the UFC's best bet right now, and would look good for a PPV headline fight, with the winner of Rashad vs. Rampage getting the next crack at the belt.

Mortis wrote:

In favor of a Rampage vs. Rashad fight.. I would like to see Machida's first title defense against Shogun. Even though, right now, Shogun may not actually deserve a title shot, regardless of his win against Chuck.. I think that would be the UFC's best bet right now, and would look good for a PPV headline fight, with the winner of Rashad vs. Rampage getting the next crack at the belt.

Hehe.. I should be an MMA matchmaker

http://www.themmaspace.com/blog/view/id_440/title_mauricio-shogun-rua-will-challenge-lyoto/

Looks like it will be Machida vs. Shogun in October or November.

And Rashad vs. Rampage after TUF 10.