Lyoto Machida made Rashad Evans pay dearly for his slow-start tendencies. Lyoto’s Karate background, stance and skills continue to make him a difficult opponent to deal with, as his 14-0-0 record shows. It only took 2 rounds for Machida to breakdown Rashad Evans with his fantastic accuracy and quick strikes. They say speed kills, but all of the speed that Evans posses didn’t help him in this bout. Evans seemed confused, hesitant and apprehensive to make moves against Machida’s awkward, but effective fighting style. A very good fight and Machida is going to be hard to beat.
The UFC 98 card wasn’t the best but had a few flashes of excitement. However, the fight I most looked forward to seeing: Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra, was a bit of a snoozer. Matt Hughes won, but I was hoping for a painful knockout or submission by Hughes as I’m not a fan of the overly vocal, Matt Serra. Both seemed a little slugging in the Octagon, but although Matt Hughes spoke of retirement earlier, he mentioned in a post fight interview that he "wasn’t going anywhere".
Upcoming events:
UFC 99 – June 13, 2009 – Franklin vs. Silva
UFC 100 – July 11, 2009 – Lesnar vs Mir