Jaimaltz
07-26-2009, 08:21 AM
With the UFC's takeover of Affliction, we still don't know if they have acquired any of the Affliction contracts. If they did actually obtain them, we could see Fedor in the UFC - but not against Brock Lesnar.
Dana would never give Fedor the Lesnar fight unless Fedor was locked down on a UFC written contract to ensure a champion's clause so that Fedor couldn't just walk away as the heavyweight champion and start the troubles all over again that the UFC faced with Couture. But, if they do have Fedor's one fight contract from Affliction, they could do something with it.
Enter Lyoto Machida. :thinking:
There are several roles that fighters take in the MMA - Champions, contenders, gatekeepers, cannon fodder (also known as tomato cans) - and the UFC is no different. There is another one though, the role of a dark assassin. Machida has played this role before against Tito Ortiz when Tito was leaving the UFC. Gray Maynard is playing the same role against Roger Huerta at Ultimate Fight Night 19.
The purpose of this role is to deal with fighters that are out of political favor with the UFC, and are leaving the promotion for whatever reason. In these cases, the UFC wants to make the fighter leaving as worthless to other promotions as possible, and send them out with a loss.
The UFC's dark assassin has to fit several criteria:
1. They have to be good. Really good. They also have to match up well with the opponent in question.
2. A loss by the DA wouldn't can't the UFC too badly, but a win would greatly hurt the opponent.
3. They have to make the opponent look bad in the process.
I can't think of any fighters in the UFC that fit this criteria against Fedor better than Machida. He's a terrible matchup for Fedor for many reasons.
1. He's very smart and disciplined - he'd never make the stupid flying knee mistake AA did against Fedor.
2. The whole package of his standup skills and takedown defense is awesome. He's an expert at controlling distancing and range with his kicks and Karate style, and can easily outpoint all but the top K1 fighters. I don't see him knocking out or submitting Fedor, but I can definitely see Machida outpointing him. The fact that he doesn't telegraph his strikes makes him very difficult to take down even while landing leg/body/head kicks. Fedor sets his takedowns up by using his striking to set up clinches, and then using throws from there. He won't outstrike Machida, and if it does go to the clinch, Machida's takedown defense due to his Sumo training is second only to GSP in the UFC.
3. Even if it goes to the ground, Machida should be able to survive the round with his Black Belt in BJJ.
4. Machida should only giving up 15 lbs to Fedor.
If Fedor loses to Machida, his P4P ranking takes a nose dive. No one who loses to a fighter in a lower weight class stays at the top of those rankings. Even BJ Penn went down in rankings after his fight with GSP, and he was moving up a weight class! Not to mention that when Machida beats you, you look terrible. In fact, he makes you look like an amateur. If Fedor wins, no titles change place as the fight would occur at heavyweight, and Fedor was "supposed" to win anyway. The UFC could spin that and still be in the same situation as now - in other words, nothing to lose. In fact, they can now turn the heat up on Fedor and his management in the media to sign a UFC written contract in order to set up a huge fight with Lesnar.
If Machida wins, watch for a showdown between Machida and Lesnar. Dana wants to build Lesnar up, and if Lesnar can beat the guy who beat Fedor, he can take his claim as the #1 heavyweight. It's win-win for the UFC, as even if Machida won that fight, they now have an undefeated, top P4P fighter holding belts in two weight classes.
But I don't think Machida would win the fight with Lesnar. Sure Machida has way better standup, but it'll be worthless in this fight. As good as Machida's takedown defense is, when you're going up against a former NCAA Division 1 wrestling champion, who is freak athlete in his physical prime, and outweighs you by 60+ lbs, you're going to the mat. From there, Lesnar could use his physical advantage and wrestling knowledge to nullify the BJJ Black Belt skills from Machida the same way he did to Mir. Machida doesn't have the natural strength and strong hips Fedor does and would be screwed with Lesnar on top of him.
Letting Fedor fight Lesnar would be an enormous gamble at this point, that the UFC will not risk without a champion clause in Fedor's contract. How many times have we seen Fedor pull a leg lock or an arm bar out of his ass with a talented wrestler on top of him? This may be a case of circular dominance, where Machida would beat Fedor, Lesnar would be Machida, and Fedor would beat Lesnar. If the UFC has Fedor's one fight contract from their Affliction deal, they could take advantage of this. If the plan succeeds, Fedor would be tossed out on his ass unless he signs the UFC contract, and mostly forgotten by the casual fans.
Machida has expressed his interest in fighting Lesnar to test himself, and would definitely accept those fights. I know I'd certainly watch them for sure.
Dana would never give Fedor the Lesnar fight unless Fedor was locked down on a UFC written contract to ensure a champion's clause so that Fedor couldn't just walk away as the heavyweight champion and start the troubles all over again that the UFC faced with Couture. But, if they do have Fedor's one fight contract from Affliction, they could do something with it.
Enter Lyoto Machida. :thinking:
There are several roles that fighters take in the MMA - Champions, contenders, gatekeepers, cannon fodder (also known as tomato cans) - and the UFC is no different. There is another one though, the role of a dark assassin. Machida has played this role before against Tito Ortiz when Tito was leaving the UFC. Gray Maynard is playing the same role against Roger Huerta at Ultimate Fight Night 19.
The purpose of this role is to deal with fighters that are out of political favor with the UFC, and are leaving the promotion for whatever reason. In these cases, the UFC wants to make the fighter leaving as worthless to other promotions as possible, and send them out with a loss.
The UFC's dark assassin has to fit several criteria:
1. They have to be good. Really good. They also have to match up well with the opponent in question.
2. A loss by the DA wouldn't can't the UFC too badly, but a win would greatly hurt the opponent.
3. They have to make the opponent look bad in the process.
I can't think of any fighters in the UFC that fit this criteria against Fedor better than Machida. He's a terrible matchup for Fedor for many reasons.
1. He's very smart and disciplined - he'd never make the stupid flying knee mistake AA did against Fedor.
2. The whole package of his standup skills and takedown defense is awesome. He's an expert at controlling distancing and range with his kicks and Karate style, and can easily outpoint all but the top K1 fighters. I don't see him knocking out or submitting Fedor, but I can definitely see Machida outpointing him. The fact that he doesn't telegraph his strikes makes him very difficult to take down even while landing leg/body/head kicks. Fedor sets his takedowns up by using his striking to set up clinches, and then using throws from there. He won't outstrike Machida, and if it does go to the clinch, Machida's takedown defense due to his Sumo training is second only to GSP in the UFC.
3. Even if it goes to the ground, Machida should be able to survive the round with his Black Belt in BJJ.
4. Machida should only giving up 15 lbs to Fedor.
If Fedor loses to Machida, his P4P ranking takes a nose dive. No one who loses to a fighter in a lower weight class stays at the top of those rankings. Even BJ Penn went down in rankings after his fight with GSP, and he was moving up a weight class! Not to mention that when Machida beats you, you look terrible. In fact, he makes you look like an amateur. If Fedor wins, no titles change place as the fight would occur at heavyweight, and Fedor was "supposed" to win anyway. The UFC could spin that and still be in the same situation as now - in other words, nothing to lose. In fact, they can now turn the heat up on Fedor and his management in the media to sign a UFC written contract in order to set up a huge fight with Lesnar.
If Machida wins, watch for a showdown between Machida and Lesnar. Dana wants to build Lesnar up, and if Lesnar can beat the guy who beat Fedor, he can take his claim as the #1 heavyweight. It's win-win for the UFC, as even if Machida won that fight, they now have an undefeated, top P4P fighter holding belts in two weight classes.
But I don't think Machida would win the fight with Lesnar. Sure Machida has way better standup, but it'll be worthless in this fight. As good as Machida's takedown defense is, when you're going up against a former NCAA Division 1 wrestling champion, who is freak athlete in his physical prime, and outweighs you by 60+ lbs, you're going to the mat. From there, Lesnar could use his physical advantage and wrestling knowledge to nullify the BJJ Black Belt skills from Machida the same way he did to Mir. Machida doesn't have the natural strength and strong hips Fedor does and would be screwed with Lesnar on top of him.
Letting Fedor fight Lesnar would be an enormous gamble at this point, that the UFC will not risk without a champion clause in Fedor's contract. How many times have we seen Fedor pull a leg lock or an arm bar out of his ass with a talented wrestler on top of him? This may be a case of circular dominance, where Machida would beat Fedor, Lesnar would be Machida, and Fedor would beat Lesnar. If the UFC has Fedor's one fight contract from their Affliction deal, they could take advantage of this. If the plan succeeds, Fedor would be tossed out on his ass unless he signs the UFC contract, and mostly forgotten by the casual fans.
Machida has expressed his interest in fighting Lesnar to test himself, and would definitely accept those fights. I know I'd certainly watch them for sure.