Normally when a fighter competes in his hometown, there is a term commonly referred to in the fight game as “the hometown advantage.” Well, someone forgot to tell UFC light heavyweight and Belem, Brazil, native Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida about this saying before his UFC 163 bout with Phil Davis on Saturday night. And if they did tell him, rest assured, Machida would tell you that old fighting adage is for the birds. In front of his hometown faithful, inside a packed HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Machida dominated the former two-time National Champion from Penn State from pillar to post for the majority of the fight, only to suffer a perplexing unanimous decision loss as the scorecards were read. Round one was all Machida as he peppered Davis with counter jabs and body kicks from the outset. Davis circled to the left, showing some improved striking, but nothing to write home about. Midway through the first frame, Machida scored a slick straight left that drilled Davis on the chin and had him retreating. Machida followed up with a thudding flying knee to the body, as Davis recouped to the center of the Octagon. It took the former All-American almost four minutes into the round to attempt his first takedown, but when he did it was successful. As the first round came to a close, Davis was in Machida’s half-guard scoring powerful ground and pound. Round two was more of the same from Machida, as Davis opened with flashy front kicks and uncharacteristic combination punching. It looked good, but the attempts were more or less futile. Davis shot on Machida and the Brazilian sprawled with precision. The Dragon spent the majority of the round peppering his opponent with well-timed counter punching and textbook defense – something that has become a trademark of the former UFC light heavyweight champion
BAD MMA Trending Cloud
UFC • Bellator • news • Conor Mcgregor • PFL • Jon Jones • Daniel Cormier • videos • Dustin Poirier • Khabib Nurmagomedov • Dana White • Francis Ngannou • Jorge Masvidal • featured • Nate Diaz • WSOF • Anderson Silva • Max Holloway • Ronda Rousey • Amanda Nunes • Donald Cerrone • Michael Bisping • Michael Chandler • Tony Ferguson • Kamaru Usman • islam makhachev • Alex Pereira • Alexander Volkanovski • jake paul • Demetrious Johnson • Charles Oliveira • Henry Cejudo • Jose Aldo • Aljamain Sterling • One Championship • sean o'malley • Derrick Lewis • Stipe Miocic • Tyron Woodley • Georges St Pierre
- MMA News (112638)
- MMA Junkie’s Fight of the Month for January: Usman Nurmagomedov, Paul Hughes deliver all-timer for PFL
- UFC’s Instagram account hacked: Promotion confirms cryptocurrency post as fraudulent
- Israel Adesanya: ‘Nassourdine Imavov brings nothing I haven’t seen before’
- Sean Strickland wants Khamzat Chimaev after UFC 312: ‘You’re not a f*cking man’
- Ailin Perez reacts to Karol Rosa’s higher ranking after UFC 311 win: ‘I laughed my ass off’
- Video: Cristiano Ronaldo shows Shara Magomedov support before UFC Saudi Arabia
- Video: UFC’s Brian Ortega flies cross-country to choke out fan for gaming trash talk
- Michael Page would consider wrestling Shara Magomedov but not out of danger
- Broken foot results in Topuria vs. Volkanovski team battle at UFC 312
- PFL ambassador Jake Paul declares MMA is ‘becoming a sh*ttier version of boxing’