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
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