Lyoto Machida vs Phil Davis: Machida Gets Robbed
by Dr. Octagon, J.D.
Lyoto Machida’s fights go one of two ways: savage beatdown or boring decision. The main determinant is whether or not his opponent engages. Machida is purely there to counterpunch. Live updates after the jump:[[MORE]]
Round 1: Kick to the body by Phil Davis. Not a good idea. Davis is going to get smoked if he keeps doing that. Machida returned the last kick with a much harder kick of his own. Machida is trying to bait Davis into striking, he lands a leg kick. Superman punch from Davis whiffs. Machida throws a pair of punches. Head kick by Machida wobbles Davis a bit.
Davis lands an overhand right. Machida lands a left on a Davis kick. Body kick from Machida. Leg kick from Machida. Body kick from Machida. Kick to the chest by Davis. Davis coming forward and missing. Head kick by Davis is blocked. Machida lands a body kick and a pair of punches, then just misses a flying knee. He backs off when Davis recovers.
Nice combination from Machida. Machida misses a punch and Davis secures a takedown with fifty seconds left. Thirty seconds left as Phil looks for an arm. Davis goes for a kimura, but can’t finish it.
Round 2: Both fighters kick. I don’t know what Davis thinks he’s doing, throwing kicks at Machida. He needs to shoot. Body kick by Machida. Head kick by Machida. Machida blocks a kick. Fucking shoot bra!
Davis punching and missing as Lyoto keeps his distance. Lyoto lands a kick to the body. Phil throws a high kick and Machida blocks it. Superman punch by Davis lands lightly on the retreating Machida. Davis clinches, Lyoto throws him off. Lyoto lands a left hand. Davis misses. he’s swinging wildly.
Lyoto lands a kick, eats a right. Lyoto misses a front kick. Leg kick by Machida. Davis shoots, but Machida stuffs it. Davis may have landed a punch on the break. Lyoto stuffs another shot. Left to Phil’s mouth by Machida. Kick by Machida. Phil comes in and eats a big right, but gets a takedown with twenty seconds left. Davis has Machida pinned against the fence and is landing knees and punches from the top. He might have stolen the round with that last flurry.
10-9 Machida. Davis’ corner thinks he won the first too.
Round 3: Machida lands a leg kick. Machida lands a right. Front kick by Davis. Superman punches from Davis. Machida ducks under Davis’ wild hooks. Davis is chasing Machida around the ring, but he’s whiffing. Body kick by Machida. Left lands for Machida as Davis shoots in. Kick to the body from Machida. Knee by Machida and he is on Phil’s back, but Phil stands up.
Machida kicks to the body on the break. Davis eats a kick. Machida is chasing, he lands a left on Davis. Davis can really take a shot. Flying knee from Machida to get in and he throws off another Davis takedown attempt. Front kick by Machida doesn’t land, but a big right running in does. Davis comes back with a superman punch. Davis is still trying for a takedown and Machida stuffs it again. Machida throws a head kick. Machida coming forward, stuffs another takedown attempt.
The second round was the closest, but I see this as a clear win for Machida.
The judges score it 29-28 for Davis. Travesty.
Davis did nothing other than get two takedowns. He landed some strikes at the end of the second, but not many. It could have realistically been 29-28 for Machida if you gave Davis the second round. I could live with that. But I didn’t see 1 or 3 as being close.
Machida’s style doesn’t really lend itself to decisions, but he’s on his home turf, so I thought he’d at least get the benefit of the doubt. The fight reminds me of the Diego Sanchez-Martin Kampmann decision. Davis was throwing a lot of punches and coming forward, but Machida pretty much blocked all of them. Ring announcers Stann and Goldberg don’t really question the decision at all. Makes me yearn for Joe Rogan.
UFC decided that putting a Thales Leites fight on a Pay Per View card wasn’t enough of a middle finger to the fans, and runs a videogame commercial. I’d rather listen to Stann and Goldie spout platitudes.