I’m going to start by predicting the co-main event on the card for my first post at UFC 163 August 3rd 2013.
Co-main Event;
Lyoto Machida vs Phil Davis:
Phil Davis was an All-American wrestler at Penn State and the top pure wrestler in the light heavyweight division. He has transitioned well from College Amateur wrestling into MMA wrestling and is the only one to defeat Alexander Gustaffson (Light-Heavyweight number one contender) .
He has good hands, and has improved immensely since his fight with Rashad Evans at UFC on Fox 2. Just watch his fight against Vinny Magalhães at UFC 159.
Lyoto Machida is a Karate and Jiu-Jitsu fighter. He has knocked out all the high level wrestlers he has faced. The problem Davis is going to run into is, Machida, given his karate background, stands very far away and moves laterally very well. He avoids takedowns because the wrestlers have to close so much distance in order to even touch him. Rashad Evans, Michigan State wrestler and former Light-heavyweight champion was knocked out cold by Machida after trying to close the distance. Randy Couture, a greco roman and UFC hall of fame wrestler was knocked out via flying front crane kick, and Ryan Bader, a wrestler from Arizona state was also knocked out cold after bull rushing Machida in order to close the distance. Phil Davis is longer than most of these guys but he still has a lot of distance to close. And just because you get Machida to the ground, doesn’t mean it is a wrap. Machida submitted Sokoudjou with his black belt jiu-jitsu skills via arm triangle…choked him out.
Machida was also a former Light-Heavyweigh champion.
If Phil Davis can take down Lyoto Machida, the fight will get interesting, but he is going to have to close that distance first.
Prediction: Machida, 3rd round TKO
Thomas W 