His toughest fight was BJ Penn by far. BJ really neutralized Lyoto's offense. Tito also did well against him though.
Didn't the lowly David Heath run him to a UD?
I think people make too much of the triangle. If you watch the gif of it Lyoto escapes immediately.
"Sam Greco was actually Machida's toughest fight."
This. I think Lyoto just edged it.
While neither really did much to him, Penn and Greco came the closest to winning fights with him. Penn won the first round of their fight and wasn't really ever hurt in the rest of it - but Lyoto clearly took the last 2 rounds when Penn gassed.
The Greco fight was just plain ugly. Machida wasn't really able to do his normal tactics due to Greco's karate background, so Lyoto took him down and honestly looked pretty bad on the ground. The two times Greco reversed him, he arguably did as much damage in 1:00 than Lyoto did the whole rest of the round. The thing is, Lyoto took him down like 4-5 times and Greco never really landed much standing.
Tito really exposed Machida. Those 5 seconds of choke and going for the arm nearly ended Lyoto's short yet elusive life. He must have lost 2 years worth of kata from the brain damage due to that vicious mauling.
He lasted three rounds with Lyoto who is an excellent striker and put him managed to sink in a choke. He only lost because he had a broken back, broken ribs, and some tumors. I see the light now. I think he can beat Liddell standing now and viciously triangle Demian Maia to death.
gangsta101 -Girljock -inf0 - He'd KO Tito a second time around.quickly...
Keep in mind that Tito had a bad back going into that fight
Tito has taken quite some time off so his back should be near 100%. The fight would be a lot more competetive than some people may like to believe.
I can see Tito taking the decision if he is persistent with the takedowns.
What takedowns?
gangsta101 -Girljock -inf0 - He'd KO Tito a second time around.quickly...
Keep in mind that Tito had a bad back going into that fight
Tito has taken quite some time off so his back should be near 100%. The fight would be a lot more competetive than some people may like to believe.
I can see Tito taking the decision if he is persistent with the takedowns.
Excuses excuses
The truth is that Tito wanted to fight right away last October after that fight, but no one wanted to pay him a fraction of what he thought he should get outside the UFC
He rolled the dice leaving the UFC but Elite collapsed and Affliction quit throwing money around
So Tito basically had no options, and decided to get his back fixed while he was twiddling his thumbs
I respect Tito but facts are facts, he would have fought in a heartbeat if Affliction or Elite had paid him-- his back couldn't have been that bad
lyotos escape was better than titos triangle. its cool that tito won 3 seconds of that fight though.
vernon white took lyoto to decision as well....
I think pretty much everyone took Machida to decision at one point. That's why everyone called him boring.
Tito hasn't had an impressive win over a credible opponent since he beat Matyeshenko in 2001! And the dude is always asking for more money. When he actually beats someone impressively, maybe I'll want to see him again. I don't think he landed a single punch against Machida that whole fight. The triangle was good, but he got it because Lyoto had just knocked him down (iirc?) and he gets a little careless when trying to finish a fight. Heck, Rashad's two right hands that he landed when Machida tried to press an advantage could have KO'ed Machida as much as Tito could have choked him out.
TTTito!
tito survived machida
yeah tito
Forgot how quickly Machida got out of that triangle attempt....he pulls should out almost immediately and his elbow through in like 2 seconds.
So awesome that Machida is now finishing his fights.......just wish Silva would get back to his finishing ways.
Tito learned a lot from his fight with machida and could very well win a re-match.
I'll bet he never gets one because of this.
gangsta101 -jacktripper - tito survived machida
yeah tito
Lyoto narrowly escaped being choked out
and tito narrowly escaped being KO'd with that punch in the 1st round
If by close you mean, thoroughly dominated all 3 rounds, than sure...he was close.
Tito's fighting ability is not really his issue.
Its his mouth, and the fact that he seems to be letting His porn star girlfriend make all his business decisions when its obvious she doesnt know fuck-all about fighting.
Just about fucking.
... as close as he may have been, he will never be that close again.
THREE FUSED VERTEBRAE
The best outcome of his current hiatus is that he will come back only slightly disabled but with incredible ring rust.
bj penn did damn well
BJ was in machida guard too. pretty impressive given the size difference.