Lyoto Machida

Lyoto Carvalho Machida is a Brazilian mixed martial artist born on May 30th 1978 who competes in the UFC middleweight division. He is the former champion in the light heavyweight division. His father is Yoshizo Machida, the head of the Brazilian branch of the Japan Karate Association. His father is a Shotokan Karate master.

Machida grew up in Belem, Brazil and started training Karate at 3 years old and got his black belt at 13. He started sumo at 8, and started BJJ and boxing at 16. He has also studied Muay Thai in Thailand and grappling at the NJPW Dojo in Japan. He was the runner-up in the 200 Brazilian Sumo Championships and became Brazilian champion twice as an adult.

Lyoto once fought his brother Chinzo, also an MMA fighter, in a Karate match over 10 years ago, giving his brother a scar that is still visible to this day.

Lyoto Machida’s career before the UFC

Lyoto Machida made his pro MMA debut in May of 2003 on a card promoted by New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW). He defeated Kengo Watanabe by unanimous decision. In his next fight he faced off against UFC Hall of Famer Stephan Bonnar at Junfgle Fight in Brazil, Machida gave Bonnar his first professional loss.

Lyoto continued winning at events like K-1 and Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye, on the road to the UFC he fought legends like B.J. Penn, Rich Franklin, Sam Greco, Michael McDonald and Vernon White. Riding a 8 fight win streak he signed with the UFC in 2007.

Lyoto Machida in the UFC

Machida made his UFC debut at UFC 67 against Sam Hoger and won by unanimous decision. He continued winning with victories over David Heath and Kazuhiro Nakamura.

In his 4th UFC fight he faced off with Remeau Thierry Sokoudjou who came off incredible knockout wins over Ricardo Arona and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. Machida stopped the hype train by submitting Sokoudjou in the 2nd round.

His next fight was against former light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz on Ortiz’s last fight in the UFC. In the 3rd round Machida knocked Ortiz down with a body shot and followed up with shots on the ground trying to finish. Machida almost got caught in a triangle and armbar, but managed to escape and win by unanimous decision. Dana White revealed that it was the only time he personally paid a fighter.

He defeated Thiago Silva in the last second of the first round and earned a title shot at then champion Rashad Evans. Machida got a knockout of the night bonus for his efforts.

Lyoto Machida as UFC light heavyweight champion

Lyoto Machida faced the champion at UFC 98. Machida scored several knockdowns in the first round and ultimately knocked evans out at 3:57 of the 2nd round. He got another knockout of the night bonus for that win.

Machida next defended his belt against fellow Brazilian Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. The fight was extremely close with Machida winning a hotly contested unanimous decision. They rematched 8 months later with “Shogun” timing the blitzes of Machida and knocking him out cold in the first round.

After losing his belt he lost to Quinton Jackson before defeating and retiring Randy Couture by brutal knockout.

Machida challenged for the title against Jon Jones but was defeated by submission in the 2nd round. He defeated Dan Henderson and Ryan Bader before losing to Phil Davis which promted him to move down to middleweight.

He made his middleweight debut against Mark Muños who he defeated by knockout via head kick in the first round. In his next fight he faced Gegard Mousasi who he defeated by unanimous decision and got a fight of the night award.

After the win over Mousasi, Machida has had 4 more fights in the middleweight division, going 1-3. He lost to Chris Weidman, Yoel Romero and Luke Rockhold. His lone win came against C.B. Dollaway.