UFC Legacies: Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida

The UFC has seen many legends over the ages. There have been hardcore wrestling types, incredible BJJ artists, and stunning performers. 

Some people watch the UFC for the thrill of the fights, others for the MMA odds and the betting action. Regardless of which you pay most mind to, there are many fighters who have made their names run through the UFC history books. One of the most recent fighters to do this is Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida. 

Who Is Lyoto Machida?

So, who is this man? Well, he is a Brazilian professional MMA fighter signed with Bellator MMA. He competes in the light heavyweight division, however, he used to compete in the UFC as a former UFC light heavyweight champion. He also competed for the UFC middleweight championship title as well. 

In 2021, he stood at number 6 on the Bellator light heavyweight rankings, which is not so bad at his current stance. 

He is nicknamed ‘The Dragon’, and one can only guess why! 

He has a total of 37 on his MMA record with 26 wins, 11 of these done by knockout and 13 by decision. He has only suffered 11 losses, 6 of which were by decision. 

Lyoto began his career starting up training in karate at only 3 years old, earning black belt by the time he was 13. When he was 8 he trained in sumo wrestling followed by both boxing and BJJ when he was 16. 

He was a winner in many karate tournaments. However, not pleased with what he had already done he traveled to Thailand to study Muay Thai, and then grappling in Japan at the NJPW Dojo. 

After this he moved on to the U.S. to start up his UFC career. He was determined from the very start. 

His Legacy In His Greatest Fights 

Every fighter in the UFC has their best fights, many of which are ranked throughout their career, but Lyoto has so many it is hard to choose which were the absolute best show-stopping fights he had. We can barely rank them, but nonetheless, here are some of his greatest ever victories. 

#1. The Dragon Vs The American Psycho

This was only ever the 2nd fight of Lyoto’s career, and he faced off against Bonnar in the 4th fight of his. It was the only fight in Bonnar’s career which he lost by a stoppage. 

The best way to describe what ‘The Dragon’ did here was basically give the spectators a recipe on how to turn Bonnar’s face into a burger. 

The more that this single round fight continued, the more parts of Bonnar’s face started to bleed. The fight ended up being called to a stoppage by a doctor as Bonnar’s face was… a crème brûlée 

#2. The Dragon Vs Rich “Ace” Franklin

Franklin was at the top of his game in this fight, he had decimated Tanner in his debut, and destroyed Dewees just before he faced ‘The Dragon’. 

Franklin was 12-0 as he came in, and this was only the start of Lyoto’s career, but he had only just decimated Bonnar’s face, so… we will call it even. 

The result was a simple second round knockout. Lyoto probably didn’t catch Franklin at his best moment. However, you could also say that Franklin may have felt a little full of himself, and this may have been what led to this. 

Franklin won 8 fights in a row after this. However, the Franklin that was knocked out by Machida, was a man at the top of his game, and Machida was the only man to beat Franklin. 

#3. The Dragon Vs Sam Greco

This was definitely Machida’s toughest battle. Greco outweighed Lyoto by a good 45lbs. He was a huge fighter and put Machida in hardcore danger more than once. 

Yet, it never looked like he was about to finish him off, but he did do more damage to ‘The Dragon’ than anyone before. 

The refereeing in this match was sloppy, and Greco did repeatedly grab at the ropes to corner Machida. 

However, Machida took his hulking opponent down multiple times. There was no one swift move that ended him. But Machida did make a few mistakes in this match that led to quite the beating.  

What this match did show was the power of Machida, he is stronger than people gave him credit for before this, taking down a man who was so much bigger than him, and seemingly stronger. 

This was the closest thing to an actual loss he saw, and it was also Greco’s only actual MMA loss!