Machida by boring ass decision. Look to Lyoto to play counter all night and stay active enough on the feet to score with the odd strike here and there. If the fight goes to the ground - Machida might be able to neutralize Evans with his strikes from his back or doing ground and pound. Maybe there will be some smoke - and as George Foreman used to say where there's smoke - there's a whole bunch more smoke too.
I hope to God its not boring for DAna and the UFCs sake. This aint the time to have another card that looked good on paper and turned out a dud. Boxing is coming on very strong. But I do have a feeling Machida wont take too much risk. If he happens to win in an explosive manner, then the guy might be the one to save MMA
i think we will all be suprised by machida in this fight he,s gona have a good strategy and game plan and win by tko in the 3rd round
Machida decision. When the fight was annouced I was saying Evans by TKO 5, but i've changed my mind. Machida will win. I just hope we still can see Rampage-Rashad, to see Evans getting knocked the **** out. Rampage will tool his ass
I got Machida hes extremly boring but techniqualy hes nearly flawless what can Rashad do besides land a big one ? Machida is extremly hard to take down and can take you down. Rashad doesnt defend leg kicks that well and Machida has a nice kick game plus Rashad doesnt setup his shots well he just throws explosive power punches but hes still very passive and waits to much. He was able to do damage to Liddell and Forrest because those men are vunerable in key spots now Machida. Machida I hate to use Rogans word but is to elusive he sees everything before it happens and counters. Machida by a pretty boring decision hes going to be to careful to take any major risk and it will just be hard for him to hurt a durable guy like Rashad with any 1 or 2 shots.
Everyone be sure to post your official prediction on the UFC 98 Prediction thread. http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=139696
I pretty much agree with a lot of what jimmie says. . . Machida has looked pretty much flawless to date, sans the last minute with Tito where he almost got caught. I couldn't imagine trying to make a gameplan against this guy. Rashad has gotten better along the way, and has improved rapidly, but I think he's still below Machida's level. I'd give him a "punchers chance" but that's about it at this point. I'm also leaning to it possibly being "boring," but seeing as how Machida opened up a little more against Silva last fight out, I kinda think Machida could build on that, and we may see it end earlier than expected.
True Machidas performence vs Silva last time was perfect on so many levels and very fun to watch. If hes more agressive I think its better for him hes got some devestating power when he wants to finish and hes so sound fundementally theres nothing really to counter. To me Machida is the best fighter in the world just without a belt I cant rank him at the top yet.