Evans vs. Machida at UFC 98

[CPT]

As you guys have probably heard, it's now official that Rashad Evans will defend the LHW Championship against Lyoto Machida at UFC 98 on May 23, 2009 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

After UFC 96, it looked like Evans vs. Rampage was going to be the main event for this show, but Rampage suffered a hand injury in his win over Jardine, and will now be granted the first shot at the winner of this bout.

It's been a long time coming for Machida, and I'm glad he's getting the shot, both for him, and so I don't have to hear about how he's getting screwed by the UFC anymore.

I'm not sure who to take in this fight. Both guys are undefeated of course, and have been looking great recently. If there's one guy who might be able to deal with Machida's fighting style, I think it could be Rashad. He's unlikely to get baited into a reckless attack, and just might be able to get the better of the exchanges with his boxing, and of course, he's got the KO power. He also has the wrestling to fall back on. I'm interested to see what kind of gameplan Greg Jackson comes up with to go against Machida. That all being said, Machida may end up being the favourite in this fight, though I expect it to be more of a pick 'em in terms of betting odds. I'm not sure the fight will be the greatest to watch, but I'm definitely looking forward to it just to see what happens.

The rest of the card is not too shabby either:

MAIN CARD

* Champ Rashad Evans vs. Lyoto Machida (for light-heavyweight title)
* Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra
* Dan Miller vs. Yushin Okami
* Frank Edgar vs. Sean Sherk
* Josh Koscheck vs. Chris Wilson*

PRELIMINARY CARD

* James Irvin vs. Drew McFedries
* Kyle Bradley vs. Phillipe Nover
* Pat Barry vs. Tim Hague
* Houston Alexander vs. Andre Gusmao
* Brandon Wolff vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida
* David Kaplan vs. George Roop

Hughes vs. Serra is going to get a lot of hype, but at this point, I'm kind of just glad to get it over with. It seems like we've known it's the next fight for these two guys for about 2 years now. Get them in the cage, see who wins, and then go from there. These guys have big names and could be good opponents for the group of talented WWs coming up.

Okami vs. Miller is a pretty good fight. I wonder if Okami will finally get a title shot if he wins.

Sherk vs. Edgar is a big fight for the LW division. Sherk could earn himself a title shot with a win, and I suppose Edgar could do the same. With the way Edgar was controlled by Maynard, I'm expecting him to have similar problems with Sherk.

Koscheck vs. Wilson isn't official yet, but assuming it goes down, it's a pretty decent fight. Koscheck is keeping very busy, which I like to see, and Wilson is a tough opponent, even though he lost his last fight. Wilson gave Fitch problems in their fight, so it will be interesting to see how he does against his teammate. I still have Koscheck in the top 5 at WW, and I'll always welcome seeing a top guy in action.

The prelims have some fights worth keeping an eye on. Irvin vs. McFedries should be about 7 seconds long, and I'm looking forward to seeing Nover, Barry, and Yoshida in their fights. Then you've got Houston Alexander, who should be good for a highlight finish win or lose, and the fight everyone wants to see, Dave Kaplan vs. George Roop.

[cowboyronnie]

Ew, God, pretty lame card. Alexander, McFedries and Irvin? Shameful. The hockey fighters.

The two extremes are hilarious. Lyoto, Sherk and Okami. Versus the above 3. I'd settle for an undercard somewhere in between.

The only guy whose pace I have a genuine problem with - out of maybe everyone in the sport - is Okami. He shouldn't be fighting.

The title fight is awesome. Surprisingly, I haven't heard many complaints about the potential for this one to be boring. Which is great. Most people seem undersanding that Machidi is something special and definitely deserves this shot. Machida is not a runner, but he's also not going to wade into the pocket in order to trade for KOs. Deal with it. There have been 500+ KOs in the UFC, we can survive for 25 minutes of world-class technique.

[Nemesis21]

Machida over Evans (going with the upset)
Hughes over Serra
Miller over Okami
Edgar over Sherk
Koscheck over Wilson

Nover over Bradley
Alexander over Gusmao
Irvin over McFedries

[jTF2]

Machida doesn't bore me anymore. In the last 2 fights I found myself intensly looking for Machidaesque moves... ever since I saw all the little things he was doing to get that 'elusive' moniker. Things like ..pushing a punch away that's coming straight to his face, simple leg sweeps that noone can seem to duplicate, double and even triple fake counter attacks on his opponents done in split seconds, etc. Thank god for the gifs otherwise I'd never notice and never appreciated them.