Did Being a Karate Fighter Limit Lyoto Machida?

[superpunch]

Karate fighters are extraordinarily rare. Is Machida one of the few great MMA fighters because karate is good or does karate suck and Machida wins in spite of it?

 

[muaytao]

Everyone has their own style his karate saved his ass imo. He doesnt seem to play safe anymore ever sinced he lost to phil davis.

 

[Jedi Judah]

It pays to have more than one striking discipline in MMA

 

[yeguiza]

limits for lyoto:

shogun
JBJ

Age: his style relies on speed and it decreases with age

 

[Deleted member 479811]

It limited him into being an undefeated UFC champion at one point..? He kept improving but never quite added the boxing skillset he needed to hit that next level, but he was also the first to prove that karate works in MMA.

 

[Rum]

Yes but he made up for it with the pee drinking.

 

[ocean size]

His karate is why he got as far as he did, the focus on footwork and slipping in and out of the pocket

 

[cgold21]

Yeah it's a shame he never made anything of his fighting career...

 

[Andy Anderson]

shogun is a sloppy muay thai fighter and machida is a karate expert. A true muay thai champ would kill him

 

[EndlessCritic]

shogun is a sloppy muay thai fighter and machida is a karate expert. A true muay thai champ would kill him

if only machida fought a real muay thai champ like joe schilling.

 

[machidafan99]

only in the smaller cage on fight nights
he needs space to work his style

 

[bhp02]

Karate fighters are extraordinarily rare. Is Machida one of the few great MMA fighters because karate is good or does karate suck and Machida wins in spite of it?

fighters getting old is the bigger problem....

 

[jimbob27]

It depends how seriously he took all the dojo bollocks that surrounds the good bits.

Some of the guiding principles in karate are very questionable for and MMA fighter. "Do not think that you have to win, think rather that you do not have to lose" and "There is no first strike in karate" don't have much of a place when fighting 3x5 min rounds, and could well have contributed to his losses against Rampage and Davis, which could have easily been wins if he'd been more active.

 

[Andy Anderson]

if only machida fought a real muay thai champ like joe schilling.

This is what I call a real muay thai champ

 

[LEGS MAHONEY]

1.karate guys aren't rare

2. As noted above his style it reliant on speed and you lose that the quickest with age


3. I believe he made the same error I think many mma guys make in their striking and that's not spending enough time improving his boxing. It seriously could have meshed well with his darting in and out style imo

 

[FreddyFingers]

Karate fighters are extraordinarily rare. Is Machida one of the few great MMA fighters because karate is good or does karate suck and Machida wins in spite of it?

I think Machida is a good Karate fighter.

Karate like acting only really works as well as you have a good director, actors and gullible audience.

As real life shows, Karate is the Marlon Brando of martial arts for it as Brando testified only really works as well as the proponent is able to convince the audience.

I'm sure Liberace, Elton John and David Bowie would of been grand Karate experts and performed nearly as well as Machida.

 

[Substance Abuse]

Cheetah got old. It happens.

 

[froggyluv]

.... or does karate suck..... or does karate suck ... or does karate suck

Clear your mind. Search your feelings. Feel the Slap go thru you.

 

[freakyfarley]

It depends how seriously he took all the dojo bollocks that surrounds the good bits.

Some of the guiding principles in karate are very questionable for and MMA fighter. "Do not think that you have to win, think rather that you do not have to lose" and "There is no first strike in karate" don't have much of a place when fighting 3x5 min rounds, and could well have contributed to his losses against Rampage and Davis, which could have easily been wins if he'd been more active.

never heard any of that and I've been in karate since I was 12 lol

 

[ArtemV]

if only machida fought a real muay thai champ like joe schilling.

Schilling isn't a good example of a 'Muay Thai champ' as recently, each time he fought under MT rules he has lost lol. He is a good K1 fighter.