He's coming in underweight. Really seem to notice it in most of his recent fights. Against Bader he was 202, rogan even mentioned it's "very light for him". we all know what happened to Bader. Against both Rashad and Thiago he came in about 203. First Shogun fight (the one he did better) he was 204 if i remember correctly, second fight he was 205 and seemed to carry more muscle than the last fight. Against Jones he worked hard on building muscles and came at 205 looking really buffed. I think he just fights much better when he's lighter, which makes me think he'll do even better at MW. I'm not saying he should drop to MW, but he should def come light against hendo to avoid that right hand. WAR SKINNY MACHIDA!
I would say he fights better when he's not facing Shogun and Jones, regardless of weight. That's just his cut weight, he still gains weight after weigh-ins, I highly doubt he fights at 203.
Machida relies on his agility and quickness far more than he relies on matching the strength of his opponents.
Not trying to say weight was the only reason he lost to Shogun and Jones, but he did seem to put on more muscle when he fought them probably to help stuff takedowns against Jones and to handle Shogun against the cage. Especially against Jones, he even made a big deal out of it prefight. I think he didn't cut for the Bader fight. Not sure about any of his other fights though. It isn't just the 2 pounds, its also how much % is fat and if he's cutting to get to his weight or not.
It's not the 2 pounds, it's what the 2 pounds means. It means that he's not cutting weight to make 205. When he came in at 205 he probably was alot bigger and dehydrated himself to make weight. To me the 199lb machida was the best. He was the best in that division long before he was fighting contenders. Took him like 7 fights to get a titleshot, and that is alot considering he had an impressive resume before ufc including koing franklin.
everytime i watch Machida fight and see pics of him I automatically think Ninja. Literally hes a real life frickin Ninja
Didn't he say something along the lines of, he will be bulking up if he ever fights Jones again? I can't remember the source, but does anyone else remember this?
Jones has great wrestling and would probably still be able to take him down. It should be about avoiding the scenario all together for Lyoto.