If tonight’s UFC Fight Night 36 main event consisted of 28 rounds and completely removed the strikes to a grounded opponent rule, Gegard Mousasi would come out victorious and he may emerge from the Octagon with Machida’s head impaled on his left fist.
Lyoto Machida vs. Gegard Mousasi is one of those MMA fights that’s a blast to watch live since everyone becomes enamored in the technical aspect of the match, but upon retrospect (and especially to the casual viewer) it just turns into a really elongated five-round bore fest. People will probably criticize Machida’s elusive style at contributing to the long periods of inactivity during the match, others will probably state that Mousasi is just entirely too lazy in his approach and he needs to muster some ‘killer instinct’ when he’s inside the cage. The reality of it is that styles make fights, and Machida and Mousasi fighting is just a potpourri of fakes, feints, and powerful flurries followed by long periods of, well, nothing.
So after tonight, whose stock truly rises? Is it Machida for beating Mousasi in a decision which included a lot of crafty dodging, or Mousasi for hanging in there with the former UFC light heavyweight champion and better yet, taking his best high kick directly to his neck and not dropping from it?
Oh, and just imagine how ridiculous the interwebs would be if Mousasi landed that last-second upkick at the end of the fifth round and knocked out Machida. Props to Zprophet for the .gif.
