| UFC Karate Champion: Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida |
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| Written by Brian Samson | |
| Jun 20, 2009 | |
 “Karate is back!” With this proud declaration after his knockout victory over Rashad Evans thus winning the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship, Lyoto Machida has put the traditional style of karate back on the map in the world of mixed martial arts.
 Lyoto Carvalho Machida, 31, is the son of first-generation Japanese-Brazilian Shotokan karate master, Yoshizo Machida. He began training in karate at the age of three and earned his black belt at the age of thirteen. He has also received training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and sumo. The influence of Shotokan karate in his fighting style and his use of different karate techniques is easily observed by any karate practitioner. When preparing for any of his big fights, Machida can be seen practicing kata as part of his training. The effectiveness of his style is remarkable. At 15-0, not only is Lyoto Machida undefeated in MMA, but he has never lost a single  round in his UFC career.His style has been described as elusive and opponents struggle to figure him out. His Shotokan training has given him the footwork and a sense of distancing that has made him almost impossible to hit. According to statistics compiled by Fightmetrics, Machida is the least hit fighter in mixed martial arts. He is also the second most accurate striker with 65% hit rate going into UFC 98. The average is 35%. With his win over the previously undefeated Rashad Evans and with the UFC Light Heavyweight title around his waist, fans eagerly anticipate his first title defense in the 205-pound division where many famous, high-calibre fighters like Quintin “Rampage” Jackson, Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, and Chuck Lidell, have brought MMA to mainstream popularity. Lyoto Machida on karate:  “We adapted karate fighting against other styles, because if you analyze karate as a sport, it really has weakened over the years. But if we look at it as a martial art, it has knees, elbows. The kata – moving in an imaginary fight – has that too. It’s that karate geared towards being a martial art that we seek. Of course there’s the sport side with point scoring and all, and even that helps with your performing well because you practice a lot of finding distance, timing...” “Truth is, sport karate lost its essence and we’re trying to recover it. If you analyze it, sport karate is truly weak as a real fight. It’s as though you were to say in sport Jiu-Jitsu, from now on submissions no longer count, just point scoring. It gets to a point where nobody is finishing and when you go apply that as a martial art it’s no longer so effective. Karate went that way. Our objective is to completely forget sport karate, but to recuperate karate the martial art, which has other moves: axe kicks, knees, elbows from several angles… No-one knows how to use it because no one practices it, but it exists. I kneed Tito Ortiz and everyone said it was muay thai. That’s because no one knows about karate the martial art.” References:
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