I’ve been on a bit of a pay-per-view hiatus. But I looked at the card for UFC 98 and decided it would be worth the $45 to see Frankie Edgar fight Sean Sherk, and the match-up between Rashad Evans and Lyoto Machida. As it turned out, those two fights alone were worth the money.
First, a big congrats to fellow Jersey-guy Frankie Edgar. Edgar put on a striking clinic against a very dangerous Sean Sherk. Edgar proved most of the commentators wrong, using superb head movement, fakes, takedown attempts, and multi-faceted striking to earn a 30-27 unanimous decision. Edgar has developed a great style, finding the perfect mix of elusiveness and aggression that is really fun to watch. Also, after getting blasted with a double-leg takedown in the middle of round 3, Edgar also showed great poise working off of his back within seconds, and taking no real damage along the way. Egdar also showed fantastic presence, when he worked a guillotine attempt in the closing seconds of the last round to seal the deal, instead of just letting the time expire. Great job Frankie!
As far as the Machida fight goes, like Joe Rogan said, I think we are seeing the start of a new era. Machida’s Shotokan karate has frustrated every UFC opponent he’s faced, and turned a very, very tough Rashad Evans off in the second round. It’s interesting to see some of the more traditional martial arts coming back into the MMA fold, as the practitioners round out their games to cover the wrestling and submission aspects. I think this will end up raising the caliber of striking in MMA. Machida is definitely a force to be reckoned with.
Good stuff!
