Lyoto Machida’s drum technique

UFC light heavyweight champ Lyoto Machida is the most-elusive fighter in MMA (not including Kalib Starnes). He gets hit once every 2.5 rounds, or twice in a full five-round fight. He doesn’t make getting out of the way of punches and kicks look spectacular, like something out of The Matrix, as Anderson Silva does. He just seems to be able to step out of the way, to not be there, like Ralph Macchio in The Karate Kid Part II when he’s using that drum technique to dodge giant metal spikes.

It’s hard to get a sense of that by watching a single Machida fight, but the first four minutes or so of this video do an outstanding job of displaying his prowess, particularly during the Tito Ortiz fight. The final minute or so, when he’s facing Rashad Evans, show the flipside of Machida, who smells blood and barrels forward. If a fighter could remain patient and prepared for that moment when Machida switches to attack mode maybe, just maybe, there’s chance to really test that Easter Island chin of his. As for the rest of the stuff in this video, the mystical Karate Kid stuff and the taiko drums and stuff, I’m pretty much sick of it by now.