What makes Machida so great?

Last week Lyoto Machida knocked out Rashad Evans to become the new UFC Light Heavy Weight Champion. And within just a few minutes, every commentator and analyst in the business began trying to explain (or explain away) the phenomenon that is Machida. The main ideas they present are thus:

1--It's not because he's a karate fighter; he's trained Mai Thai and boxing. He just happens to be a really good fighter. Karate is not back. Karate is old and out of date.

The problem with this idea is that is doesn't reflect reality. Machida is not a boxer or kick boxer. He style is entirely different. His stance may as well be from another planet, his kicks don't look anything like Mai Thai (am I spelling that right?) and when he clinches he doesn't try for Anderson Silva style knees--he takes people down with beautiful ankle sweeps instead. If you want to see what a really good Mai Thai fighter looks like, look at Anderson Silva. He looks nothing at all like Machida.

2--He is great because he's studied karate, but there's no way anybody else can copy him. Stick with Mai Thai and BJJ. You can almost hear these people pleading with you: "Don't study karate! Please! Machida is great, but we haven't the faintest clue why...we know that Mai Thai works, so please, for the love of all things good, don't study karate!"

Yes, he has been studying karate since he was 5. Yes, he has reached a level of skill that you cannot reach or copy in a few short years. But is that a good reason not to follow in his foot steps? These people are saying that because he is highly skilled nobody should try to reach a similar level of skill...that you would be better off getting your face beat in practicing Mai Thai for a couple years, enjoy a short, glorious career and end it like Chuck Liddell: unable to take even a slight shot without going out.

Yet in all this discussion it seems that nobody is discussing exactly what it is that makes Machida so great at what he does. You can say it's because of "karate", but what does that mean?

I would like to submit that Machida is great because of point fighting. Now, I realize that point fighting has it's problems, and I have often felt the need to get away from it myself. But what is it that Machida does so well? He avoids getting hit, it seems like he's never there, but when he decides to attack, he suddenly is there. His opponent eats a fist and then all of a sudden he's not there anymore. It's like fighting smoke. This is classic point fighting. Machida has trained for years to avoid getting hit, get in his quick shot and then get out of the way of a counter attack. He throws almost nothing except straight shots. He knows that a straight punch will always beat a round punch, so he uses the faster technique.

His stance is classic point fighting stance. It's the traditional karate backward leaning stance: the same stance my instructor uses, that I use and that we train our students to use. With that stance he is able to keep his body away from his opponent, yet can still spring in with a strike at any moment.

Machida will remain champion as long as the other fighters continue to train in the school of "take one to give one". Because Machida is simply in the business of giving...after all, it is better to give than to recieve.

I have been thinking about the type of blogs that I enjoy reading. I find Chera's blog in particular to be an enjoyable read. And if I approach things from a somewhat unbiased perspective, it seems hers is more interesting than mine (even when I do update regularly). So what is the difference?

It seems Chera is not tied to the idea that her blog must contain details on all major events of the week. Often she will post an interesting musing, a funny story or a cool picture with no thought towards updating us on exactly what was covered in class or what happened at work.

So I'm going to try and update more along those lines, at least for the next few weeks. Just to try it out.

I had an interview yesterday with Jenks Freshmen Academy and it went very well. Perhaps I am reading them entirely wrong but it certainly seemed that they liked me and my ideas. I'm very hopeful. Jenks is a good district by all accounts (it's certainly a wealthy district, at any rate) and all their classrooms are well equipped. The only thing I don't like about it is the fact that it's a 40 minute drive from our house. I'd rather get a job closer to home.

I find myself to be really interesting at times. I did something the other day that I've been thinking about quite a bit since then. There is a lady who has been coming to our karate class for a few months now who has been working very hard and often asks for further instruction before or after class. This is great. I'm always happy to see students who are willing to come up to brown and black belts and ask for help. So as we're driving home from karate and I turn to Anna and say, "Hey, would you mind taking her under your wing? I think she's needing help with some different stuff but I'd rather you do it, since we're so close in age."

Now why on earth would I decide to do that? This lady has never acted inappropriately or given me reason to want to avoid her...yet my first reaction is something along the lines of, "WARNING! Eligible female!" Why? It's not like I'm afraid of girls. I think perhaps I have taken a lot of the "guard your heart" teachings a little too far.

Right now I'm in a new stage of life, and I'm having to make some changes in my thinking because of that. Up until a few months ago I never gave much thought to winning a girl because I knew I was in no position to support one. Now that is no longer the case. Suddenly I am faced with the fact that if I ever want to get married I must, at some point, make the decision to become serious about a girl. At the moment I don't really have any particular girl in mind, but it is still a somewhat frightening prospect.

I need to go do some other stuff now...next time I update I'm going to give my thoughts on the meaning of Lyoto Machida.