Lyoto Machida deserves a title shot

Lost in all the talk of petroleum jelly was Lyoto Machida's knockout victory over Thiago Silva. Brent Brookhouse correctly breaks down Machida's new found disdain for vaseline and how that has overshadowed this immensely talented fighter's performance at UFC 94. 

Lyoto Machida maintained his undefeated record and put his win streak at 6-0 in the UFC, a title shot should be all but assured. Yet our neighbors at MMAForReal feel that Machida still hasn't done enough.  

I have Lyoto Machida as the #4 LHW in the world. Some of that ranking is from Machida beating everyone the UFC has thrown his way. The other part hinges on the other top ten UFC LHW fighters beating up on one another. For instance, we had Keith Jardine beating Chuck Liddell. Then Chuck Liddell beating Wanderlei Silva. Then Wanderlei Silva beating Keith Jardine. The UFC LHW division is the most stacked division in all of MMA. There's no way to justify a fighter leapfrogging the game's elite without beating at least one of them. This is why Lyoto Machida needs another win to secure a title shot. It has nothing to do with his style or ability to finish fights. Machida is a great fighter and I think he has the best strategy of all the fighters fighting. He inflicts the most damage while taking the least amount of punishment.

In order for Lyoto Machida to earn a title shot, he needs to fight and beat a top 5 fighter. The perfect match up would be Forrest Griffin.

I have to take the counter view on this issue.

Lyoto Machida deserves a title shot for several reasons, which I will get into shortly, but chief among them is Machida is basically that good. You simply cannot hit Machida. His striking is varied, powerful and accurate. He has excellent lateal movement which contributes to both his evasiveness and his superb striking. On top of that he has excellent Jiu-Jitsu and takedown defense. If my word isn't good enough then check out Kid Nate's excellent piece recapping the statistics that demonstrate just how good Machida is. 

We shouldn't  fault Machida for his opponents, he has been a victim of poor fan responses, preventing the UFC from pitting him against the top draws. That hasn't stopped Machida from having important and meaningful fights though. For instance, his rumored bout with Brandon Vera and victories over Sokoudjuo and Tito Ortiz shows that Zuffa trusts him enough to clear out their dirty laundry of fighters. 

Besides it seems silly to elevate Chuck Liddell, Wanderlei Silva and Keith Jardine to different echelon then Machida. None of these fighter's recent body of work indicates the need for Machida to defeat one of them to achieve a title shot.

Let's go through this list of fighters one by one. Liddell is 1-3 in his last four fights and has looked nowhere near to being a former light heavyweight champ. The UFC even wanted him to move to heavyweight to fight Randy Couture in order to recapture some past glory.

Wanderlei Silva is 1-4 in his past five fights and all of his loses were by knock out. Besides Wanderlei is moving to middleweight. We can now officially dismiss Silva as being relevant at 205lbs. 

Jardine's inconsistencies prevent him from being above Machida. True, Jarinde has beat Chuck Liddell, Brandon Vera and Forrest Griffin. Yet, his quick knockout losses to Houston Alexander and Wanderlei Silva negate those impressive victories. 

If we combine all these three fighters past four fights together they are collectively 4-8. Machida's impressive victories over talented fighter's, maybe not top-five, and unique skill set elevates him over the plodding parody of these fighters. If we take out the round robin between the three if them then that record drops 1-5. The fact that the round robin consisted of each fighter winning once and losing once just shows that these three are just not at the top of the light heavyweight division. 

I am willing to concede the point that Quinton Jackson and Forrest Griffin may be above Machida (more in Jackson's case than Griffin's). But Griffin is sidelined with an injury and Jackson is already fighting Jardine. 

Ultimately, Lyoto Machida deserves to get a title shot against Rashad Evans. With Jackson tied up with UFC 96, Machida-Evans could be a main event for UFC 99 in June. On top of the fortuitous timing is the fact that Machida is simply in a different league, with regards to his striking, then other fighters in the light heavyweight division. The UFC should reward Macida with a title shot now.