UFC 98: Evans vs. Machida May 23rd, 2009 MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada PPV (10:00PM EST) 205lbs. "Sugar" Rashad Evans [13-0-1] (C) vs. Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida [14-0] 170lbs. Matt Hughes [42-7] vs. Matt "The Terra" Serra [9-5] 155lbs. Sean "The Muscle Shark" Sherk [33-3-1] vs. Frankie "The Answer" Edgar [9-1] 185lbs. Dan Miller [11-1] vs. Chael Sonnen [21-10-1] 185lbs. Drew "The Massacre" McFederies [7-5] vs. "Professor X" Xavier Foupa-Pokam [20-10] 155lbs. Phillipe Nover vs. Kyle Bradley 205lbs. Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Andre Gusmao 155lbs. George Roop vs. Dave Kaplan 170lbs. Brandon Wolff vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida 265lbs. Pat Berry vs. Tim Hague 170lbs. Brock Larson vs. Mike Pyle [video=youtube;tqGWvSr51Mo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqGWvSr51Mo[/video]
Re: UFC 98: Evans vs. Machida (May. 23rd) Notes on the event: -- Rashad Evans and Lyoto Machida, both undefeated, will contend for a Light Heavyweight Championship that has been held by four fighters in the last five title fights (Chuck Liddell, Quinton Jackson, Forrest Griffin, and Evans). Evans and Machida have three common opponents: Tito Ortiz, Stephan Bonnar, and Sam Hoger. Evans drew with Ortiz and decisioned Bonnar and Hoger, while Machida decisioned Ortiz and Hoger and stopped Bonnar via TKO (cut). -- Matt Hughes and Matt Serra were opposing coaches on the sixth season of The Ultimate Fighter reality show. They were scheduled to face each other at UFC 79 following the finale of the series, but Serra suffered a herniated disc in his back and was unable to participate. Former UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre replaced Serra in the fight, easily defeating Hughes for a second time. As a result, St. Pierre was awarded a rematch with Serra, putting the Hughes/Serra feud on hold. The rematch took place at UFC 83 in April of 2008, four months after the second Hughes/St. Pierre fight. St. Pierre forced the referee to stop the fight in the second round due to unanswered blows. Hughes and Serra will finally fight at UFC 98, albeit 17 months behind schedule. -- UFC welterweight contender Josh Koscheck was scheduled to fight Chris Wilson at this event but was forced to pull out due to injury and will be replaced by WEC veteran Brock Larson. A middleweight showdown between Drew McFedries and James Irvin replaces the Koscheck bout on the undercard. Irvin has fought at light heavyweight in his UFC career and will be making his middleweight debut in this fight, expected to be a slugfest. -- The Ultimate Fighter season eight runner-up Phillipe Nover makes his post-TUF debut for the UFC against Kyle Bradley. Nover became an early favourite to win the show after being branded a possible "lightweight Anderson Silva" by UFC President Dana White. Nover was defeated on the TUF Finale by Efrain Escudero. Kyle Bradley has two fights in the UFC, having lost to Joe Lauzon and Chris Lytle. A third loss for Bradley is will likely come with a pink slip. -- Canadian heavyweight Tim Hague makes his UFC debut on this card against undersized heavyweight kickboxer Pat Berry. -- Japanese wrestler Yushin Okami, once considered the top contender to Anderson Silva's middleweight title, takes on 11-1 Dan Miller at UFC 98. Okami was expected to face Silva at UFC 90 in October but suffered a broken hand in training and was forced to withdraw from the event. He was replaced by Patrick Côté who lasted two rounds and change with Silva before suffering a fight-ending leg injury. Okami's only UFC loss in eight bouts came at the hands of former UFC champion Rich Franklin.
Re: UFC 98: Evans vs. Machida (May. 23rd) i was looking forward to this event but won't be able to watch it anymore which is too bad. It looks like it should be a pretty good event. I think Machida is going to have some trouble with Evans. I wonder if Evans will revert bad to his wrestling roots and ground and pound Machida. Seems like the best strategy cause we havent really seen a lot of Machida on the ground. Matt Hughes vs Matt Serra shouldnt be that exciting. Matt Hughes is still good enough to dominate guys like Serra. That being said theres so much history there it should still be somewhat interesting. Should also be interesting to see how Nover does, that guy has some hype behind him and could have a nice career.
Re: UFC 98: Evans vs. Machida (May. 23rd) The Hughes/Serra fight should come down to whether or not Hughes still fancies himself a striker. He tried to stand with GSP and Alves lately and it got him sent to the hospital. Maybe he thinks he can stand with Serra? Though that is exactly what Serra would love. Pride will play a major role in this fight. Hughes can take Serra down and lay on him at will. Serra's guard is nothing special for MMA. As for Evans, he comes from a great camp that will try and utilize a game plan against Machida. What that might be I have no idea. Evans had a tough, wrestling-oriented match with Oritz in which Ortiz had him down more than once. Ortiz wasn't able to even get his hands around Machida. If the strategy is to take Machida down, it will have to involve a lot of prep work.
Re: UFC 98: Evans vs. Machida (May. 23rd) I think Serra KO's Hughes, actually. There is a lot of hatred there and Hughes isn't what he used to be. If Hughes wants to, he can lay on him all fight but I don't think that'll happen. Too much pride there, like speeds said. I think Evans' speed is something Machida hasn't faced before. Lyoto has been tagged as elusive, but when has he fought someone with Rashad's speed? Speed is such an underrated attribute IMO, and I think Evans has a great shot at beating Machida in the stand up with that speed.
Re: UFC 98: Evans vs. Machida (May. 23rd) I'm not a fan of the dragon or sugar but I hate Rashad even more than I dislike Machida's boring tactics. Dragon for the WIN!!!
Re: UFC 98: Evans vs. Machida (May. 23rd) I think Machida's last few fights have been good and exciting. I think he's slowly dropping that 'boring fighter' stigma. Anyone else thinking that Drew Mc Fedries is on the main event so James Irvin can get another highlight reel KO? who's going to have a suckier time? Dan Miller or Frankie Edgar? You know both are going to be spending a lot of time on their back eating elbows and being controlled. This looks like a sweet card, the only fight I have no real interest in is George Roop vs. Dave Kaplan and honestly, I'm at least interested in seeing what song Kaplan comes out to this time what's the over/under on Pat Berry's fight making it to the main broadcast after he KO's Hauge in fantastic fashion?
Re: UFC 98: Evans vs. Machida (May. 23rd) McFedries/Irvin is definitely on there because they are expecting a knockout. McFedries hits just as hard as Irvin at middleweight. Could go either way.
Re: UFC 98: Evans vs. Machida (May. 23rd) ^ Nate Quarry would be a good replacement. I wonder if he'd be ready to go again after only a month?
Re: UFC 98: Evans vs. Machida (May. 23rd) man Irvin is one brittle dude. He needs to change his training regime, he's always getting hurt in training.
Yeah... dude's had nine months to get down to middleweight, you'd think the hard work would be over by now.
Re: UFC 98: Evans vs. Machida (May. 23rd) Word from Weekly is Xavier Foupa-Pokam is stepping in to face McFedries. I'm rooting for Professor X!
Re: UFC 98: Evans vs. Machida (May. 23rd) Professor X better start hitting the treadmill. Guy gassed so bad against Kang. At the end of the fight he collapsed.
Houston Alexander has supposedly busted his hand and is off the card. They are looking for a replacement for Gusmao to fight.
Krzysztof Soszynski becomes one of the few fighters in UFC history to compete on back-to-back PPV's by replacing Houston Alexander vs. Andre Gusmao at UFC 98.
