Lyoto Carvalho Machida was born May 30, 1978. He is a Japanese Brazilian mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter from Salvador, Brazil. He fights as a light heavyweight in the UFC and is the current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Lyoto Machida is known as â€The Dragon†and is 6ft 1 inches with a 74 inch reach. His father was the head of the Brazilian branch of the Japan Karate Association. As Lyoto grew up, we began training in karate at the age of three and earned his black belt at the age of 13. He also started training the art of Sumo at age twelve and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at age fifteen. He won the 2001 Pan American Karate Tournament and several other amateur karate tournaments. Machida was the runner up in the 2000 Brazilian Sumo Championships. He became the Brazilian Champion twice when he was an adult, and he placed second in the South American Championship. In college, Machida was taken under the wing of Antonio Inoki. Inoki took him as a protg and started training him in Muay Thai in Thailand. Machida made his MMA debut in Inoki’s New Japan Pro Wrestling: Ultimate Crush on May 2, 2003 where defeated journeyman Pancrase fighter Kengo Watanabe. He then fought runner-up Stephan Bonner in The Ultimate Fighter 1. He then fought Rich Franklin and defeated him with strikes early in the second round. Once his record was 3-0, Machida fought Michael McDonald and Sam Greco, in which he defeated. He then fought B.J. Penn in K-1 Hero’s in which he also beat by decision. Machida officially split form Inoki, he signed with the World Fighting Alliance and began to compete in the U.S. He defeated Vernon White by decision in his debut American fight at the King of the Streets event in California. After the WFA went out of business, the UFC acquired Machida’s contract. Machida made his UFC debut fighting Sam Hoger and won by decision. He also went on to beat David Heath and also beat Kazuhiro Nakamura at UFC 76. In June 2009, Machida was nominated for the 2009 ESPYS â€Best Fighter†category, but did not gain enough votes to win. Machida fought Rashad Evans at UFC 98. He ended up taking him down in the second round after a flurry of accurate punches. Machida was crowned the new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. This victory continued his undefeated streak and also gave Evan’s his first career loss. Machida’s first title defense came when Mauricia â€Shogun†Rua fought him in 2009. Machida won with a unanimous decision from the judges by one point over Rua. This led to a large controversy where even the UFC president felt that Rua had won. With all of this controversy, Machida is now scheduled to face Rua in a rematch for the title for UFC 113 on May 8th in Canada. The reason why this match has been postponed for seven months is because Machida suffered an injury to his hand during the first fight with Rua.
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