Lyoto Machida must be devastated. When considering the opinions of media outlets and fans, Machida did enough to beat Phil Davis. If that’s not enough, Dana White took to Twitter saying “Wow!! I had Machida winning all 3 rds but that’s what happens when you leave it up to the judges!”. Clearly, Davis pulled off one of the most controversial victories of the year, and the following months will determine the future of both fighters.
Is a Lyoto Machida-Phil Davis rematch inevitable?
Did “Mr. Wonderful” do enough to be considered better than Machida? Surely not. Machida’s reaction in a post fight interview with Ariel Helwani sums up what most people were probably thinking. When considering Davis’ post fight interview, he admits that his own corner told him he lost the first two rounds. While that could be a motivating factor, Davis did not finish the fight in the third, which left the fight in the judges hands anyway. He goes on to state that he deserves a title shot for beating the next in line after Alexander Gustafsson. The fact is, he barely beat Machida, and still needs to consider Glover Teixeira who is currently ranked third. If he believes to be the number one contender, he could be surprised with Joe Silva and the UFC’s decision. Not to take anything away from Davis, but after his loss to Rashad Evans, he has not done enough to earn himself a chance at the title. If he finished Machida in a decisive manner, maybe we would think differently, but that is simply not the case.
This is not the first time we have seen UFC judges make a controversial call, and it will not be the last. In light of this, Machida should have done more to win the fight. He was pushing forward, defending takedowns and landing some good strikes. However, his defensive style and counter-attacking technique proved to be his downfall. While he seemed to fair quite well against Davis, it was not enough to guarantee a victory. If he studied Davis’ fights, Machida should have known to go in for the kill. In 10 UFC battles, Davis has just finished three opponents, all by submission. Machida has complete faith in his jujitsu, not to mention his striking, which should have given him the utmost confidence going in to the fight. Nevertheless, Machida failed to finish the fight, and he has now learned the hard way to never leave it in the hands of the judges.
With that said, it would seem that a rematch is necessary. Stylistically, this is a very interesting fight that could prove to be a great rematch. Naturally, both guys like to stand back and pick their shots before going in for the kill. However, after the first battle, both fighters will want to finish the fight to avoid similar circumstances. If Davis finishes Machida, it will be interesting to see where both fighters end up moving forward. On the other hand, Machida winning could turn this into a trilogy, or at least prove that the first fight was nothing more than an off-night for “The Dragon”. The fact is, Davis did not do enough to supplant Machida in the Light Heavyweight rankings, sitting fourth behind Teixeira, Machida and Gustafsson. With Teixeira fighting Ryan Bader in September, and Gustfasson taking on Jon Jones, is there any better fight than a Machida-Davis rematch?
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