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5 Share15 By Tristen Critchfield Feb 17, 2014 Lyoto Machida is trending upward again. | Photo: Gleidson Venga/Sherdog.com Those who say that it s not the destination, it s the journey have obviously never had to sit through an epic night of decisions on a UFC Fight Night card. When you consider that it took approximately five hours to arrive at Saturday s hi ghly anticipated UFC Fight Night 36 headliner between Lyoto Machida and Gegard M ousasi at the Arena Jaragua in Jaragua do Sul, Brazil, it is understandable that some people were a little bit grumpy by night s end. After all, even the most rap t attention span can only hold up for so long, and when you are trying to sift t hrough a revolving door of Ultimate Fighter alums, short-notice fill-ins and anony mous free agents along the way, it gets hard to differentiate between one bout a nd the next. That was the story of UFC Fight Night 36, which in the grand tradition of UFC 16 9 before it, served up a multi-course appetizer that left more than a few observ ers feeling bloated long before Machida and Mousasi entered the Octagon. From th e start, we all knew the event was top-heavy; Machida-Mousasi and Ronaldo SouzaFrancis Carmont were worth staying up late for, but everything else was largely dispensable. Still, despite a technical chess match between the two main event combatants, it seems that many would have appreciated some plain old blood-and-guts checkers i nstead. If you signed on to watch Machida-Mousasi, you should have known better. While many of the fights were panned for going the distance -- and rightly so -the middleweight feature was the type of bout that required a full 25 minutes t o unfold. Both Machida and Mousasi are capable of the spectacular -- one need on ly to flash back to October to recall The Dragon s brutal head kick knockout of Mark Munoz at UFC Fight Night 30 -- but they are also cerebral strategists who are h ighly unlikely to make a miscue that puts them on another s highlight reel. In the end, it was Machida who made most of the right moves. His lateral movemen t and feints were on point, and while Mousasi was not the type to run headlong i nto a counter, the Brazilian still found his fair share of success landing a var iety of offense. In round two, Machida even rocked Mousasi with a head kick that might have dropped a lesser man. At one point in the fight, it appeared that a look of frustration briefly regist ered on the former Strikeforce champion s normally expressionless face. For Machid a, that was an accomplishment in itself. What kept things interesting, however, was that it never completely felt like Mo usasi was out of it. As Machida inched ahead on the scorecards, the possibility remained that Mousasi could find a miniscule opening to exploit. In the end, The Dreamcatcher had his moments, but he was never able to crack the Machida code.

He s a great fighter, a real champ, Machida said. I wanted to finish it in a differen t way. I couldn t, but I was able to get the points. The last part of that quote might have been the most damning in the eyes of Mach ida s detractors. To them, it probably suggests he was content to win the scorecar ds all along. However, Machida has already made subtle alterations to his approa ch at 185 pounds. It was more obvious against Munoz, but the Brazilian again on Saturday took far more opportunities to press the action rather than simply waiting to counter. Th e bursts of aggression were short and sporadic, but they were there. Machida has always been a fighter who carefully picks his spots. The fact that he was unabl e to finish is more of a testament to Mousasi s skill and durability than an indic tment of Machida s killer instinct or lack thereof. Machida continues to evolve, former Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight ki ng Dominick Cruz said on Fox Sports Live. He attempted three takedowns, and he ne ver goes for takedowns. It s very difficult to fight him. He does everything just right. He uses kicks, then jabs and can switch stances. He fights in a southpaw stance but circles to the left, which is completely wrong, but it works. During his run to becoming UFC light heavyweight champion, Machida was viewed as an unsolvable riddle. As a few losses were added to his ledger and the mystique faded, he was downgraded to simply being a tough matchup. Now Machida is trendi ng upward. If he is not totally reinvented at 185 pounds, he is at the very leas t improved. Just do not expect him to suddenly transform into Chris Leben. Eatin g punches in order to land a few of his own has never been Machida s style. At UFC Fight Night 36, very few fighters on the card did anything to stand out f rom the crowd. At times it felt like the undercard came straight off the UFC ass embly line, with each bout instantly forgettable as soon as the judges ruling was announced. There is no getting around the fact that some fights are going to be just plain boring. It just so happens that 2014 has begun with an unseemly amount of nondes cript affairs. UFC Fight Night 36 certainly had its share, but Machida-Mousasi w as not one of them. In an era of mass MMA production, Machida stands out. What he does and how he do es it are so different from most of what is out there. Even when he is unable to deliver the spectacular, he is almost always worth watching. Tweet8 5 Share15 Related Articles UFC Fight Night 36 Winner Jacare Souza Wants Title Shot After Besting Francis Carmont Lyoto Machida Injures Left Foot in UFC Fight Night 36 Win Over Gegard Mousas i Matches to Make After UFC Fight Night 36 By the Numbers: UFC Fight Night 36 UFC Fight Night 36 Bonuses: Machida, Mousasi, Silva, Oliveira Earn $50K Awar ds Comments Comments powered by Disqus Top trending fighters Chris Weidman | Cain Velasquez |

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