On this day in 2009, a new light heavyweight champion was crowned at UFC 98.
Joe Rogan has watched many great UFC champions come and go but on this occasion, he believed he was truly watching something special.
After winning the second season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’, Rashad Evans emerged as a star for the promotion as he began to rack up wins.
Jon Jones credits Evans with hitting him with the hardest punch he’s ever received and ‘Suga’ used that power to stop both Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin, which in turn saw him win the light heavyweight title.
The new champion was originally preparing to face a rival of his but instead, he was met with a totally unique challenge with two undefeated competitors meeting at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 23.
Lyoto Machida slept Rashad Evans on this day in 2009 at UFC 98
With top contender Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson requiring surgery, Rashad Evans was booked to defend his title against the surging Lyoto Machida.
The champion put his 13-0-1 record on the line against the 14-0 Brazilian who had recently beaten the likes of Tito Ortiz and Thiago Silva to enter title contention.
Machida’s unique striking caused the champion some problems early on with the biggest moment of the opening round being a blitz attack that dropped Evans.
‘Suga’ survived but he was dropped again in the second round by a left hook and this time around, the challenger didn’t let him off the hook.
Machida continued to pile on the pressure, teeing off on Evans until another left hook against the cage sent Evans crashing to the floor.
With an instantly iconic call, Joe Rogan suggested that fans had just witnessed a changing of the guard now that there was a new superstar at the top of the light heavyweight division.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Machida era.”
Rashad Evans later revealed how Lyoto Machida instantly threw him off his game
When Lyoto Machida arrived in the UFC, it was clear that his striking was on a different level to the other top contenders in the light heavyweight division.
Rashad Evans recently revealed during an appearance on the Overdogs Podcast that his entire mindset was thrown off by ‘The Dragon’ as soon as the fight had started.
“One of the things that Lyoto did that kind of threw me off the game, right off the bat was, he threw a high kick as hard as he can at my head. He didn’t care if he caught me with it or I blocked it but he just wanted me… it’s like a display of strength.
Evans said that the strike was so powerful that it made him cautious about being hit with another one, so he abandoned his game plan to stop that from happening.
“So I started rushing and I started rushing my technique and when I rush my technique, that’s when he was able to hit me with that counter left that started the demise of the fight.”