No-touch atemi in UFC 129?

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[Cliff Judge]

Check out this clip. You don't have to watch the whole thing as Machida drops Couture 20 seconds in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AOubQDc-r8

Is it just me, or did Machida influence Couture's posture by waving his hands and then raising his stance?

I have heard that Couture is not known for his standup performance but I wouldn't assume he'd let himself get taken out by a front kick to the face like that.

Apparently Machida has been training with Seagal...I wonder if he has been training with any Systema guys also...

[chillzATL]

Check out this clip. You don't have to watch the whole thing as Machida drops Couture 20 seconds in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AOubQDc-r8

Is it just me, or did Machida influence Couture's posture by waving his hands and then raising his stance?

I have heard that Couture is not known for his standup performance but I wouldn't assume he'd let himself get taken out by a front kick to the face like that.

Apparently Machida has been training with Seagal...I wonder if he has been training with any Systema guys also...

I wouldn't say he just let himself get taken out with a front kick. Machida faked the left causing Randy to close up on his right side and drop his posture slightly, waiting to take the kick, but then the other foot came up on his left which was open and simply not ready. IMO that kick would have landed on a LOT of guys.

[dps]

Apparently Machida has been training with Seagal...I wonder if he has been training with any Systema guys also...

or watching Ralph (Macho Man) Macchio's Karate Kid movies.

dps

[Aikibu]

I have watched the fight carefully 3 times now, and though I have allot of experience; I would not say I am an expert. It felt to me that Machida feinted allot by opening up aka Irimi "allowing" Randy to charge in in an attempt to pin Machida to the cage tie him up and do what Randy does best... "Dirty Boxing". Machida's tactics seem to include MAAI or keeping the proper amount of "space" between himself and Couture... forcing Randy to commit fully to his attacks where Machida could then counter. This is not just an Aikido Principle but it is a Martial One. Perhaps that was Seagal's influence/suggestion Perhaps not. All I know is that in the post fight interview Machida thanked Seagal and that to me is evidence enough of Seagal Sensei's influence. :)

William Hazen

[DonMagee]

I have watched the fight carefully 3 times now, and though I have allot of experience; I would not say I am an expert. It felt to me that Machida feinted allot by opening up aka Irimi "allowing" Randy to charge in in an attempt to pin Machida to the cage tie him up and do what Randy does best... "Dirty Boxing". Machida's tactics seem to include MAAI or keeping the proper amount of "space" between himself and Couture... forcing Randy to commit fully to his attacks where Machida could then counter. This is not just an Aikido Principle but it is a Martial One. Perhaps that was Seagal's influence/suggestion Perhaps not. All I know is that in the post fight interview Machida thanked Seagal and that to me is evidence enough of Seagal Sensei's influence. :)

William Hazen

Couldn't be an entire lifetime of training in his families line of karate? In no way could you learn a kick like that there.....

[Cliff Judge]

Couldn't be an entire lifetime of training in his families line of karate? In no way could you learn a kick like that there.....

Who cares about the kick. How did he get Couture to let it through?

[Demetrio Cereijo]

Remember Couture was pwned by Seagal some time ago (with a judo chop nonetheless). When he was informed Seagal was teaching Machida, he knew he had no options.

[chillzATL]

Who cares about the kick. How did he get Couture to let it through?

Same way Cro-cop let Gonzaga's kick through. He saw a kick coming and prepped for that, but he got something completely different.

[Aikibu]

Couldn't be an entire lifetime of training in his families line of karate? In no way could you learn a kick like that there.....

It could also be a lifetime of putting up his right foot to tie his shoe and then suddenly changing his mind and putting up his left shoe first.

I was just simply stating my observation and hope not to include any preconceived bias towards (or against ;) ) Aikido or Seagal.

William Hazen

[phitruong]

Who cares about the kick. How did he get Couture to let it through?

look at though couture expected a round house kick by the way his body lean and the arms position, arms a bit high with elbows out which created an opening for the front kick to come through. he also underestimated the reach of a jumping front kick. front kick isn't normal for MMA, methink.

[DonMagee]

It could also be a lifetime of putting up his right foot to tie his shoe and then suddenly changing his mind and putting up his left shoe first.

I was just simply stating my observation and hope not to include any preconceived bias towards (or against ;) ) Aikido or Seagal.

William Hazen

I know, it just seems like suddenly the whole world thinks Steven Segal invented the front snap kick.

[phitruong]

I know, it just seems like suddenly the whole world thinks Steven Segal invented the front snap kick.

more of the case that he pointed out a gap in the current MMA training. if you look at the types of kick used in MMA, most of the time it's a round-house. rarely you see a side kick, hook kick, crescent kicks, and extremely rare to see a flying kick. you see flying knee but not kick.

[Aikibu]

I know, it just seems like suddenly the whole world thinks Steven Segal invented the front snap kick.

No the whole world does not think that Don... Including me. :)

William Hazen