The Last Dragon (3)

Lyoto Machida.

A man once called the absolute champion of the CFC lightweight division.

His presence during his prime was truly phenomenal. He was a genius who incorporated Shotokan karate, a style unsuited for mixed martial arts, into MMA.

Shotokan karate is known as a martial art created for Asians, who are physically disadvantaged, to defeat Westerners.

That's why it doesn't utilize close-quarters techniques much. Instead, Shotokan uniquely emphasizes footwork among karate styles.

In other words, distance fighting.

Because it focuses on distance fighting, it naturally leads to out-fighting, but this unexpectedly worked well in the CFC at the time.

Lyoto Machida combined this Shotokan karate with sumo to defeat many strong opponents. He used counter-strikes utilizing Shotokan karate's unique footwork, and takedown defense using sumo's low center of gravity.