On August 4th, 2012, the UFC created a Fox card where the most impressive performance from one of Lyoto Machida, Ryan Bader, Mauricio Rua, or Brandon Vera would net a title shot against light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. Ignoring that Jones had beaten and finished all of them already, this was a decent way to drum up interest for an event.
Machida vs. Bader was Lyoto's first fight since his unsuccessful attempt at taking the belt away from Jones, and he delivered a vintage Machida performance. Bader was barely capable of laying a finger on him, and in the 2nd round, with Ryan recklessly coming forward, Machida countered by punching him really hard in the face and sending him straight to sleep. It was Bader's first ever KO loss and it was the ticket to Machida getting another title shot. Of course, UFC 151 was scrapped three weeks later, Machida never accepted a short-notice fight with Jones at UFC 152, and ended up never getting his rematch. Lyoto is now at middleweight, where he aims to take out Bader's teammate C.B. Dollaway in Barueri, Brazil this Saturday.
Relive the Machida vs. Bader fight by clicking the video at the top of the page.
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