UFC Fight Night 58: Lyoto Machida vs CB Dollaway Breakdown
UFC Fight Night 58 goes down this coming Saturday (December 20th, 2014) and is headlined by Lyoto Machida vs CB Dollaway. The former light-heavyweight champion faces “The Doberman” in Brazil, in an attempt to get back to winning ways after UFC 175’s decision loss against Chris Weidman.
Dollaway is riding two straight wins, most recently decisioning Francis Carmont, and also scoring an epic starching over Cezar Ferreira before that. Without further ado, check out the LowKickMMA UFC Fight Night 58: Lyoto Machida vs CB Dollaway breakdown:
Striking
Lyoto Machida’s striking has long-been his main strength, but against powerful wrestlers that can bang it has proved to be quite the opposite in the past. Aside from Mark Munoz of course, guys like Weidman, Quinton Jackson and and Phil Davis have all laid the blueprint on how to beat “The Dragon” standing up. Although his technique and knowledge may be a lot higher level than Dollaway’s, styles wise, this fight may be pretty even standing.
What we’ve seen from “The Doberman” is much improved striking as of late, and his swift KO win over “Mutante” showed us just that. Unless Machida is a lot more agressive with his striking this time out, he may find himself in the same spot as “The All-American” put him in at UFC 175. Overall technique, and the potential to fight like he did against Mark Munoz gives Machida a very slight edge at 55-45
Takedowns
Here is Dollaway’s bread and butter, but it may be quite hard to implement against the crafty karate master. CB has a fantastic wrestling base, seeing him score 55% of his attempts and stuffing 83% of his opponent’s. Only thing is, Machida is able to avoid 81% of his opponent’s attempted, and 64% of his own. In fact, “The Doberman” may not have much of an advantage here at all.
Given Machida’s excellent footwork and his karate stance, he becomes a very hard target to commit to with wrestling. Diving in and leving yourself exposed against “The Dragon” can prove fatal, as his striking game relies heavily on timing and his opponent’s mistakes. Believe it or not, I’m actually factoring Machida’s defense heavily in this one-50-50 on the takedowns
Submissions
Neither man is particularly known for their offensive submission game; Dollaway has earned three subs from 15 wins, and Machida two from 21. “”The Dragon” got choked out cold by Jon Jones, but mainly because he was half knocked out by strikes. “The Doberman” has succumbed to tap or nap/snap twice as a pro.
Formal qualifications show that Machida outranks Dollaway as a black belt to the latter’s blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and factors in to my decision of 60-40 Machida
The main event at UFC Fight Night 58 may have been pegged as a squash match when it was first conceived, but I actually think it may be quite a close affair. What are your thoughts on Lyoto Machida vs CB Dollaway?
