Born May 30, 1978 Lyoto Carvalho Machida is the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. This Japanese Brazilian mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter from Salvador, Brazil is 6ft 1 inch with a 74 inch reach and is known as “The Dragon”.

At age twelve he started training in the art of Sumo and earned a black belt at age 13 and went on to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at age fifteen. In 2001 he won the Pan American Karate Tournament and other amateur karate tournaments.

In the 2000 Machida was the runner up for the Brazilian Sumo Championships. Machida made his MMA debut in Inoki’s New Japan Pro Wrestling. He then fought runner-up Stephan Bonner in The Ultimate Fighter 1.

With a 3-0 record Machida fought Michael McDonald and Sam Greco then beat B.J. Penn in K-1 Hero’s. Signing with the World Fighting Alliance he began to compete in the U.S. and in his debut fight he defeated Vernon White. After the WFA went out of business the UFC then acquired Machida’s contract.

Winning his UFC debut fighting Sam Hoger and he also beat David Heath and then he also beat Kazuhiro Nakamura at UFC 76 and was nominated for the 2009 ESPYS “Best Fighter” category. Machida fought Rashad Evans at UFC 98 and was crowned the new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion.

Machida’s first title defense came in 2009 when Mauricia “Shogun” Rua fought him. Machida fought Rua in a rematch for the title for UFC 113 on May 8th in Canada. This match had been postponed for several months and Lyoto Machida eventually lost this rematch to Mauricio Rua by knock-out at the 3:35 mark of round 1.

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