Lyoto Machida

Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida brought Shotokan karate to the UFC and made it work. The son of a Japanese karate master raised in Belém, he was trained in sumo and jiu-jitsu, and his elusive counter-striking carried him to an unbeaten 15–0 record before he knocked out Rashad Evans at UFC 98 in 2009 to win the light heavyweight title, leading Joe Rogan to declare “the Machida era”.

He kept the belt with a disputed decision over Shogun Rua, lost it to Rua in the rematch, then landed a famous crane kick to finish Randy Couture. He later challenged for the middleweight title and fought on in Bellator. CagePotato followed the urine-drinking stories, the karate and every title shot.