The Era of The Invincibles

By TLOS listener, Julian McLeod - Part 1 of 6. Please enjoy this multi-part article over the next 6 consecutive days.

The Era of the Invincibles: 23rd May 2009 – 25th October 2009

From UFC 98 until UFC 104, we experienced a time when it was widely believed that the UFC had a strong stable of champions that could not be beaten, ever. These five men ruled over their divisions with an iron fist: Brock Lesnar, Lyoto Machida, Anderson Silva, George Saint-Pierre and BJ Penn. Different styles and different attitudes but all lead to the same conclusion that these fighters looked like they would stay title holders forever.

Of course, now Frankie Edgar and Shogun Rua rose to the challenge presented to them and Anderson Silva disappointed millions with his arrogance towards not only his opponent Damian Maia but the entire sport of MMA, but I would like to draw your attention to a time where in every division the champions stood tall.

Lyoto Machida Light-Heavyweight Champion I’ve seen karate in UFC before or styles similar to it and I wasn’t impressed but I heard from certain experts that I respect, talk about a man called Lyoto Machida, The first match I saw him I can’t say that I was blown away by the performance but as continued to study his style, which before looked like he was just hitting people than running away, now it became exciting to watch like waiting for a viper to strike. Subtle but powerful, It was when he completely neutralized Sokodju that it became apparent that this was guy to watch, and he became Dana’s hitman to take out Tito Ortiz in a thrilling battle. Putting the ground and pound specialist on his back several times during the match; besides from the worrying triangle at the end, Machida absolutely dominated the former champion. Going on to devastate Thiago Silva, until UFC 98 no one knew how to fight Machida and Evans proved no exception and even saw Machida pressing the action to become Light-Heavyweight champion.

Tune in tomorrow for Julian's breakdown of GSP.