This Month’s MMA Birthdays: Lyoto Machida Celebrates No. 40
Lyoto Machida carried the flag for an entire segment of the martial arts community and did so as one of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s most consistent and accomplished competitors. “The Dragon” will celebrate his 40th birthday on May 30.
Machida sports a 23-8 career record, with wins over onetime Strikeforce champions Dan Henderson and Gegard Mousasi, current Bellator MMA titleholder Ryan Bader and six former UFC champions: Rich Franklin, B.J. Penn, Tito Ortiz, Rashad Evans, Mauricio Rua and Randy Couture. The Shotokan karate stylist was at the height of his power in 2009, when he knocked out Evans to captured the undisputed light heavyweight crown in the UFC 98 main event before 12,606 fans at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. While his stay at the top was brief, Machida’s reign had a lasting impact on mixed martial arts and showed once again that karate could serve as a functional base inside the cage. The well-traveled Brazilian will face Vitor Belfort in a clash between fading legends at UFC 224 on May 12 in Brazil.
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MAY 1
Kiichi Kunimoto, 37Chad Mendes, 33
Dakota Cochrane, 32
Liz McCarthy, 32
Anistavio Medeiros de Figueiredo, 30
David Teymur, 29
MAY 2
Garret Nybakken, 37Alberto Mina, 36
Kikuyo Ishikawa, 34
Alex Nicholson, 28
Justin Scoggins, 26
MAY 3
Sam Greco, 51Shonie Carter, 46
Pedro Rizzo, 44
John Makdessi, 33
Patrick Holohan, 30
Bryan Barberena, 28
Mariana Morais, 22
MAY 4
Victor Henry, 31Nate Williams, 30
Lemmy Krusic, 29
Roman Szymanski, 25
MAY 5
Alex Schoenauer, 42Mizuto Hirota, 37
Steve Steinbeiss, 37
Lukasz Bugara, 32
Cortney Casey-Sanchez, 31
MAY 6
Luiz Jorge Dutra Jr., 36Sam Alvey, 32
Akop Stepanyan, 32
Beneil Dariush, 29
MAY 7
Frank Trigg, 46Lodune Sincaid, 45
Kurt Pellegrino, 39
Ian McCall, 34
MAY 8
Jorge Patino, 45Caol Uno, 43
Tatsuya Kawajiri, 40
Manny Gamburyan, 37
Jessica Aguilar, 36
Mikey Gomez, 36
Danillo Villefort, 35
MAY 9
Spencer Fisher, 42Antwain Britt, 40
Shinya Aoki, 35
Chuka Willis, 25
MAY 10
Anthony Perosh, 46Yoshiyuki Yoshida, 44
Jackie Vandenburgh, 37
Cory Hendricks, 30
MAY 11
Jeremy Lang, 43Melvin Manhoef, 42
Magomed Sultanakhmedov, 34
Gilbert Jimenez, 33
Chas Skelly, 33
Joseph Sandoval, 32
Kamaru Usman, 30
Frankie Perez, 29
MAY 12
Louis Taylor, 39Damian Grabowski, 38
Keri Anne Taylor-Melendez, 34
Junie Allen Browning, 33
MAY 13
Fredson Paixao, 39Yan Cabral, 35
Guilherme Viana, 32
Yusuke Yachi, 28
MAY 14
Urijah Faber, 39Tom DeBlass, 35
Artur Guseinov, 34
Alvaro Herrera, 28
MAY 15
Shane DeZee, 41Josh Burns, 40
Tom Lawlor, 35
Kenji Yamamoto, 34
Brett Chism, 31
MAY 16
Hacran Dias, 34Darren Elkins, 34
Anthony Birchak, 32
Nazareno Malegarie, 32
MAY 17
Matt Lindland, 48Cheick Kongo, 43
Alistair Overeem, 38
Dan Hardy, 36
Paul Bradley, 35
Rich Hale, 33
MAY 18
Muhsin Corbbrey, 40Gabriel Gonzaga, 39
Kazuhisa Watanabe, 35
Frank Camacho, 29
MAY 19
Andre Gusmao, 41Wagner da Conceicao Martins, 40
Georges St. Pierre, 37
John Maguire, 35
Augusto Sakai, 27
Sergey Khandozhko, 26
MAY 20
Steve Berger, 45Roger Huerta, 35
Alexander Shlemenko, 34
Jinh Yu Frey, 33
MAY 21
Bruce Buffer, 61Scott Smith, 39
Ricardo Lamas, 36
Renato Carneiro, 29
MAY 22
Murilo Rua, 38Tim Snyder, 38
Mark Oshiro, 35
Fumihiro Kitahara, 34
Joe Lauzon, 34
Keita Nakamura, 34
Teemu Packalen, 31
Steve Garcia, 26
MAY 23
Beau Baker, 39Sean Loeffler, 36
Jordan Dowdy, 32
Myles Price, 30
MAY 24
Paulo Filho, 40Frank Mir, 39
Alex Serdyukov, 38
Josh Thornburg, 34
MAY 25
Brad Blackburn, 41Hudson Rocha, 37
Mark Anthony Serkez, 37
Ulysses Gomez, 35
Dan Lariviere, 35
Scott Askham, 30
Ben Fodor, 30
MAY 26
Kenny Florian, 42Rob McCullough, 41
Lyman Good, 33
Jeremy Stephens, 32
Ricky Steele, 30
MAY 27
Gideon Ray, 45Chris Cariaso, 37
Will Campuzano, 32
Diego Brandao, 31
Michael Hill, 31
Anthony Leone, 31
Geane Herrera, 28
MAY 28
Rory Singer, 42Andy Wang, 41
Aaron Rosa, 37
Scott Heckman, 34
MAY 29
Travis Fulton, 41Mamoru Yamaguchi, 41
Georgi Karakhanyan, 33
Steven Peterson, 28
MAY 30
Lyoto Machida, 40Yves Jabouin, 39
Ivan Menjivar, 36
Bart Palaszewski, 35
Amanda Nunes, 30
MAY 31
Akitoshi Tamura, 38Maria Rios, 35
Elias Theodorou, 30
Jessin Ayari, 26
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