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7. Machida’s Flying Front Kick
UFC 129 “St. Pierre vs. Shields”
April 30, 2011 | Toronto
In early 2011, a 47-year-old Randy Couture had won three straight fights over the likes of Brandon Vera, Mark Coleman and James Toney. While it was obvious that his long, productive career was coming to an end, “The Natural” still had something left in the tank and wanted to test himself one more time against high-level opposition.

Unfortunately for Couture, the only elite light heavyweight available for a fight at the time was former champion Lyoto Machida, who had dropped a contentious split decision to Quinton Jackson the previous November. On paper, it was a horrendous matchup for Couture, but the old warhorse had prevailed against long odds before. Perhaps he could put together an intelligent, pressuring game plan to take the unorthodox Machida out of his element, as Mauricio Rua had done twice and Jackson had managed to do for portions of their fight.

To put it mildly, that did not happen. Machida easily sidestepped and pivoted away from the older man’s rushes and brushed off his attempts at clinch entries, peppering him with crisp if not terribly damaging shots while he did so. When he returned to his corner after the first round, Couture remarked on how “slippery” Machida was -- it was not an accusation of greasing or anything untoward, just a statement about how difficult it was to keep his hands on the Brazilian for longer than a split second.

The second round was no more promising for Couture. A minute into the round, Machida faked a front kick with his rear leg, a strike he had thrown several times. Instead of leaving it there, however, Machida launched himself into the air and threw a front kick with his lead right leg, connecting directly with Couture’s chin and sending a piece of his front tooth flying across the canvas.

It was the end of Couture’s career and yet another stunning highlight for one of the greatest strikers in the history of MMA.

Number 6 » Gogoplata