Machida Wins Light Heavyweight Title; UEFA Champions League Final

Lyoto Machida knocked out Rashad Evans in a battle of previously unblemished records to claim the UFC Light Heavyweight title at ‘UFC 98: Evans vs. Machida’, which was broadcast live in the UK from Las Vegas, Nevada on Setanta Sports.

Only future bouts will confirm whether Machida’s brutal second round KO of former 205 king Evans was an example of the Brazilian’s superiority over the UFC’s premier light heavyweights or proof that Evans’ status as the top light heavyweight in mixed martial arts was unwarranted. There’s also the possibility that it was a case of both.

Seeing Machida take his MMA record to 15-0 without absorbing any substantial damage from Rashad Evans certainly suggests that he could be the first man to keep a tight grip on the 205 crown since Chuck Liddell dropped the belt to Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackon in 2007. Evans, who won the title from Forrest Griffin at UFC 92 in December 2008, became the second light heavyweight champion in a row to lose his title at the first attempt of defending it.

Machida’s unorthodox stance, razor-sharp footwork and sniper-like striking accuracy left Rashad looking like an amateur in comparison, and after just under four minutes of the second round he unleashed a blistering flurry of punches that had the champion severely rocked before putting him out of his misery with a straight left cross.

Right now it’s very difficult to see anybody coming close to cracking the Machida code, not least as you get the feeling that more top-level challenges will only result in ‘The Dragon’ unveiling further aspects of what looks increasingly like a perfect arsenal. Machida’s first title defence will come against former champion Rampage Jackson, who has followed his controversial 2008 title loss to Forrest Griffin with wins over long-time rival Wanderlei Silva and Evans’ teammate at Greg Jackson’s MMA academy, Keith Jardine.

While there’s no doubting that Rampage is one of the top fighters in the division, he will have to show a lot more than just the orthodox boxing that has been a staple of UFC run. Unless Rampage can return to the dynamic wrestling with which he made his name in Japan’s PRIDE organisation then one can only expect another example of Machida’s unparalleled ability to use his elusive movement and electric hand speed to pick-off static opponents.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also, the UEFA Champions League final between Manchester United and Barcelona is live from Roma’s Stadio Olympico tonight on ITV and Sky Sports. Barcelona are without both first-choice full-backs Dani Alves and Eric Abidal (both suspended) and centre-half Rafael Marquez is also a strong doubt.

I expect Man Utd, missing only the suspended Darren Fletcher, to take full advantage of Barca’s defensive frailties and catch the gung-ho Catalans on the counter-attack. If United can score before the hour mark and force Barca to push forward then I wouldn’t be surprised to see something of a rout for the English champions.

Everton Secure Return To Wembley

Everton will make their first FA Cup final appearance in fourteen years after beating Manchester United 4-2 on penalties at Wembley. The shoot-out followed 120 minutes of drab action in which both sides struggled to carve out clear-cut chances, with Danny Welbeck’s unsuccessful second-half penalty appeal the only real talking point.

Sir Alex Ferguson claimed that his decision to field a shadow team was taken out of fear for his star players’ well-being as he echoed Arsene Wenger’s view that the pitch at the FA’s £800m stadium is not good enough to host top-level football. Wenger had blamed the slow, spongy texture of Wembley’s much-maligned turf for his side’s failure to beat Chelsea in the weekend’s first semi final, re-opening the debate over whether or not the FA’s means of paying for Wembley through renting it out for events that require the pitch to be constantly pulled up and re-laid effects its ability to serve as England’s national stadium.

Everton manager David Moyes agreed with Ferguson’s comments regarding the standard of Wembley’s playing surface and the adverse effect that it had on the quality of the weekend’s semi finals. Moyes’ side were poor for large parts of Sunday’s encounter but that should not take away from the sense of achievement surrounding the club’s first major final appearance of the new millennium.

It looked as though Everton were doomed to suffer the heart-ache of another penalty shoot-out loss after Tim Cahill smashed the first spot-kick high over Ben Foster’s crossbar, evoking memories of last season’s UEFA Cup quarter final loss to Fiorentina. But United substitute Dimitar Berbatov immediately cancelled out the Australian’s miss when his tame effort rolled straight into the legs of Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard.

Berbatov’s failure gave renewed hope and voice to the Everton hordes and they roared as Leighton Baines made it 1-0 with an expertly placed shot which was followed by Tim Howard making an excellent save from United’s stand-in captain Rio Ferdinand. Phil Neville put Everton 2-0 up with a coolly taken penalty before ‘man of the match’ Nemanja Vidic got United off the mark with a low drive that deflected in off Howard’s right post.

Fine strikes from James Vaughan and Anderson maintained the one goal difference until Everton ‘player of the season’ contender Phil Jagielka stepped up to exorcise the demons of his crucial penalty miss against Fiortentina thirteen months ago with a drilled effort to Foster’s left side.

Everton will return to Wembley on May 30th to play Guus Hiddink’s Chelsea, meaning that should Moyes’ side win the FA Cup they will have beaten four of the Premier League’s current top five in doing so. With Mikel Arteta and Yakubu Aiyegbeni set to miss the final through long-term injuries, Moyes will hope that perennial sicknotes James Vaughan and Louis Saha can stay injury-free over the next five weeks as his heavily depleted squad can ill-afford any more casualties.