Our very first pick for UFC 84 is the Tito Ortiz, Lyoto Machida fight. Tito, the bad boy who burst on the scene with ground and pound like few before him is to face Lyoto Machida, a fighter with tons of heart and skill to match.

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Tito Ortiz is where ‘Ground and Pound’ began. When he came onto the scene about 6 years ago, he was a machine. He was defeating names like Evan Tanner, Wanderlei Silva, and many other greats. His cardio was supreme and he seemed never to tire. His defense was awesome and once he got a fighter to the ground, the fight was soon over.

Lyoto Machida is undefeated. He has taken on and beat big names like Rich Franklin, Stephan Bonnar, BJ Penn, and Rameau Sokoudjo with an array of methods (TKO, TKO, Decision, Submission, respectively). Machida has excellent, strong striking with both his hands and feet and can round that out with solid jiu-jitsu.

FIGHT ANALYSIS: Tito Ortiz has lost 3 of his last few fights and leaves many UFC fans a bit underwhelmed. However, he lost only to quality fighters such as Chuck Liddell (2 times) and Randy Couture (once). Machida has dominated fights many expected him to lose and has become a fighter that many love to watch. He has a lot of heart and a wide skillset. This fight will see Machida taking an active role in striking and Tito looking to find a way in to take down the undefeated Machida. Machida, though, will squash those attempts by Tito and get him continuously back on his feet. Machida has good takedown defense and better than average jui-jitsu, look for him to use his defense to keep the fight standing where Tito will eventually lose. In the end… MACHIDA BY TKO.

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