It's one of the strange, over looked fights in recent MMA history, and I just came across the video:
That was Part 1 of Lyoto Machida, currently one of the top light heavyweights in the UFC, fighting B.J. Penn, currently the lightweight champion of the UFC. Parts 2 and 3 are after the jump.
Part 2:
Part 3:
Machida won by unanimous decision in a K-1 promotion on March 26, 2005. Why, you ask, did a lightweight fight a light heavyweight? Cage Potato explains:
Sports
After moving up to 185 pounds to defeat Rodrigo Gracie at Rumble on the Rock 6, B.J. Penn had a revelation - why don't I just keep eating?
Good thinking. And, it must be said that Penn fought respectably, considering the size difference between the two. In fact, FightMetric.com says Penn was very narrowly the winner. The judges, however, went with Machida.
Now that Penn is moving back up in weight class to fight Georges St. Pierre again, is there a chance he'll keep moving up, and we'll see Penn-Machida II? Yeah, I don't think so either.
