Watch UFC 98: Lyoto Evans VS Rashad Machida

Watch UFC 98: Lyoto Evans VS Rashad Machida. In Las Vegas, Lyoto Machida waltzed through a brief workout inside a locker room Wednesday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, three days before he is to challenge Rashad Evans for the Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight title.

Machida circled his sparring partner, warily moving in and out, flicking a few jabs and throwing kicks in which it was never quite clear until the very last moment whether he’d fire the right or the left.

After only about five minutes, Machida grabbed a towel and walked off the mat.

“If you want to know more,” Machida said, beaming, “then you have to buy the pay-per-view.”

Evans doesn’t have the luxury of watching the pay-per-view to figure out the most unusual style seen in years in the UFC. Machida is the most elusive man in the sport and is the UFC’s hardest-to-hit fighter.

Given that Evans, a one-time wrestler at Michigan State, has become something of a slugger in recent years, not being able to land would be a major problem. Evans, though, hardly seems concerned.

He’s been underestimated for most of his career and relishes the role as the underdog. He’s a 9-5 underdog and said he’s put money on himself to win and retain his belt.

While catching Machida seems more confounding than Rubik’s Cube, Evans believes he’s solved the riddle.

“He doesn’t get hit much, but he does have holes,” Evans said of his unbeaten rival.

Evans has heard about the supposed holes in his game almost continuously since he entered the UFC after winning the heavyweight division in Season 2 of “The Ultimate Fighter.”

When he beat Stephan Bonnar in 2006, an enraged Bonnar claimed that Evans did little more than take him down and lay on top of him.

When he faced Tito Ortiz in 2007 – a draw that remains the only blemish on Evans’ record – Ortiz chided him as a mediocre wrestler who wouldn’t be able to handle himself with the upper echelon of mixed martial arts fighters.

“I’ve heard it all,” Evans said.

And that is the one thing that is perhaps more confounding than Machida’s style. There are many MMA experts who would argue that wrestling is the best base a fighter can have.

Evans has that, but he also has quickness both with his hands and his feet. He’s got the kind of one-punch knockout power that made Chuck Liddell a cult figure in the sport. He knocked out Sean Salmon with one of the best head kicks ever, then used his fists to stop both Liddell and Forrest Griffin.

Evans, though, doesn’t seem to carry the respect that his record and his accomplishments would suggest that he should.

“Rashad, he’s beaten some real tough guys,” ex-UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk said. “He’s really underestimated. Look at the guys he’s beaten. He’s [13-0-1], I believe, and he’s beaten some great guys. But a lot of people underestimate him.”

One of those who underestimated him is UFC president Dana White. From the first time he saw Evans during filming of “The Ultimate Fighter,” White was left wanting more. He didn’t see a guy he felt wanted badly enough to be great.

He’d watch as Evans would waltz through a practice session and shake his head.

“I was thinking, ‘Does this guy know he’s blowing this incredible opportunity we’re giving him?’ ” White said. “If you would have told me then that this guy would go on to win the title and become one of the best fighters in the world, I’d have had you tested.”

But the winner on Saturday would have a very real argument to make for himself that he’s the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Each has defeated a laundry list of the toughest men in the sport.

Machida has beaten three former UFC champions and would add Evans to a list that includes Rich Franklin, B.J. Penn and Ortiz on Saturday if he wins and goes to 15-0. But Evans has also beaten two ex-champions in Liddell and Griffin, drew with Ortiz and has quality wins over guys like Bonnar and Michael Bisping.

There’s little not to like about him, though Machida professes to have found at least one weakness.

“Me and my family, my Daddy, my brothers, everybody has watched and seen his weakness,” Machida said. “But I prefer not to say right now. I will show you on Saturday.”

If Machida has, indeed, found an area in Evans’ game he can exploit, he’ll be the first man to do so. White is mystified why Evans, who is ranked fifth in the Yahoo! Sports pound-for-pound poll of the world’s best fighters, can’t gain more respect.

“I don’t know what more he has to do to convince people how good he is,” White said. “In Season 2, he beat the [heck] out of heavyweights. He’s not a big guy, so that had to impress you. But with Rashad, everyone always found an excuse. Rashad, though, he just kept winning and racking up these highlight reel kayos. The kid’s a human highlight reel.

“He’s made a believer of me. You don’t beat the guys he’s beaten and you don’t beat them the way he’s beaten them if you’re not a true elite guy. When you’re talking about the best guys, Rashad is right up there with them.”

Watch this: