Lyoto Machida—Shotokan karate black belt, Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, and UFC light heavyweight champion of the world—has revolutionized the sport of mixed martial arts with his extraordinary fighting style. Son of karate master Yoshizo Machida, Lyoto spent his youth learning his family’s system of karate-do, a non-watered-down style of karate designed for full contact fighting. With the goal of bolstering this foundation, he traveled the world to learn from masters in other disciplines, including sumo, Muay Thai, wrestling, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. To test the unorthodox system of combat he developed, he began entering mixed martial arts competition, and soon he had earned stunning victories over the sport’s most elite fighters, including Rich Franklin, Tito Ortiz, Rashad Evans, and BJ Penn. Combining stealthy footwork and evasive tactics with powerful and unconventional strikes, he not only became one of the most feared combatants in the sport of MMA, but he also officially became the least-hit fighter to ever grace the octagon.

In Machida Karate-Do, for the first time, Lyoto Machida unveils the techniques that allowed him to climb to the top of the mixed martial arts mountain. Through descriptive narrative and more than a thousand step-by-step color photographs, he details dozens of attacks that allow you to penetrate through the toughest defense. He teaches you how to inflict devastating damage to your opponent while remaining safe from his attacks using numerous intercepting and countering strategies. He demonstrates how to use strikes to set up crafty takedowns, multiple methods for defending against takedowns, and how to dominate your opponent while tied up in the clinch. Machida also delves into the ground game, demonstrating ground-and-pound tactics and attacks from dominant controls, and he shows how to fight off your back from the guard position. He details submissions, escapes, submission defense, and sweeps.

Machida Karate-Do leaves no stone unturned. Each chapter takes you deeper into the heart of MMA, uncovering a wide array of techniques from karate, sumo, wrestling, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Whether you are a karate practitioner desiring to enter MMA competition, a beginner martial artist looking for an effective self-defense system, or an experienced MMA competitor searching for an out-of-the box fighting style, this training manual is for you.