Cardio Freak MMA News Report 10.26.09: The Machida Error
Posted by Jeremy Lambert on 10.26.2009
This week in Cardio Freak: A review of UFC 104 featuring thoughts on the controversial Shogun vs. Machida decision, Cain Velasquez's performance, and the rest of the fights from the event. Plus a quick review of DREAM 12 that saw the DREAM debut of the great white cage and thoughts of the rematches between Diaz/Maynard and Alves/Fitch. It's higher than "Shogun" Rua's heart rate, it's Cardio Freak on 411.
Headline News
Lyoto Machida didn't lose at UFC 104 but "Shogun" Rua proved one thing: Machida isn't unbeatable.
"Shogun" Rua came out with the perfect gameplan in his quest for the UFC Light Heavyweight title. He took away the speed and timing of Machida by throwing a lot of leg and body kicks. He was aggressive when he needed to be but mainly remained patient. He clinched at the right time and battered Machida with knees to the thighs. Simply put, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua fought the perfect fight to beat Lyoto Machida.
Unfortunately he didn't beat Machida.
Despite what looked to be a sure victory for Rua, Machida walked away with a unanimous decision victory, winning 48-47 on all three judges scorecards. Based on the response of Mike Goldberg, Joe Rogan, the crowd, myself, everyone I watched with, and 98% of the world: Rua won the fight. What's that old saying that Dana White loves to throw around? "Don't leave it in the hands on the judges"? Maybe if there were competent judges then we wouldn't have a problem.
This was a close fight though.
First off, it's probably best to watch this fight with no commentary because I thought Joe Rogan came off extremely biased in favor of Rua. All night Rogan was putting Rua over huge and as a serious threat to Machida, even mentioning how low Rua's heart rate was like that actually matters. Rogan was just trying to do his job, justify why Rua was fighting for the title and trying to sell everyone that it was going to be a close since most figured Machida would dominate. In the end Rogan was right, it was a close fight, but I think his hard sell of Rua clouded his judgment as he was announcing the fight.
Secondly, it's possible that Machida won this fight. Don't get me wrong, I scored it 48-47 for Rua and I thought Rua should have won the decision. But this was still a close fight. Don't get lost in all the "Rua dominated the fight and was robbed" talk. He fought the best anyone has ever fought Machida, I think he should have won the fight, but it was still a close fight.
And here's something I have to mention: Lyoto Machida was the champion coming into the fight. The old saying is, "to be the man (wooo) you gotta beat the man." Did Rua truly beat Machida? That's very debatable. I want to go back to Forrest Griffin vs. Quinton Jackson at UFC 86. The argument after that fight was that Griffin didn't truly beat Jackson the way a challenger should beat a champion and people were actually upset that Griffin won the fight. Fast forward to today and those same people are likely upset that "Shogun" Rua isn't the UFC Light Heavyweight champion right now.
For the record, I don't agree with the "truly beating the champion" argument. If you win the round, you win the round whether there's a title on the line or not.
Finally, "Shogun" Rua should get an immediate rematch. Right now all the Light Heavyweight challengers are wrapped up in something else or don't have the credentials to fight Machida even if they win their next fight. But I think he deserves a rematch because he showed the world how to beat Machida, he arguably beat Machida, but he's not the champion. It would honestly be a shame if someone like Forrest Griffin, who I think could replicate Rua's gameplan if his mind is right, beat Machida using the same style but he ends up winning the decision while Rua didn't. Plus I think the fans really want to see the rematch, especially given how this fight went and ended. I know Dana White announced that they would do an immediate rematch and both fighters have agreed to it but if Randy Couture wins at UFC 105, those plans could quickly change.
If you look at the body language of both men after the fight, it seemed clear who won. Machida looked disappointed and defeated while Rua was excited and confident. Even when the decision was announced and Machida was named the victor, his reaction was more shock than anything. It's like he knew he was handed a gift decision and while maybe he didn't feel he earned the victory, he was happy to have it.
The good thing about this for UFC is that the rematch will do a lot bigger number on PPV than this fight did. Lyoto Machida is no longer seen as this master puzzle that can't be solved but he's still undefeated and the champion. "Shogun" Rua is no longer the guy who turned in bad performances against Forrest Griffin and Mark Coleman and then beat the popular Chuck Liddell. He's now the guy who solved the Machida puzzle but was screwed in the decision. Everyone wants to see this rematch because they want justice and they're willing to pay for it.
Now the question becomes, can "Shogun" do it again? He fought the perfect fight this past Saturday. Not only is he going to have a hard time replicating that performance a few months from now but also Machida now knows what to expect. I would have to imagine that Machida is going to make the necessary changes to defeat Rua the second time around while there's not much Rua can change because despite losing, he fought a winning fight.
Controversy wasn't only present in the main event though as in the co-main event, Cain Velasquez defeated Ben Rothwell in what appeared to be an early stoppage in the second round.
I've come to terms with the fact that God doesn't want Cain Velasquez to have any fans. In his fight against Denis Stojnic, Cain dominated and finished him in the second round but it was a rather weak finish and the fans booed. In his fight against Cheick Kongo, Cain dominated most of the fight but couldn't finish Kongo and the fans booed. In his fight against Ben Rothwell, Cain dominated but the stoppage was early so the fans booed. New rule in Cain's next fight: the fight must continue until Cain kills his opponent. Literally. Cain must kill his opponent because if he doesn't, the fans will boo.
Was the stoppage early? Yes. Ben Rothwell clearly had a level head and was making his way to his feet when the referee stopped the fight. Would it have mattered? I'll be bold and say no. Cain was probably en route to killing Rothwell before the ref stopped the fight because he was able to get the fight to the ground at will, get dominant positions, and just beat Rothwell up on the ground. Cain was going to win that fight no matter what and nothing anyone can say will change my opinion on that. Rothwell should have gotten a fair shake though.
Cain Velasquez is for real folks. His stand up looked much improved in this fight, wrestling wasn't explosive but I have feeling he didn't spend too much time working on that, and his ground and pound was a lot more powerful than we've ever seen. It's not on the power level of Lesnar or Carwin but Cain can seemingly throw the same power punch in the opening minute of the first round or the closing minute of the last round while Lesnar and Carwin haven't proved that. He's a bit undersized for the division considering Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin cut weight to make 265 but he was able to control and toss around Rothwell, who also cuts to make 265, with relative ease. Of course Rothwell has no wrestling background while Lesnar and Carwin were division champions.
There's still plenty of room on the Cain Train. Join me now.
Gleison Tibau defeated Josh Neer in a good fight but nothing spectacular. Tibau used his size and strength to bully around Neer and Neer had no answer for the takedown attempts of Tibau, especially early. Tibau was clearly fading as the fight went along but Neer was fading as well and couldn't take advantage of Tibau's weak cardio. I like Josh Neer but he just doesn't have the wrestling to compete in the Lightweight division. Tibau is a good wrestler but he's not even close to the level of someone like Gray Maynard or Tyson Griffin.
I don't know where Tibau goes from here because he has some tough losses on his record already. I wish they would scrap the Kurt Pellegrino vs. Frankie Edgar fight and do Pellegrino vs. Tibau but I doubt that happens.
I'm not a big Joe Stevenson but he turned in a very good performance against Spencer Fisher. His striking looked a lot better and he fought a smart fight. Fisher is a better striker than Stevenson but Joe hung in there with him and took the fight to the ground when he needed to. On the ground Stevenson was the best I've ever seen him. He's not known as a guy with great ground and pound but he unloaded some sick elbows on the face of Fisher. Once he got him in the crucifix and dropped elbows, you knew it was all over for Fisher. My conspiracy theory is that the finish was to protect Kimbo Slice. Now Dana White can say, "Did you see Stevenson vs. Fisher? Spencer Fisher is a great fucking fighter on the ground, Joe Stevenson didn't have a 40 pound weight advantage, and Fisher still couldn't get out of the position. Kimbo Slice has a fucking ground game. That's just a tough position to escape."
UFC is in a tough position with Stevenson because he's obviously a good fighter, he's improved since moving to the Jackson camp, but he's lost to the top three fighters in the division. As I just mentioned, they should scrap Pellegrino vs. Edgar and do Pellegrino vs. Tibau and Edgar vs. Stevenson but I don't think that will happen. If it doesn't then I could see Stevenson vs. Sherk down the line.
Anthony Johnson made short work of Yoshiyuki Yoshida in a fight that never should have happened. Sorry but if you thought this fight should have taken place then go back a few months, recall your opinion on "Cyborg" Santos vs. Hitomi Akano, and get back to me. Everyone knew Johnson was going to have a huge weight advantage coming into the fight because he's already a huge Welterweight but he was reportedly 220 pounds at one point and he missed weight by six pounds. I know Yoshida had to take the fight or else he wasn't going to get paid but this fight still should have never happened.
There's not much else to say about it. Johnson hit him really hard, Yoshida went down and out, the fight was over. It proved that Anthony Johnson could beat a man two times smaller than him. So at least he's got that going for him. My guess is that he fights Paulo Thiago next seeing as Thiago needs a new opponent with Jon Fitch taking his place against Thiago Alves. That fight will likely be another massacre but if Johnson makes weight then no one will care.
Quick Thoughts on the Preliminary Fights:
*Ryan Bader wasn't all that impressive but he won. He clearly has some work to do if he wants to compete with the top guys in the Light Heavyweight division.
*Pat Barry was very impressive against Antoni Hardonk and he landed a backflip that made GSP jealous.
*Yushin Okami finally gets on PPV and he loses. Sucks to be him. Credit Chael Sonnen with a good gameplan and execution.
*Stefan Struve is awesome.
Full Results:
*Lyoto Machida defeated Mauricio Rua by Unanimous Decision (48-47 across) to retain the UFC Light Heavyweight title
*Cain Velasquez defeated Ben Rothwell by TKO at 0:58 in Round Two
*Gleison Tibau defeated Josh Neer by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
*Joe Stevenson defeated Spencer Fisher by Submission (Strikes) at 4:03 in Round Two
*Anthony Johnson defeated Yoshiyuki Yoshida by TKO at 0:41 in Round One
*Ryan Bader defeated Eric Schafer by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 29-26, 30-27)
*Pat Barry defeated Antoni Hardonk by TKO at 2:30 in Round Two
*Chael Sonnen defeated Yushin Okami by Unanimous Decision (30-27 across)
*Jorge Rivera defeated Rob Kimmos by TKO at 1:53 in Round Three
*Kyle Kingsbury defeated Razak Al-Hassan by Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
*Stefan Struve defeated Chase Gormley by Submission (Triangle Choke) at 4:04 in Round One
Major UFC/WEC News
On October 22 Jon Fitch announced on his twitter page that his UFC 106 fight with Ricardo Almeida was off due to Almeida having to pull out with an injury. On October 22 it was reported that Fitch would face Thiago Alves at UFC 107.
Alves vs. Fitch is of course a rematch of their 2006 fight, which Fitch won by TKO late in the 2nd round. Of course the 2006 Thiago Alves weighed about 10-15 pounds less than the 2009 Thiago Alves.
This fight is really a battle of who the true #2 Welterweight in the world is and maybe it doesn't make a lot of sense because they've both lost to the champion but what would this world be without rematches? Probably a world run by Anderson Silva but I digress. Alves & Fitch are going to beat most UFC Welterweight's because they're really good so it makes for to take one of them out of the picture for awhile. Plus if Fitch wins it would give him three wins since losing to St. Pierre so he could conceivably earn a rematch with a win over Alves.
I don't think Fitch is going to beat Alves though. Fitch's main strength is wrestling and while Alves doesn't have a wrestling background, he does have an excellent sprawl. Sure Georges St. Pierre was able to take him down, almost at will, but he's also Georges St. Pierre and it's not like he did a whole lot against Alves on the ground. Fitch certainly doesn't have the explosive takedown like GSP and I think he's going to have trouble putting Alves on his back. If the fight stays standing then it should be all Alves. He's a better striker than what he showed in the GSP fight where he really looked afraid to let his hands go and didn't throw his famed leg kicks, likely in fear of a takedown. Fitch's striking isn't close to Alves' level, he doesn't have the power of Alves, and his striking defense is questionable.
If Fitch can put Alves on his back then he can win how he usually wins: grinding things out on top. But if GSP couldn't do anything with Alves on the ground (even before he pulled his groin) then I have a hard time believing Fitch will have any success. In fact, given Fitch's lack of an explosive takedown, I have a hard time believing that he'll even be able to put Alves on his back.
Minor UFC/WEC News
On October 20 GracieFighter reported that Nate Diaz vs. Gray Maynard is the likely main event for the January 11 Fight Night show.
This fight is a rematch of their fight during The Ultimate Fighter 5 where Diaz submitted Maynard with a guillotine choke in the second round.
Diaz has had problems in recent bouts against wrestlers and that's Maynard's bread and butter. Maynard is trying to show off his striking more and have exciting fights as of late but the minute he feels Diaz is getting the better of him on the feet, he'll try to take it to the ground. Diaz is probably best off just letting Maynard put him on his back because he's likely to be far more active off his back, which is better than losing the position battle in the clinch. The winner of this fight is probably a win or two away from challenging for the Lightweight title, especially if it's Maynard who should be fighting the top guys in the division already.
Major Japan News
DREAM 12 Results:
*Alistair Overeem defeated James Thompson by Submission (Guillotine Choke) in Round One
*Eddie Alvarez defeated Katsunori Kikuno by Submission (Arm Triangle Choke) in Round Two
*Marius Zaromskis defeated Myeon Ho Bae by KO in Round One
*Kazushi Sakuraba defeated Zleg Galesic by Submission (Kneebar) in Round One
*Katsuyori Shibata defeated Tokimitsu Ishizawa by TKO in Round One
*Dong Sik Yoon defeated Tarec Saffiedine by Split Decision
*Yoshihiro Maeda defeated Chase Beebe by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in Round One
*Kuniyoshi Hironaka defeated Won Sik Park by TKO in Round One
*Tornoya Miyashita defeated Keisuke Fujiwara by Unanimous Decision
I can't begin this quick review without mentioning the new DREAM white cage. It was certainly different, the more fights I watched the more I got used to it, and I ended up liking it in the end. It looked huge, certainly much larger than the UFC octagon. It even looked a little cheap like the white boards were nothing more than white spray painted ply wood and the fence was just chicken wire but it still looked cool. I don't know how the cage was received by the Japanese audience but if they liked it then I say DREAM should continue to use it.
Alistair Overeem made short work of James Thompson, the sky is blue, the grass is green, Logan Stanton is beautiful, nothing unexpected. I'm sure we'll see him in Strikeforce by 2011. Maybe. Hopefully. Probably not.
Eddie Alvarez didn't have an overall impressive performance but he did have an impressive performance in the sense that he clearly lost the first round (unless Cecil Peoples caught a quick flight to Japan) but he came back strong in the second round and finished Kikuno. Alvarez wasn't doing well on his feet in the first and couldn't get the fight to the ground but in the second he finally started putting his punches to together, he got the fight to the ground, and he made short work of Kikuno from there. Now we need Alvarez fighting top guys in DREAM or Strikeforce.
Is it too early to call Marius Zaromskis the English Mirko "Cro Cop"? I don't care if it is. I'm doing it anyway.
Kazushi Sakuraba won but boy did he take a lot of punishment working for the knee bar. I love Sakuraba but it pains me every time he gets hit because you know he shouldn't be fighting but he continues to do so because he loves the sport. I hope he's smart enough to walk away before it's too late.
I thought Shibata turned in an impressive performance against Ishizawa. He stuffed the takedown attempts and then scored a late TKO victory.
How far has Chase Beebe's stock fallen over the past year and a half? This guy went from WEC Bantamweight champion to now the loser of four of his last five with the other fight being a no contest. Credit to Yoshihiro Maeda for fighting a good fight and picking up the victory.
Hironaka and Park were having a decent fight as the first round ended and then in the break between rounds, Park's corner stopped the fight. I watched the Japanese version of this fight so I have no clue why Park's corner called a stop to things as Park seemed to be fine. Apparently Park couldn't see out of his eye but he wasn't wincing or anything to give you that impression. Whatever the case, it was a disappointing ending to a fight that seemed ready to pick up.
No More News
That does it for me folks. I'll be back next week with a preview of Strikeforce on CBS. Take care folks and everyone have a happy and safe Halloween.
By Pride Rules, I would say that Shogun won the fight, but this ain't Pride, and I did not have Shogun winning three rounds. More than showing we need better judges, it shows we need better rules in MMA. I thought round one was close, but that Machida took it. Yes, Shogun did more damage to Machida in that round than anyone else ever has, but Machida was still landing well and landing slightly more, still could have gone either way. I saw Machida winning rounds two and three as well, but not by much. Shogun definitely took round four, and five was close, but I gave it to Shogun. With two rounds apiece, and one round that could have gone either way, its not hard to see this as going to Machida. I think it should have been a split decision instead of unanimous, and I'm glad an immediate rematch has been called. I think this immediate rematch is the best thing that could have happened to the Lightheavyweight division, because if either man won decisively, then who is the next contender? We now have a guaranteed title fight that people will want to see due to how close this one was, and it will give the UFC time to build up future contenders.
Posted By: Duncan (Guest) on October 26, 2009 at 12:11 AM
This was not good for the UFC...It showed the same as Boxing with Bullshit Calls..This is no different than Jon vs Juarez 1...This shows they are capable of doing the same mistake as Judges have done in Boxing...Holyfield Vs Lewis..Foreman Vs Briggs...Etc Etc...Piss Poor Judging
Posted By: Koota Kintay (Guest) on October 26, 2009 at 12:26 AM
What, no credit to Joe Rogan's Twitter for the title of this article?
Posted By: punchdrunk (Guest) on October 26, 2009 at 12:27 AM
If/when Rua vs Machida II happens, it will be completely different. While Rua had the perfect gameplan this time, if he tries to use the same gameplan next time he will lose. I don't like Machida the least bit and I'm a huge Rua fan, but Machida is a good enough fighter to change the way he faced Rua this time, so doing the same thing against him would be a mistake. Hopefully if/when they meet again Rua will be able to fight another great fight and pull off the victory(maybe with a classic Rua KO?). I think this shows that Rua is back in shape and motivated, so we should expect to see him at his best
Posted By: Shawno420 (Guest) on October 26, 2009 at 01:05 AM
Judge Cecil people's should be fired. If Cain would face A wrestler Like Lesnar or Carwin guranteed he would lose without A shadow of A doubt.
Posted By: Scottyieoittie (Guest) on October 26, 2009 at 01:13 AM
Personally I'm sick of hearing couture's name. And just your thought of Randy getting a title shot is ridiculous. What has he done except lose twice? But I doubt he'll beat vera. Shogun v. Machida ufc 108 (silva v. Belfort will get moved due to silva's injury)
Posted By: Shogun got robbed (Guest) on October 26, 2009 at 01:45 AM
This was a 5-round kickboxing match with a little clinching. Seeing how it was a 5-round kickboxing match, the fighter who did the most damage, landed the most strikes, and controlled the pace and action wins.
Shogun outstruck Machida in 4 of the 5 rounds. He controlled the pace, had Machida running the whole time, and he only backed up when he absolutely had to. He won the majority of the clinches and landed solid when exiting the clinch.
Under PRIDE scoring, he won. Under the 10-point system, he won.
And the "you have to beat the champ to win the fight" idea is such horseshit. It's a fight, the guy who does more in the fight wins, regardless of whether he is fighting the champ or not. Shogun did a lot more in this fight than Machida did.
He took more risks than Machida was willing to, but he didn't take unnecessary risks. He fought the perfect fight needed to beat a guy who spends 70% percent of the fight on his bicycle.
I'm glad they're having an immediate rematch, I hope Shogun kick Lyoto's fucking head into the 3 ring side judges heads and all of their heads end up in David Spade's lap.
Posted By: dale (Guest) on October 26, 2009 at 03:09 AM
That's "Lith Cop" to you. Or just stick with "Whitemare," it's still cool.
Shibata vs. Ishizawa... it was what it was. A less generous view would have been "ULTIMATE TWO CAN BATTLE," but war Shibata baby.
Posted By: Edward (Guest) on October 26, 2009 at 03:22 AM
Cain is the most over rated fighter in UFC right now. He punched Ben in the head like 20 times and couldn't finish him. When he goes against a Carwin he'll go to sleep like the rest of them.
Posted By: NewBreedofMMA (Guest) on October 26, 2009 at 08:00 AM
I personally think that Shogun had a excellant game plan, and he can execute the same plan again. There is no way Machida is not gonna get kicked, the only thing i see happening is Machida baiting a lot more (like the first 3 rds) and throwing more punches when rua kicks. And btw i called leg kicks being a major factor about 3 months ago, it feels good 2 be right:)
Posted By: Its Shogun Nigga (Guest) on October 26, 2009 at 08:16 AM
Was at the fight, so I heard no Rogan commentary.. there was no doubt Shogun won. When they said it was a unanimous decision I felt even better, this is the most disappointing turn of events ever related to the UFC, (in my opinion).
Posted By: Kent Adams (Guest) on October 26, 2009 at 08:55 AM
Dead right across the board on UFC 104, great job.
Johnson should be forced out of that division if he screws up again. The man cuts from Heavyweight to Welterweight, and that just make it particularly bad if/when he can't make weight by a large margin.
Posted By: bavitz (Guest) on October 26, 2009 at 09:01 AM
. I think it should have been a split decision instead of unanimous
Posted By: Duncan (Guest) on October 26, 2009 at 12:11 AM
Dude, if you thought Machida won, why did you say it should have been a split decision? A split decision means a judge saw Shogun as the winner, which would contradict your argument.
Great column Jeremy by the way, the UFC 104 analysis was spot on.
Posted By: Samer Kadi (Registered) on October 26, 2009 at 09:35 AM
upon watching the fight a second time I scored it machida 3 to 2, though razor close. I think a lot of the people claiming Rua got screwed were influenced by Rogan and fighter body language. I could def see people claiming that Rua won but to say he was screwed or that he dominated Machida is just plain wrong.
Posted By: stronelis (Guest) on October 26, 2009 at 09:38 AM
i'm not some kind of expert, but after Machida's less than normal performance, maybe it might be enough to convince Anderson Silva to move up a weight class and challenge Machida for the Light Heavy title. Both have looked unbeatable at times, and i think i would be an epic match
Posted By: ali (Guest) on October 26, 2009 at 09:45 AM
I'd say I was surprised with how the Velasquez-Rothwell fight was stopped, but when I saw Steve Mazzagatti was reffing I knew anything could and probably would happen.
Posted By: NDN (Guest) on October 26, 2009 at 09:46 AM
Good Call on all the matches!!!, since "ShogunScrewedgate", is pretty fucking establish... let's move on to another subject: "Cain was going to win that fight no matter what and nothing anyone can say will change my opinion on that"...
AMEN too that!!!... Before the match was stooped, Cain was fully Gorilla- Banana, dominating Rothwell, he was eating that sucker UP! Who would have Known that Kongo, was more rounded for Velasquez, than Mr. Rothwell... I just think about Rothwell’s Quote from the UFC 104 Countdown Special… "Takedown’s don't win figth's, This (He show’s his Fist's) does"... Man, that quote most be haunting him Like Nuts, today...
Posted By: Fear_Inc. (Guest) on October 26, 2009 at 11:06 AM
This was a 5-round kickboxing match with a little clinching. Seeing how it was a 5-round kickboxing match, the fighter who did the most damage, landed the most strikes, and controlled the pace and action wins.
Shogun outstruck Machida in 4 of the 5 rounds. He controlled the pace, had Machida running the whole time, and he only backed up when he absolutely had to. He won the majority of the clinches and landed solid when exiting the clinch.
Under PRIDE scoring, he won. Under the 10-point system, he won.
And the "you have to beat the champ to win the fight" idea is such horseshit. It's a fight, the guy who does more in the fight wins, regardless of whether he is fighting the champ or not. Shogun did a lot more in this fight than Machida did.
He took more risks than Machida was willing to, but he didn't take unnecessary risks. He fought the perfect fight needed to beat a guy who spends 70% percent of the fight on his bicycle.
I'm glad they're having an immediate rematch, I hope Shogun kick Lyoto's fucking head into the 3 ring side judges heads and all of their heads end up in David Spade's lap.
Posted By: Dale 2 (Guest) on October 26, 2009 at 02:35 PM
"If you win the round, you win the round whether there's a title on the line or not."
God bless you, you wonderful man.
Posted By: guest guest (Guest) on October 26, 2009 at 02:48 PM
I've watched the fight 4 times and every time I get the same score, 4-1 Shogun.
He out-struck Machida, did more damage and was more aggressive the whole fight All of this "Don't leave it in the hands of the judges" talk is BS, I've never bought in to it and never will if it were true then we wouldn't need judges, outscoring your opponent is a perfectly good way to win a fight and the "you have to beat the champ to win the fight" argument is crap, did Forrest "Beat" Rampage to win the belt? NO, he out-pointed him just as Shogun did to Machida. The sad part is the standard of judging for MMA across the board seems to be getting worse.
One person I was very impressed with was Cain Velasquez. I was kinda on the fence about him before but the way he straight-up owned Big Ben was unbelievable, maybe the stoppage was early but I've never seen anyone dominate Rothwell like that. I'd like to see him get a couple more fights but another 12 months and this guy should be right up there as #1 contender to whoever got the strap.
This whole fighters missing weight is starting to become a real problem, there have been too many instances of it this year, if you can't make weight then move up a division. I've never been a fan of weight cutting, fight at your "in shape" weight. Guy's like Antony or Anderson (who walks around about 210) cutting that much weight is dangerous and can cause serious kidney damage let alone the unfair advantage gained when fighting guys who only cut 10 - 15lbs.
Posted By: Guest#5286 (Guest) on October 26, 2009 at 02:52 PM
I guess Machida was listening to Rogan's commentary since you said he looked like he knew he lost. What a stupid argument. The crowd, people in the press box, Dana White, the fighters themselves, people at bars with no sound, and people with brains all either don't hear the commentary or are unaffected by it.
You think Machida won the fight, fine. Don't use a stupid strawman you just read off of sherdog and try to pass it off as a decent article.
Machida did nothing the entire fight, what exactly was Rogan supposed to call? "Machida walking backwards again, there goes Machida in a rare burst forward grazing Shogun and eating a stiff counter, Machida is the man!!1!" Give ma break, Rogan was pro Machida the entire time, he just has to call what's going on and it was Shogun kicking Machida a whole bunch (doubling up on strikes landed, and I'm not sure how much more he threw period).
Posted By: Guest#1266 (Guest) on October 26, 2009 at 08:43 PM
As I said in a different column, I had Shogun winning three rounds, was surprised by Machida winning, but I did think it was a close fight.
Posted By: The_Mystical_Ninja (Guest) on October 27, 2009 at 02:54 AM
