Shogun vs Machida this weekend

[Julius Seeker]

I am unsure how to call this one. UFC and other sources keep saying that Machida is "elusive" and can't be solved. They keep missing the obvious hole in his game. The main reason why everyone keeps losing to him is that they keep attacking his upper body. Take into consideration Machida's stance, he keeps his leg out far preventing others from getting in close; when they do he backs up.

Enter Shogun, a guy who has shown in the past that he has absolutely devastating low and medium kicks. On the other hand Shogun has shown decline, Mark Coleman took him down and dislocated his elbow, and he also lost a fight to Forrest Griffin of all people. Yet in his last fight he made Chuck Liddell look like a training exercise before KOing him; leading me to consider the possibility that he may have just been in a slump.

Should Shogun utilize his low kicks on that leg sticking out, Machida will be in a lot if trouble. He is not going to be able to back up with the same agility after the punishment Shogun is capable of giving him. No more elusiveness.

All I am saying is don't be surprised if Shogun defeats Machida. This really is a tough call, but that is one way Shogun can do it.

[Julius Seeker]

Betting odds are highly against Shogun with Shogun at +350 and Machida at -500. On Sherdog the Pros decided 21-2 in favour of Machida. None of them agreeing with me. Many saying Machida is a bad match-up for an aggressive fighter like Shogun.

[Kupek]

I think Machida will win. But this is a sport where upsets happen regularly.

[Julius Seeker]

Well, the fight went exactly as how I said it would. Shogun went for the leg kicks and successfully landed dozens upon dozens of them, along with many body shots, effectively dismantling Machida's arsenal as Machida was unable to answer almost all of them. By the end of the fight a slow moving Machida was covered in red and cuts from the dozens upon dozens of strikes Shogun landed. It wasn't even close.

While Shogun won the fight, 4 rounds to him, and 1 round a draw, the judges decided to give a 3-2 win to Machida. This shocked everyone who watched the fight. How did the judges justify this? From what I gather, the guy controling the ring, being the aggressor 95% of the time, and landing better strikes, and far far more of strikes should win the fight. I believe UFC's scoring system works on aggression and octagon control, so I don't get this decision. It was fairly clear that Shogun won the fight, it wasn't even close to a question (as was the case with Forrest Griffin and Rampage, the last decision that had people upset).

You don't have to listen to me, the crowed booed, Joe Rogan essentially came out and strongly implied that Shogun won the fight in both interviews, Machida's corner even said "It's what the judges say," and just head over to Sherdog to see their reaction, and that site very strongly supported Machida going in.


I do wonder if there is an appeal process for this sort of thing? Now would be the obvious time to exercise it.

[Kupek]

What. The fuck. Shogun won that fight. You could even see Dana telling Shogun that he won the fight. Everyone I watched it with was baffled at the decision.

[Julius Seeker]

Shogun won the fight. Very few people will disagree there; it was a crap decision by poor judges. I hope there is a very quick rematch. Shogun landed a greater volume of strikes in all five rounds.

It looks like everyone else except the judges felt it was an easy Shogun win.

How other site scored the fight
FightMetric: 49-47 Rua
Yahoo Sports / Cagewriter: 48-47 Rua
BloodyElbow : 48-47 Rua... Read More
USAToday: 48-47 Rua, 49-46 Rua
Savage Science: 49-46 Rua
ESPN / Jake Rossen: 49-46 or 48-47 Rua
MMA Fanhouse / Michael David Smith: 48-47 Rua
411mania.com: 48-47 Rua
CagePotato: 49-46 Rua
MMATorch : 48-47 Rua
MMAJunkie : 49-46 or 48-47 Rua
MMAMania : 50-45 Rua
5 Ounces of Pain : Rua (no score given)
Fightlinker : Rua (no score given)
MMAConvert: Rua ("Machida was given a gift")
ProMMA.Info: 50-45 Rua
Sherdog: Jordan Breen -- 48-47 Rua, Brian Knapp -- 48-47 Rua, Mike Fridley -- 50-45 Rua

source

[Flip]

This is one reason why sports like this and boxing are dumb. I would say the same for Olympic sports like gymnastics, where there is WAY too much official involvement to declare a winner. Sure all sports have officials, but it isnt like a ref can say that the NFL team that played better, but didnt score as many points, to be the winner.

I'm not sure if there is anyway you can correct for this, though.

[SineSwiper]

NHL is dumb because it's all defense. How can you declare a winner when the damn score is 1-0?

[Flip]

NFL is dumb because it's all defense. How can you declare a winner when the damn score is 1-0?

NHL?

[SineSwiper]

Yes, that's what I meant.

[Julius Seeker]

NHL is dumb because it's all defense. How can you declare a winner when the damn score is 1-0?

1 is greater than 0. It's an accomplishment when a goal is scored in soccer or hockey. Scores of 1-0 aren't very common in hockey though.

I don't watch either sport very often anymore though, I prefer to play.

[Julius Seeker]

Machida is out indefinitely due to injury. The original plan was for a UFC 108 rematch. He joins the other UFC champions Anderson Silva who is also injured, and Brock Lesnar who called in sick and feels he didn't have time to complete his training camp (Kind of like the former champion Nogueira when he was hospitalized for a week with an infection just weeks prior to the fight, and was working with a blown out knee.... Oh wait, he still fought!).


Source

[Julius Seeker]

Shogun vs. Machida happened yesterday. This time the fight was decisive.

Spoiler: show

Shogun wins by knock out after three and a half minutes in the first round. Ironically enough, set up by counter-punch - which is Machida's specialty. Shogun slipped a punch and then cracked Machida with a hook which knocked him down; Shogun was very quickly on him and after a quick flurry of punches Machida was asleep (kind of like what he did to Arona at the 2005 WGP tournament)