Last night UFC 104 took place in Los Angeles and the main event has everybody talking. Too bad they are talking for the wrong reasons as there was a very controversial decision in the main event.
Lyoto Machida retained his light heavyweight title over Shogun Rua last night but he shouldn't have. Rua clearly was the more aggressive fighter and landed the better strikes in what was a kickboxing match. Neither fighter was ever in danger of being finished but Shogun pushed the action for the entire five rounds. I scored the fight four rounds to one for Shogun Rua.
Machida, for the first time in his career, looked uncomfortable in the cage. Rua's constant pressure and excellent body kicks will do that. Both fighters will be walking with limps for a few days as they landed many solid leg kicks.
All five rounds were pretty similar. Both guys stood in front of each other landed a lot of kicks and punches. There wasn't a lot of clinches or takedown attempts. All of the questions surrounding Rua's conditioning can be put to rest. He looked like he could have gone a few more rounds.
Machida looked like a defeated man from the fourth round on. Even after the fight, you could see on his face that he knew he lost. That was until the judges' score cards were read. All three judges score the fight the same, three rounds to two for Machida. Those cards were wrong, no doubt about it. Shogun Rua should be wearing the light heavyweight belt today.
The co-feature was just another dominating performance by heavyweight title contender Cain Velasquez. He destroyed Ben Rothwell. The fight ended in the second round by referee stoppage which might have been a little premature but Velasquez was simply putting a beating on Rothwell.
Rothwell had no answer for anything Velasquez did. He got takedowns at will and worked a great ground and pound. Cain Velaquez is one bad ass dude. He has the tools to beat anyone at heavyweight and includes the current king, Brock Lesnar.
Full fight results:
Lyoto Machida def. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47)
Cain Velasquez def. Ben Rothwell via TKO (punches) - Round 2, 0:58
Gleison Tibau def. Josh Neer via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Joe Stevenson def. Spencer Fisher via TKO (elbows) - Round 1, 4:03
Anthony Johnson def. Yoshiyuki Yoshida via kncokout (punch) - Round 1, 0:41
Ryan Bader defeats Eric Schafer by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-26, 30-27)
Pat Barry def. Antoni Hardonk by TKO (punches) - Round 2, 2:30
Chael Sonnen def. Yushin Okami via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Jorge Rivera def. Rob Kimmons via TKO (punches) - Round 3, 1:53
Kyle Kingsbury def. Razak Al-Hassan via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Stefan Struve def. Chase Gormley via submission (triangle choke) - Round 1, 4:04
All in all, a pretty good fight card with some excellent action. Too bad, all that people will be talking about is the bad decision in the main event. Lyoto Machida still has his perfect record intact and is wearing his gold belt, but he shouldn't be.