Though the low-profile nature of the fighters on the UFC 104 card has presented massive mainstream controversy from brewing, there has undoubtedly been a sense within the mixed martial arts community that the judges got it wrong with the UFC 104 “Machida vs. Shogun” main event.
By no means would critics and observers argue that the decision was the worst in UFC history, but because the decision in the Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio “Rua” Shogun main event decided the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, the questionable scoring is among the most significant alleged judging errors in the promotion’s history.
The fact that neither fighter truly “dominated” the bout makes it hard to treat the decision as an ultimate screwjob, but as Rua’s strategy of utilizing leg and body kicks to destroy Machida’s base was the only offensive gameplan that truly succeeded, the feeling among observers was that “Shogun” clearly won the fight.
The judges disagreed, however, giving Machida, the champion, a unanimous 48-47 victory. On the official scorecard, Nelson Hamilton gave rounds 2, 3 and 4 to Machida. Cecil Peoples and Marcos Rosales gave the champion the first three rounds.
As UFC President Dana White shared the critical belief that Shogun won the fight, he has teased booking an immediate Machida-Shogun rematch.
i think that it should have been a draw, because, sure rua got in a few great kicks and punches, but several of his attempts had been shrugged off by machida, who not only held him off, but also countered effectively.
no one has been able to do what shogun did in the fight and that actually hit michida… Michida takes the least amount of punishment across the board when you’re talking about mma fighters and shogun made him nervous… a 5 round fight for michida is what scares him… shogun should have won because he took away machida’s only defensive tool consistantly… decisions come down to a point scoring system and in any point scoring system you have a clear winner and loser because one scores more points… but mma’s under those circumstances should use a standard tournament karate point system and incorporate the takedown and submission attempts with it
i havent seen the fight yet but i think the decision drew a huge controversy. i think the rematch will surely determine what rua really made of.
that was the most worst thing you could do to a fight. sure machida got some knees in
and fought off take downs but shogun rua
clearly won the fight… i will not be happy until they rematch..
after CAREFULLY watching the fight again!, i have to give Lyoto the first three rounds and the last 2 rounds to Shogun … it was boring watching those kicks… although Shogun was more aggressive and good leg kicks it, was not enough to win the belt? really! what does Machida have to do? knock out Shogun to retain the belt?…c’mon
rematch – they were fighting as if it was orchestrated for a rematch, was this predetermined or set up for a Machida vs. Shogun II, maybe it is?; maybe they (eg, judges, hehe) all sit down and decided how it was going to play out (welcome to the entertaining world?)…how about unregulated fight?
Shogun won the fight plus u seen it in Machida’s face at the end of the fight because he even knew he had lost the fight :@ why do ref’s ruin fights like the second main event the ref stopped the fight to early :@ wots going on in ufc with ref’s.
Yong Nadolski