By Neil Davidson
THE CANADIAN PRESS
LOS ANGELES — Mauricio (Shogun) Rua proved Lyoto Machida is human. And perhaps some will feel Machida also a little lucky after his narrow escape at UFC 104.
Machida, a 6-1 favourite, survived a five-round assault from his Brazilian countryman Saturday night, retaining his light-heavyweight mixed martial arts title.
Rua, UFC president Dana White and a large portion of the 16,000 crowd at the Staples Center thought the challenger had done enough to win. Not surprisingly, Machida sided with the three judges over what was an entertaining, technical fight.
“There’s three judges and all three judges had a unanimous decision that I won the fight,” the 31-year-old said later through an interpreter. “I wasn’t the one that called the fight, the judges did.”
All three judges scored it 48-47 or three rounds to two for Machida (16-0). Their decision drew boos from many in the crowd.
Two of the three judges gave Machida the first three rounds and Rua (18-4) the last two. The third judge gave the first and fifth rounds to Rua and the middle three to Machida, who had not lost a round in his seven previous UFC bouts.
When the dust settled, Machida — statistically the least-hit fighter in the UFC — wore a scowl, fresh stitches above his lip and said the inside of one leg was bothering him from Rua kicks. Rua’s forehead was a red road map of welts and abrasions.
“You’re going to see a different fighter the next time I come out,” the stony-faced champion said through an interpreter.
Machida, 31, said he had already been “corrected” by his father Yoshizo Machida, a karate master in his own right, and middleweight champion Anderson Silva, a friend and training partner, in the locker-room.
White, Machida and Rua agreed a rematch is in order with White insisting the Machida mystique remains, despite the close shave.
“I think Lyoto Machida is a freak of nature,” he said. “What makes him so great is he can do things other people can’t do . . . I’ve been saying this was a fight between two of the best technical strikers in the business and he couldn’t pull that off against Shogun tonight.
“I’m pretty confident the rematch will be a different fight for both guys. Nobody wants to be sitting here, banged up, beat up, bruised up — lose and win a fight the way they did. It doesn’t feel good for anybody.”
Said Machida: “I’m going to go back home, watch the fight and when we meet again, I’ll have a different strategy and a different plan.”
UFC 104 will be remembered for the main event and the debate over who won it. But there were also two heavyweight bouts of note.
Unbeaten contender Cain Velasquez made a statement by dominating (Big) Ben Rothwell and Pat Barry chopped down fellow kickboxer Antoni Hardonk in what was judged fight of the night. Barry picked up an extra $120,000 in bonuses for fight and knockout of the night while Hardonk collected an additional $60,000 for his part.
Outside of that, the card was largely uninspired.
Rua, 27, managed to do what past opponents hadn’t. He hit and damaged Machida, who had not lost a round in seven UFC bouts prior to this one.
Rua used kicks to successfully chip away at the champion, who soon had an ugly red welt on his stomach.
Rua, now 2-2 in the UFC, has been slowed by a pair of knee surgeries since leaving the Pride circuit in Japan. But he won a legion of new fans Saturday night, moving like a shark towards Machida and giving as good as he got.
“I think everyone saw the real Shogun tonight,” said White.
Rua, in his more upright Muay Thai stance, kept coming forward as he attempted to mix kicks, punches and takedowns. Machida would dance away, ghosting in at times to fire an attack of his own before moving out of range.
The two fighters often clashed, with a Rua attack matched instantly by a Machida counter-attack. It was very technical and — in short bursts — very violent.
Both men wore marks in the third, their chiselled torsos reddened from brutal kicks. Machida rushed Rua towards the end of the round, punishing him at the fence but Rua survived the onslaught.
Machida was cut around the lip in the fifth round.
Both fighters may regret their strategy. Machida said he saved energy in the fourth round to prepare for the fifth. And Rua said he didn’t press the action, reasoning there was no need to take risks because his corner told him he was winning.
“It’s very disappointing,” said the challenger who thought he had won the last three rounds.
Rua thrust his hands up in the air as the final bell of the all-Brazilian showdown sounded. And he drew cheers when he was interviewed in the cage.
“I feel like I won this fight but a fight is a fight, what can you do,” Rua said through an interpreter.
The crowd started chanting Machida’s name but had switched to Rua before the final bell sounded.
“I thought Shogun won the fight,” echoed White, while admitting it was a tough fight to score.
“Machida’s the champion and the judges gave it to Machida tonight,” he added.
In the co-main event, Velasquez used his wrestling skills to dominate Rothwell en route to a one-sided second-round TKO.
Referee Steve Mazzagatti stopped the fight 58 seconds into the round with Rothwell on one knee at the fence, trying to get up while taking a half-dozen heavy strikes to the face. Some fans booed the decision, but the fight was so one-sided that it merited the stoppage.
Velasquez (7-0) was slated to meet Shane Carwin to decide who takes on champion Brock Lesnar for the title. But the unbeaten Carwin was moved directly to a championship bout with Lesnar next month at UFC 106 and Velasquez was matched up with the six-foot-four 265-pound Rothwell.
Velasquez, the son of a Mexican immigrant, got a huge reception from the southern California crowd as he walked in to Mexican music — the Mexican colours clutched in his hand and Brown Pride tattooed on his chest.
Rothwell (30-7), who went 9-0 in the IFL before joining the UFC via Affliction, was roundly booed. And he was soon on his back, taking lumps from Velasquez, a former All-American wrestler who tossed Rothwell around as if he was a rag doll. The first round was all Velasquez and so was what little of the second that took place.
“He’s the real deal and he looked awesome tonight,” White said.
