I am REALLY looking forward to Machida vs. Shogun. If Shogun is TRULY back to old form, and it really was the knee surgeries that were the cause for his poor performances vs Forrerst and Coleman, then we could see a great matchup. Shogun is a terrific striker who will definately be the best trst for Machida thus far. This should be a great striking battle. Hopefully Machida stays with his recent form and is eager to engage with Shogun. If so, I GUARANTEE fireworks and what CAN amount to one of the best stand-up wars the UFC has seen.
I am with you, man. I am pretty jacked for this fight as well. I think both myself and BTG have said Shogun willl be the best test for Machida thus far. He is a world class MMA fighter. He has great stand up and is no slouch at all on the mat. Its gonna be good. Now if you are looking for bombs being flung across the cage, stay tuned for Kimbo/Liddell. If you want to see MMA at its best and a possible tactical chessmatch, tune into Machida/Shogun.:cheer:
Nope. Machida is brutally effective and very cautious, nobody is going to take machida "easily", unless his chin is glass, which I don't think it is. Also I find it hard to believe that knee injuries could make Shogun that much worse than he used to be, he hasn't even looked CLOSE to the fighter he was in 2005.
I'd love to see Shogun back on form but lets be honest it wouldn't make any difference. Lyoto is going to dominate LHW ala Silva and GSP. I can't see him losing to any of the current LHW's anytime soon.
Old form Shogun is the roided up one who beat up and stomped out midget Japanese fighters for a living. The knee surgery is just an excuse, the Shogun we see today is the same as the one in Pride, the same one that Forrest Griffen dominated and 47 year old Coleman looked great against, he is just a gasless frontrunner who relied on heavy intake of 'roids and stomping little dudes out. Machida will DOMINATE Rua
No one takes Machida rather easily:nono: I would take Machida over any 205'er in the world minus Anderson Silva and Gegard Mousasi, and with them its a coin toss. Shogun has the ability to beat him, but not easily.
Machida wins by decision if Rua is in top shape. If not, Rua bites the dust in 2. Many of the pride guys relied on drugs and the lack of testing in Japan. Drug testing is implemented to a certain degree in Vegas, so I wonder whether the showings we've seen by formerly dominant Pride guys like Crocop and Shogun in the UFC have been affected by that drug testing.
Its a good point and been brought up before on this board. It really doesn't hold much weight when you see the success of Rampage and Henderson though.
Overeem-not a Japanese midget fighter Rampage-not a Japanese midget fighter Randleman- not a Japanese midget fighter Arona- not a Japanese midget fighter Babalu- not a Japanese midget fighter Santos- not a Japanese midget fighter Coleman- not a Japanese midget fighter Little Nog- not a Japanese midget fighter D-Man- Mental midget ::
why is everyone focusing on D-MAN's 'little Japanese dudes' comment? The man is PICKING MACHIDA TO WIN, so bet your house on Shogun.
not a good example since he beat shogun. anyway, i don't think machida is all that, guess we'll see tomorrow
Rampage vs Silva was a huge turnaround from the devastating knockouts he, Rampage, suffered in Pride. That actually supports my contention. Rampage beat Chuck in both Pride and UFC, no shock. Now Rua, who DESTROYED Rampage, looked pedestrian against Forrest Griffin. Rua hasn't looked good since he lost to Coleman by fluke. In the rematch, he struggled and looked like crap. Rua has been on a downward slope for years. He might stop the slide, but he's not going to rocket upwards against a defensive specialist with KO power. Rua's offense requires commitment, and his gas tank is going to fail him again.
Shogun has looked like shit for years. His body is done, his cardio sucks, his defence sucks and he has the perfect style for Machida. This fight will look similar to Silva-Griffin.
Yep, you'll see. If you think Shogun or anyone else is going to beat Machida easily though, you're seriously underrating him. He's not the most exciting fighter out there, in fact he's far more patient than the kind of fighter I usually like, but he's very good, this is undeniable.
Machida definitely changes the perception of MMA as just barbaric scrappers. The guy is calculated, patient and very elusive. Those are things that you typically don't associate with MMA. I have a real problem with people thinking anyone at 205 will easily beat Machida. He hasn't lost a round in the UFC. He is going to be difficult for anyone and everyone. That would include Silva and Moussasi. And make no mistake, Machida would be difficult for any version of Shogun.
It's sod's law isn't it? :: After saying that about Machida, I thought Shogun was COMPLETELY robbed. I wasn't making an effort to properly score the fight, but to me it looked like Machida only won 1 round. How he got the decision is beyond me, that was a complete robbery. Machida's basic, rigid Karate was no match for Shogun's Muay Thai. Seriously though, my main reason for being sure Machida would win is Shogun has looked fucking shit, and honestly, I didn't think it had anything to do with the injuries. Why? Well he sure didn't look injured, he just looked crap, didn't seem to have much fire or spark, just looked done as a fighter. This looked like the old Shogun. I wouldn't go as far as to say he beat Machida easily, it's not like it was a blowout, or he dominated every second, but I think he beat Machida decisively. Awful decision.
Awfull, awfull card, 2 of the 3 prelims were boring, the third one was a sham as Johnson wasn't even close to making the weight and looked 2 weight class bigger than Yoshida. Rothwell-Velasquez was a one sided humping made even worse by the terrible stoppage. Shogun-Machida was boring, but at least it was technical so it made it watchable and kind of interesting but it sorely lacked action as Machida was way too scared of getting hit and, quite frankly, fought like a bitch. He may have won the 3rd ( and quite frankly, he was the one who got hit solidely at the end of the round when he flurried) and nothing else, probably the worst decision I ever saw, boxing included.
Last night was a black eye to the sport.That was really not a hard fight to score.Shogun solved the Machida puzzle and didn't get rewarded for it :shit:
