Who gets the Title shot? Rua or Machida?

[Kyle Hilfiker]

Machida: Made Bader look like a fool by imitating jackie chan and bruce lee scenes before planting one beautiful punch on the "Master" Bader. (if you dont get it... you havent hit puberty yet.)
Rua: Put in a great, forward running display in a grinding war against a surprisingly solid Vera. This fight was supposed to be one sided. It became a great fight because of Vera. Still, Rua is Rua.. and ended it brutally himself.
Now... who gets the shot? My vote is for Machida.. but did Rua's "walk through hell" approach to get the title back do enough?

[Mitchell C]

I'm racking my brain trying to figure out how people see this as a good fight for Rua...it made Brandon look like a warrior, and Rua look like he has no gas tank.
Either of them could of ended the fight like that, Vera got rocked and never recovered and was brought in as a sacrificial lamb.
Rua completely missed his chance to wow Dana and get another shot at the title.

Machida, hands down no contest not even sure why this is a thread end of story ect ect.

[Jason Koh]

Yep I was a bit disappointed in Shogun today. He definitely changed when he transitioned from Pride. I'd say Machida deserves to get the title shot and I hope Hendo knocks out Jon Jones

[cavemancop]

I think Shogun deserves the title shot. Michida is a tier one top level stricker who fought Bader who has power but is no where near Machida's level. Shogun fought a great fight against a more evenly skilled opponent. Plus I kept hearing that Machida is the only one to win a round against Bones Jones, that is a good point assuming that Jones beats Hendo, but until that happens it shouldn't have factored into the decision.

[Brent Smith]

I thought Rua looked great. Its not his fault Vera is a tough mother fucker. Id much more prefer Shogun as champ again than Machida. Though Machida looked good, I just dont like him as a fighter. Plus the skill difference between Machida and Bader is much wider than the skill difference between Shogun and Vera. I'd look good too beating up a 1st grader

[David Rosado]

I'm racking my brain trying to figure out how people see this as a good fight for Rua...it made Brandon look like a warrior, and Rua look like he has no gas tank.
Either of them could of ended the fight like that, Vera got rocked and never recovered and was brought in as a sacrificial lamb.
Rua completely missed his chance to wow Dana and get another shot at the title.

Machida, hands down no contest not even sure why this is a thread end of story ect ect.

Agreed.

Yep I was a bit disappointed in Shogun today. He definitely changed when he transitioned from Pride. I'd say Machida deserves to get the title shot and I hope Hendo knocks out Jon Jones

I like the way I heard somebody put it. Out of Shogun and Machida, only one looks like he's putting in the work to get back to the title.

Shogun is the man. No doubt. Legend, no doubt. But much like BJ Penn, he's at his best when he's not heading up his own training. When you're in charge of your camps, you're not going to push yourself as hard. I don't beleive Shogun will ever be "Pride" Shogun again. Besides the fact that his body has taken a beating, it's just that he's not going to improve.

Machida, on the other hand, keeps taking steps to improve. One improvement: The punch that Bader got countered with is a common Machida counter. But for years he would never put up his hands to defend. And the punch that Bader attempted was the same punch that Jones stunned Machida with. If you watch the fight again, Machida put up a block before he threw the counter. That's a man who's fixing his mixtakes. He moved to the US to train. That's a big step. He's acting like a man who really wants it.


As far as comparing the fights; styles make fights. Machida is kryptonite to wrestlebox USA styles. So of course he's gonna look better. But IMO, if they both switched opponents, I think the result would be similar.

[David Rosado]

And I might get hate for this....but Shogun got the KO while Vera was fixing his mouthpiece. Not exactly impressive in my opinion.

[Brent Smith]

And I might get hate for this....but Shogun got the KO while Vera was fixing his mouthpiece. Not exactly impressive in my opinion.

Thats kinda Vera's bad though. Vera ate some big shots and kept comin. Vera impressed me this fight

[David Rosado]

Thats kinda Vera's bad though. Vera ate some big shots and kept comin. Vera impressed me this fight

Oh it is. Protect yourself at all times. He really didn't make a huge effort to get out of the way or even put a hand up to TRY and defend. Just saying, I feel like Rua put on an underwhelmping performance with an underwhelming finish. Just my opinon as a fan. I was kinda disappointed in Rua. I thought he'd do better.

[Jeremy Gates]

machida looked good. a bit boring of a fight but he got the job done. shogun gasses in all his fights now, vera looked pretty good and i was hoping he would win. between those 4 opponents the only one who has a real shot against jones is machida. also i think jones will beat hendo pretty easily. hendo is another one who gasses out and thats when jones will go in for the kill