Who gets the Title shot? Rua or Machida?

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?

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.

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 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.

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

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Originally Posted by 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.

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Agreed.

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Originally Posted by 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

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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.

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

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Originally Posted by 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.

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

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Originally Posted by Brent Smith

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

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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.

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

Is it me or was Machida using a little bit of the Stockton Slap taunts Nick and Nate use? He was taunting like them and his hand movements were like them, he just wasn't verbally taunting Bader. I thought it would have been rad if Machida was like "Brazil Mothefucker!" and dropped Bader's shit lol.

I'm going with Machida. I wouldn't mind seeing him fight Jones again, he was doing pretty well until he got caught.

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Originally Posted by 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.

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We're shit talking Bader now?
I missed the memo....
I thought it was widely accepted that Bader had a way better chance than Vera to pull an upset, which is why so many people enjoyed/hated the fights.
They saw Machida make Bader look crappy, but then had to watch Shogun struggle with Vera.

Vera was the only one being talked about a little more by UFC, in attempts to dispel people thinking he was just a sacrifice to Shogun (which is what they intended on him being)

But hands down, the person who deserves a shot at the title next is getting it.


The only thing I'm worried about is the Jones Hendo fight right now, if Hendo beats Jones that would be amazing.
But if Hendo fights the Dragon, it has the possibility of being one of the most annoying to watch fights in history....
Machido would not want to trade with the guy who knocked Bones out, so he would revert to his evasive(backing up a lot) strategy, and Hendo wouldn't want to give him anything to counter.

Oh damn would that suck......

How does Shogun gas in all his fights? He picked it up in the Vera fight as the fight went on, and had tons more energy then Henderson in the later rounds

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Originally Posted by Kyle Spalla

Is it me or was Machida using a little bit of the Stockton Slap taunts Nick and Nate use? He was taunting like them and his hand movements were like them, he just wasn't verbally taunting Bader. I thought it would have been rad if Machida was like "Brazil Mothefucker!" and dropped Bader's shit lol.

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He was taking a page from Anderson Silva's book, and at one point he dances around like him too...Also, he's trained with Steven Seagall...*sigh*...And it pains me to say it, but...Those hand movements were text book Steven Seagall....If you've ever seen his movies, or at least him sparring.. You'd recognize that Lyoto was doing the Steven hand movements, and then striking afterwards..So it goes to show that he's really trying to up his game.

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Originally Posted by Mitchell C

We're shit talking Bader now?
I missed the memo....
I thought it was widely accepted that Bader had a way better chance than Vera to pull an upset, which is why so many people enjoyed/hated the fights.They saw Machida make Bader look crappy, but then had to watch Shogun struggle with Vera.

Vera was the only one being talked about a little more by UFC, in attempts to dispel people thinking he was just a sacrifice to Shogun (which is what they intended on him being)

But hands down, the person who deserves a shot at the title next is getting it.


The only thing I'm worried about is the Jones Hendo fight right now, if Hendo beats Jones that would be amazing.
But if Hendo fights the Dragon, it has the possibility of being one of the most annoying to watch fights in history....Machido would not want to trade with the guy who knocked Bones out, so he would revert to his evasive(backing up a lot) strategy, and Hendo wouldn't want to give him anything to counter.

Oh damn would that suck......

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That was widely accepted? Wow, I thought Vera was the tougher matchup. Styles make fights. Machida eats wrestleboxers for breakfast. Two MT guys are going to be a tougher match up for each other.


I don't know. I think it would be exciting. Again, Machida toys with Wrestleboxers. He admitted that he made a mistake with Rampage and he's not going to fight that way again. Plus, Hendo trusts his chin. I think Hendo would put himself in bad situations just to try and land something. I also think Hendo will try, and fail, to take Machida down. If Machida doesn't KO Hendo in a fight, then he would batter his face with counters en route to a decision.

That being said, I think Jones is gonna win.

machida for sure. shogun has no gas...it would just be another heavy bag session with jones like it was last time. at least machida can move with jones. i dont think i would even watch a shogun jones 2. that being said, hendo may very well beat jones. which makes for an interesting fight with machida. hendo could catch him or hendo could get countered...its anyones fight on that one. shogun is just disappointing at this stage in his career. they have even talked about a big nog vs shogun TUF. these are terribly boring ideas imo