Lyoto "Dragon" Machida & Mauricio "Shogun" Rua: The Final Decision

Dana White "I thought Shogun won the fight."

MMA Journalists & Websites:
FightMetric: 49-47 Rua
CompuStrike: Rua outlanded Machida 89-50 in Total Strikes landed including 73 Leg Strikes landed. Rua dominated the fight and did just about everything he needed to do to beat the undefeated Machida, including outlanding Machida in every round, but apparently it wasn't enough for the judges.
Yahoo Sports / Cagewriter: 48-47 Rua
BloodyElbow : 48-47 Rua
USAToday: 48-47 Rua, 49-46 Rua
Savage Science: 49-46 Rua
ESPN / Jake Rossen: 49-46 or 48-47 Rua
MMA Fanhouse / Michael David Smith: 48-47 Rua
411mania.com: 48-47 Rua
CagePotato: 49-46 Rua
MMATorch : 48-47 Rua
MMAJunkie : 49-46 or 48-47 Rua
MMAMania : 50-45 Rua
5 Ounces of Pain : Rua
Fightlinker : Rua
MMAConvert: Rua
ProMMA.Info: 50-45 Rua
Sherdog:
Jordan Breen -- 48-47 Rua
Brian Knapp -- 48-47 Rua
Mike Fridley -- 50-45 Rua
Sports Illustrated:
Ben Fowlkes - Rua
Joss Gross: 48-47 Rua

MMA Fight Opinion : 48-47 Rua
MMARising: 49-46 Rua
FightLine: 49-46 Rua
TATAME: "Maurício “Shogun” Rua was the underdog, but the 2005 Pride GP champion “surprised” everybody with a perfect strategy and performance, dominating three out of five rounds against Lyoto Machida, but losing by unanimous decision (48-47)."

Pro Fighters That Thought Shogun Won:

Anthony Johnson, Joe Stevenson, BJ Penn, Wanderlei Silva, Vitor Belfort, Cain Velazquez, Shane Carwin, Denis Kang, Kenny Florian, Rashad Evans, Frank Trigg, Jorge Gurgel, Jon Jones, Quinton Jackson, Ben Henderson, Jake Shields, Miguel Torres, Frank Shamrock, and Randy Couture.

Pro Fighters That Thought Machida Won:

Anderson Silva (Machida's best friend), & Josh Thomson (who is an idiot).

MMAFO Presents NEW Top 10 Rankings

Not a lot of surprises at Heavyweight as I still don’t know what to do with the steroid cheater Josh Barnett who is also dropping because of inactivity as Alistair Overeem’s stock grows almost as fast as his steroid infused muscles. Cain Velasquez gets a leg up after a good performance over Ben Rothwell while we welcome Shane Carwin to the 10 who is tied (yes I’m sorry, I hate ties as well) with Gabe Gonzaga and also welcome Junior Dos Santos to #9.

At Light Heavyweight Randy Couture makes his return as he moves back to the division and a future fight with on the cusp Brandon Vera. “Shogun” Rua skyrockets up the charts with his great unrewarded performance over Lyoto Machida who is on the verge of losing the top spot to Gegard Mousasi. Rich Franklin falls a step but Luiz Cane is still sneaking around under the radar.

Middleweight Yushin Okami falls out of the Top 10 for the 1st time in a long time after a dismal loss to Chael Sonnen. New overlooked fighter Hector Lombard makes his debut in the rankings while Vitor Belfort’s stock continues to rise after his destruction of Rich Franklin. Demian Maia’s stock falls while Jake Shields interest grows with his looming (vacant) title fight with Jason Miller. Robbie Lawler needs a fight soon.

The Welterweights continue their stagnate rankings though we welcome in Anthony Johnson, who if he can make weight in the future could be a real force in the division. #2 Jon Fitch and #3 Thiago Alves have a fight coming up and a possible bout between #6 Nick Diaz and #9 Jay Hieron could also provide fireworks. Martin Kampmann gets upset by Paul Daley and inexplicably doesn’t move in the rankings but we gave him a - for his efforts so deal with that.

Shinya Aoki adds a belt to his collection and moves up to #2 while calling out #1 BJ Penn for a fight Dana White will never let happen. Takanori Gomi falls due to inactivity and I’m still wondering what the UFC is going to do with “Kenflo” now that he has had 2 unsuccessful title shots. You know for Joe Stevenson and the like claiming all the best Lightweights in the world are in the UFC, I couldn’t help but notice there are only 2 in the list and he isn’t even one of them.

DREAM 12 Results: Sakuraba, Zaromskis, & Overeem Win

Tomoya Miyashita bests Keisuke Fujiwara by Decision.
Kuniyoshi Hironaka gets the TKO on Won Sik Park via eye injury.
Yoshiro Maeda subs the now faltering Chase Beebe with the RNC. The "Rage" is now 12-6 and has dropped a horrible 5 in a row while Maeda has now won 2 in a row.
Dong Sik Yoon won a Split-Decision over Tarec Saffiedine who filled in for the absent Paulo Filho. Paulo was once a feared Middleweight but due to drug use and personal problems, is currently a former shell of himself. "Ely" issued a statement saying he had visa problems, but DREAM tried to contact him for a week prior and he could not be found.
Katsuyori Shibata gets the TKO on Tokimitsu Ishizawa in the 1st.
Kazushi Sakuraba took a lot of punishment to the dome, as seems to be standard for the "Gracie Hunter," but kept a hold of Zelg Galesic's leg for an eventual Kneebar that really seemed to hurt "Benkei." Sak takes a licking and just keeps on ticking raising his record to 26-12-1 and vows to compete at Dynamite! on New Year's Eve. I love Sakuraba but how much more abuse can this guy take?
Marius Zaromskis is just sick getting his 3rd (T)KO in a row on Myeon Ho Bae. The "Whitemare" is becoming redonkulous stretching his record to 13-3 and continues to send fear through the hearts of Welterweights all over the world. This kid is going to be a star!
Eddie Alvarez got more that he bargained for over Katsunori Kikuno who took the popular Lightweight to the brink before he secured an Arm-Triangle choke to ensure the victory.
Finally the roided up Alistair Overeem (who is now larger that "Colossus," who once seemed to look like a steroid freak) dwarfed and dominated James Thompson before sinking in that standing Guillotine choke he is known for. Thompson is just a joke and the race is on between him and Bob Sapp as the most embarrassing Heavyweight in the world contest. The "Demolition Man" continues to grow in size as he pads his record to 31-11 and eyes a defense of his Strikeforce Heavyweight title against Fedor Emelianenko in April. Lets hope he can pass the drug test to make that fight happen.

7-1 on the picks.

MMA | Zelg Galesic vs. Kazushi Sakuraba - DREAM.12

UFC 104 Results: Shogun Remains Un-Crowned

Stefan Struve proved Chase Gormley is still a bit green pulling a Triangle Choke submission in the 1st round.
Kyle Kingsbury barely out pointed Razak Al-Hassan via Split-Decision in a fight so bad both men might get bounced Sunday morning (yawn).
Jorge Rivera brought a smile to every one's face by getting the TKO on Rob Kimmons in the 3rd, which brought a little sunshine into a dark time in he and his families life. Congrats old man.
Chael Sonnen upset Yushin Okami by Decision, ending the run of "Okami deserves a title shot" from hardcore MMA fans and giving Dana White a sigh of relief.
Patrick Barry finally gave me a correct Upset Pick as he took some eye pokes from friend Antoni Hardonk, got pissed off, and knocked the crap outta his old training buddy in the 2nd round for a nice TKO.
Ryan Bader beat Eric Schafer by Decision (yawn 2).
Anthony Johnson treated Yoshiyuki Yoshida to a girlfriend style beatdown which doesn't make up for the fact he failed to make weight by six pounds! The guy is rumored to cut around 50 lbs. per fight which is just ridiculous. Maybe think about Middleweight.
Joe Stevenson dominated Spencer Fisher almost exactly as I had feared forcing the "King" to tap with his foot after some just devastating elbows. Geez that was nasty. Now Fisher may be heading to the WEC and "Daddy" sure does look good when he works with Greg Jackson and his camp.
Gleison Tibau got the decision win over Josh Neer (yawn 3).
Cain Velasquez brutalized Ben Rothwell to get the TKO win in the 2nd. Cain just whooped that ass for the 1st round and during the break heading into the 2nd, referee Steve Mazzagatti warned Ben that he would not allow him to take more punishment like he absorbed in the opening stanza. Sure enough, Rothwell was getting throttled again and the ref stopped the fight. Ben complained and it may not have been the right time, but the outcome would have been the same. As impressive a win as it was for Velasquez, I just don't see the guy beating Brock Lesnar or possibly even Antonio Nogueira. I see a glass ceiling in his future.

Finally, Lyoto Machida was inexplicably given the Unanimous Decision win over Mauricio Rua in one of the most erroneous judges debacles I have seen in quite some time. The judges all scored the fight 48-47 which is absurd. I scored the bout 49-46 for Shogun and the crowd, who were apparently not blind, boo'd the results. Besides the 2nd round which was close, I cannot see any other round where Lyoto did anything accept getting out struck, out kicked, and all around out fought. Machida was very tentative (much like the Lyoto of old) and Shogun had an answer for every attack with a better counter. Dana White is calling for a rematch, but I don't believe that is enough as Shogun, who for so many years was known as the best Light Heavyweight in the world without a title, wept in the locker room after giving his all and fighting an intelligent bout. Fuck Cecil Peoples who has done this crap for years, and fuck the other idiot judges. Call or email the UFC and demand repercussions for the moron officials. Oh and California, you suck too.

7-4 on the picks

DREAM 12 Quick Picks

Eddie Alvarez (18-2) vs. Katsunori Kikuno (12-1-1) W-Eddie A.
Marius Zaromskis (12-3) vs. Myeon Ho Bae (8-4) W-Zaromskis
Kuniyoshi Hironaka (15-6) vs. Won Sik Park (7-1-1) W-Hironaka
Chase Beebe (12-5) vs. Yoshiro Maeda (25-7-2) W-Maeda
Paulo Filho (18-1) vs. Yoon Dong-Sik (4-7) W-Filho
Kazushi Sakuraba (25-12-1) vs. Zelg Galesic (9-4) W-Sakuraba
Keisuke Fujiwara (7-1-3) vs. Tomoya Miyashita (11-5-5) W-Fujiwara
Katsuyori Shibata (3-6-1) vs. Tokimitsu Ishizawa (1-4-1) W-Shibata
Alistair Overeem (29-11) vs. James Thompson (14-10) W-Overeem

-Kiyoshi Tamura (33-13-2) vs. TBA
-Andrews Nakahara (2-1) vs. TBA
-Daisuke Nakamura (20-10) vs. TBA

UFC 104 Machida vs Shogun Picks

UFC 104: OCTOBER 24, 2009
The Staples Center in Los Angeles, California

Main Card:
Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida (15-0) vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (18-3) As tired as I am with the media suck off that surrounds Machida and his "karate" excellence, I can't pick my former Chute Boxe mate. Shogun will come in probably more relaxed and focused than crazy, but he will make a mistake eventually, and I still worry about those knees and his cardio issues if this goes into championship rounds. Once the mistake is made, the technically pinpoint Lyoto will capitalize big and Rua will begin his fall. The Machida is unbeatable crap will continue.

WINNER-Lyoto Machida by Rd.4 TKO
Cain Velasquez (6-0) vs. Ben Rothwell (30-6) UFC Countdown tried to make us care for the fat kid, but it didn't work and Ben is taylor made for Cain. Takedown defense is sparse, striking is good but not better than Cheick Kongo who couldn't put Velasquez away. "Brown Pride" will drag Rothwell to the floor where he will old school G&P his way to another victory. Trading punches with the Miletich fighter is not a good idea and AKA knows that.

WINNER-The Man Called Cain by Decision
Josh Neer (25-8-1) vs. Gleison Tibau (17-7) These men are both coming off a loss and neither deserves to be this high on the card or on the PPV for that matter. At any rate, Neer is far tougher and Tibau's Jiu-Jitsu won't end the day for the rough and tumble Joshua. Standing Gleison has nothing and Neer will attack at a much higher pace.

WINNER-"The Dentist" by Decision
Joe Stevenson (30-10) vs. Spencer Fisher (23-4) After threatening to descend to the WEC, the "King" is back against perennial gate keeper "Daddy." Joe won't be able to do a whole lot on the feet, but he will take Spence down and there will begin the problems. Fisher is known to cut easy and I fully expect a bloody mess and not much ability to get Stevenson off of him.

WINNER-Joe "Daddy" by Decision
Anthony Johnson (7-2) vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida (11-3) Yoshida is going to be small next to the well spoken and athletic "Rumble." Length will be an issue as will the power of the young gun. Yoshiyuki likes to throw hands which will not be a good idea in this fight. Ummm, anyone else notice that the whole beating the shit outta your girlfriend thing hasn't been mentioned for Tony? Oh well.......

WINNER-Rumble by Decision

Prelims:
Yushin Okami (23-4) vs. Chael Sonnen (23-10-1) Chael is going to need the christian coalition to have a shot against "Thunder." Both men have similar styles that will cancel out the possibility of an exciting fight, but Okami is stronger, more skilled, and does not stop coming. The hardcore MMA fans most underrated fighter wins again the continues to be shunned from the Middleweight title scene.

WINNER-Yushin Okami by Decision
Pat Barry (4-1) vs. Antoni Hardonk (8-5) Know that everyone is taking Hardonk and his evolving Jiu-Jitsu to tap the ground challenged Barry. I wonder if he has the chance as Pat is going to bring his K-1 striking power to the game quick, especially with the entire world knowing the ground is not an option. Eh, I usually fail at the Upset picks so I'll play this one safe. UPDATE**You know what screw it, I'm going Upset City!

WINNER-Berry TKO Rd.1
Jorge Rivera (16-7) vs. Rob Kimmons (22-4) The "Rosedale Raper," I mean "Reaper," has all the skills to tap out Jorge. What I would like to say is I was sorry to hear Rivera recently lost a daughter and I wish him and his family all the best in the future. Jorge is well known to be one of the nicest guys in MMA and I hope he gets the win somehow.

WINNER-Rob Kimmons Rd.1 Submission
Ryan Bader (9-0) vs. Eric Schafer (11-3-2) There is a lot of love coming in for "Red" from the Internet MMA fans, but don't expect the upset win. Bader is going to test his hands a bit and then take Eric down for the G&P as expected.

WINNER-"Darth" Bader by Rd.3 TKO
Kyle Kingsberry (7-2) vs. Razak Al-Hassan (6-1) The battle of the green prospects who have each been out 10 months due to injury. Razak is flashy and fun to watch with solid submission skills, yet lacks a decent stand up and Kyle has been honing his skills at AKA. Look for Kyle to push through an early barrage and then out strike Al-Hassan leading to the mat where he runs the fight.

WINNER-Kingsberry by Decision
Chase Gormley (6-0) vs. Stefan Struve (17-3) Giant skinny cannot take a punch and Chase is going to be able to take him down with his wrestling where he will take the points in a pointless fight.

WINNER-Gormley by Decision

MMA Melee The #1 MMA News Source On This Website!

Rich Franklin vs Forrest Griffin was mentioned as a possible super-fight in the future, but now with Mark Coleman injured until January 2010, Tito Ortiz needed an opponent for his UFC return at UFC 106. Now Forrest has been tapped and accepted the offer for a rematch with "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy." Back in 2006, Tito was mysteriously awarded a controversial victory at UFC 59 and Griffin is looking for revenge. One has to wonder what is Forrest's mental state after the devastating loss to Anderson Silva. At the same time, Tito has not fought since May of 2008 and who knows where his limited game is at now.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira has signed to face Gabriel Gonzaga in December. If "Minotauro" wins he would be granted a title shot though the same is not guaranteed for "Napao."

Speaking of title shots, if Randy Couture defeats Brandon Vera at UFC 105, he could be granted a title shot at Lyoto Machida should he retain his title against "Shogun" Rua.

Newly crowned DREAM Lightweight Champion Shinya Aoki has called out the UFC Lightweights singing the praises of Japanese fighters. There is a possible co-promoter deal with Strikeforce on the table and that would be a great venue to bring the submission wizard into the public eye in America.

Paul Buentello has resigned with the UFC but was given the unenviable task of facing new Heavyweight behemoth Todd Duffee. Me thinks I smells a slaughter brewing with "The Headhunter" being 1 and done with Zuffa.

Roger Huerta wants to act & fight now. After his recent loss to Gray Maynard, "El Matador" stated that his competitive juices were again flowing. Now he wishes to put fighting first and acting second, though he isn't giving up on either. Currently Huerta is a free agent but he has made it clear he wants to sign with the UFC, but will entertain offers from everyone.

Josh Thomson has broken his leg yet again, and cannot defend his Strikeforce Lightweight title. The "Punk" has not fought since September 2008. He has continually been injured since defeating current "Interim" Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez in June of 2008. Thomson is looking for a unification bout in December but I wouldn't hold my breath. My guess is he will find a soft breeze to snap one of his stems so he doesn't have to fight "El Nino."

38 year old Ray Sefo credits Xtreme Couture with his transition from K-1 to MMA and his recent signing of a 4 fight deal with Strikeforce. "Sugarfoot" comes in as a very legit and elite K-1 fighter who can provide some competition for Mr. Emelianenko.

DREAM 11 Results In 2 New Champions

Kazuyuki Miyata bests Daiki Hata by Decision.
Hiroyuki Takaya TKO's Hideo Tokoro in Rd.2
Bibiano Fernandes upsets upstart Joe Warren with a Submission (Armbar) 1 0:42.
Ikuhisa Minowa "Punked" Hong Man Choi with a sneaky Heel Hook sub in the 2nd.
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou TKO'd Bob Sapp in the 1st in what should not even be considered a real fight. Sapp has become such a joke he really should not be allowed to fight anymore.
Tatsuya Kawajiri "Crushed" Melchor Manibusan with a Rd.1 TKO.
Kazushi Sakuraba returned to the win column subbing Rubin Williams with a Kimura in easy fashion.
Shinya Aoki armbarred Joachim Hansen in the final round to become the DREAM Lightweight Champion!
Finally, Bibiano Fernandes took a close Split-Decision over Hiroyuki Takaya to become the 1st DREAM Featherweight Champion.

7-1 On the picks.

DREAM 11 Picks

DREAM 11: OCTOBER 6, 2009 ON HDNET
Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan

Dream Lightweight Championship:
WAMMA Lightweight Champion Shinya Aoki (21-4) vs. DREAM Lightweight Champion Joachim Hansen (19-7-1) In an absolutely stellar Lightweight matchup that is getting little to zero press in the MMA world, two Champions collide with complete opposite styles. Aoki is the submission wizard while "Hellboy" uses his Nordic roots to strike fear into the hearts of his victims with his offensive stand up attack. This is the 3rd installment between the two men as the 1st bout saw Hansen get Gogoplata'd in 2006. The 2nd found Aoki on the receiving end of a beating TKO style of the 1st stanza as well. This will be a great match that will hopefully last longer, and I favor Aoki to find yet another way to tap the Viking who hasn't fought in over a year! The long layoff is never good only "Mach" Sakurai has the number of Shinya.

WINNER-Shinya Aoki by submission Rd.2

Kazushi Sakuraba (24-12-1) vs. Rubin Williams (0-0) The "Gracie Hunter," one of the greatest MMA Legends of all time, returns to DREAM to face the former boxer or wrestler or something who is making his debut in MMA. Sakuraba takes this fight however he wants and the only real interest here is what will his entrance be like?

WINNER-Kazushi Sakuraba by submission
Tatsuya Kawajiri (24-5-2) vs. Melchor Manibusan (2-3) Take the "Crusher" who was fed this guy to continue to impress in the homeland.

WINNER-Kawajiri by TKO Rd.2

Super Hulk Tournament Semi-Finals (Open Weight):
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (6-4) vs. Bob Sapp (10-5-1) With "The Beast" himself even admitting he is only still fighting for a paycheck, how can you pick the giant man with zero cardio, limited striking, and a glass chin. I can't. Sapp gets tired and falls down.

WINNER-Sokoudjou
Ikuhisa Minowa (42-30-8) vs. Hong Man Choi (2-2) The worst tournament ever continues as misshapen giant meets the misshapen hair of the "Punk." Minowa is odd as they come and will do his usual crazy initial attack followed by getting to business trying to use his wrestling and submissions to tap the K-1 "Techno-Goliath."

WINNER-Minowa-Man

Featherweight Grand Prix Semi-Finals:
Bibiano Fernandes (5-2) vs. Joe Warren (2-0) I'll take the arrogant and surprisingly good rookie for the win over the submission guy.

WINNER-Joe Warren by decision
Hiroyuki Takaya (11-6-1) vs. Hideo Tokoro (22-16-1) Takaya is the biker guy who probably has Yakuza friends, while Tokoro is the feel good story of the janitor turning into the fighter.

WINNER-Takaya by TKO Rd.1

Featherweight Grand Prix Reserve Match:
Daiki "DJ.taiki" Hata (11-5-3) vs. Kazuyuki Miyata (7-7) Kaz weighed in orange and ready for action.

WINNER-Miyata

Main card airs at 7:00 a.m. ET in the United States on HDNet

Fedor Emelianenko Married In Russia

Congradulations to Fedor Emelianenko and new wife Marina who recently married in Stary, Oskol, Russia. MMAFO sends our best wishes to the happy couple.

Tito Ortiz Is A Class Act