I feel Machida won but Rua was able to make it a very close fight and made Machida lose his first round / rounds in his career and also was able to land frequently with success...
Will this create a Blueprint for other fighters...
A BluePrint maybe but let's not forget that not all other fighters have the ability to execute the game plan Rua did against Machida with success.
Shogun is the only other top fighter in the UFC
Few fighters out there have Muya Thai skills like Shogun. Kind of makes me wonder how Brandon Vera would do against Machida.
Any intelligent fighter should have always known to fight Machida this way.
voorhees:
sorry dude but he has fought plenty of other very good fighters, obviuosly by a proven track record it ain't that easy...
The game plan has always been there, he just hasnt fought anyone that will both stick to a gameplan and have technical striking.
Thiago is a brawler. A very good fighter, but not patient enough.
Evans may have serious power, but he has very rigid, unrefined striking
Tito - enough said
That is why Couture wanted to fight him so bad and not Anderson.
No. Machida will not respect any other fighters Clinch game... like he did Shoguns.
They trained together before. It is also safe to say no other fighter atm has a clinch game like his... aside from the obvious A.Silva, and some could argue a 205 Randy but in a completely different way.
Machida avoided the clinch which put him at length to get leg kicked... only reason that gap was not closer was due to the clinch IMO.
asscobra - Few fighters out there have Muya Thai skills like Shogun. Kind of makes me wonder how Brandon Vera would do against Machida.
This. Shogun's muy thai skills are on another level. I doubt many others will have as much success fighting Machida as Shogun did.
There are no other fighters at 205 (except for A. Silva) who possess the weapons Shogun has to expose Machida the way he did. At least I don't think so.
LiftStrong:
I agree it just seems like fighter after fighter not even being able to win a simple round u get to the point as a fan and start thinking this guy is just Kroptonite to everyone....lol..
I must admit there was a brief time i was surprised no one could even touch him, then U start to believe that hell maybe he's untouchable...lol
Machida showed he is Human and for the first time he had to deal with controversy and a very tough fight.....how he rebounds in his next fight will tell a lot about him as a fighter....
as much as i think he is solid and very skilled I always had a hard time comparing him with A. Silva and GSP...Both have lost and been through adversity and showd they are true Champs....Now it's lyoto's turn to create his dynasty...or for Rua to continue his.
Vera...umm no way, he seems way to slow and not the level of Muay Thai Rua has....machida would own that ass!!!
ttt
Rua had a great gameplan but it's his talent that let him stick to it. Few others possess this so I doubt they could implement Rua's gameplan as effectively.
I thought Thiago Silva was going to have a good chance. I was totally shocked at how strong machida is in the mt clinch. Stylistically Luis Cane needs to get some top tier fights and get himself in the discussion.
I stopped reading at I feel machida won
Keith Jardine had an erection watching that fight