-Machida actually won the fight.
-Zuffa influence.
-State athletic commission corruption.
-Judges were incompetent.
-Honest mistake by all 3 judges.
-Shogun didn't win convincingly enough in a championship bout.
-Other
They weren't listening to Rogan talk about Shoguns devastating leg kicks when Machida was blasting him in the face.
I saw/heard devastating leg kicks and I saw Machida punching Shogun's blocking forearms. The proof was in how each fighter looked after the fight. Shogun looked unscathed while Machida appeared torn-up.
judges were players. under the table shit
other
they liked the taste of his penis
judges are terrible and i'm pretty sure they don't score kicks
I think they gave Machida the benefit of the doubt in the first 3 rounds due to his reputation and status as champion. Then by the time it became clear that Shogun was (and had been throughout) winning the fight it was too late to reverse their decision. I blame the scoring system, which for a 3-5 round MMA fight is extremely flawed, more so than the judges, although I definitely think Shogun won.
Ignorant comments on how they look make me laugh....lol
The reason the judges saw it the way they did is because that's how it was, but I needed replay and Slo-Mo, like I stated in my thread I am impressed with the kean eye the judges had from a live and real time perspective
Both fighters faught great but Rua needed to do more to take this title...he deserves another shot asap
They're idiots who subscribe to the idiotic notion that the challenger needs to do more to win a round than any other guy in any other fight.
-counted machidas counter-punches when most hit shoguns arms
-do not see kicks as important as punches, perhaps do to boxing
-do not realize difference between power strikes and weaker strikes
-do not place an emphasis on damage dealt during fight
judges were not the brightest, it was close though
^gold
You forgot:
Close enough fight it could have gone either way; judges scored it for Machida.
Have to look closely at the judges. I remember all the crap that went down after the press started looking at Eugenia Williams after the Holyfield/Lewis boxing match ten years ago.
"Judges were incompetent." We have a winner.
Vegas baby!
Some of you are being less-than-charitable, and some of you are being idiotic. Was this Holyfield-Lewis I? Hardly.
I scored the fight 3 rounds to 2 for Rua. I have Machida the second and third rounds. My brother scored it 4 rounds for Rua, 1 for Machida. However, the first round was close. If you gave Machida the first three rounds, he's the winner by decision. I haven't rewatched the fight, but it was much closer than some of you seem to think. A mistake? Yes. A travesty? Hardly. Rogan and Goldie were biased in favor of Rua, and kept talking about the leg kicks. They had little to say about Machida's counters to his head when he threw those low kicks. Keep in mind that the judges don't have the advantage of the instant replay and everything happens very quickly in real time at cage side. They may not always have a great angle. Multiple camera angles can help a lot.
They turn in their round scores at the end of each round......gave Machida 1-3(at least 2 of them did) and gave Shogun 4 and 5.
This fight is more of a testament to the fact that the 10-9 must system is utter garbage for judging MMA fights. I wouldn't argue with folks that gave Lyoto rounds 1-3, but Shogun was clearly the more physically dominant fighter last night and the fighter that dealt the most damage in that fight after 5 rounds. I had my money on Shogun, but can see how a judge could have possibly given Machida 3 rounds to Shogun's 2 last night. Lyoto won that fight solely on the poor judging system used for MMA.
One thing the UFC should have taken from Pride is its judging system for sure. Hands down, infinitely better than the 10-9 system for scoring a MMA fight.
- Had a preconception that the fight would be an Machida against some hopeless loser, scored the first 2-3 rounds thikning that eventhough it looked like the contender was getting the best out of Machida, that couldn't be right. They just realized in round 3 or 4 that "holy hell, this guy is actually beating the crap out of Machida".
- Have never been leg/liver kicked by someone like Shogun (me neither, but I've been kicked enough by regular Joes not to even wanna think about what a kick to the thigh or midsection from Shogun feels like)
How the hell did Machida earn the 2nd round?
hopefully it is just a base lack of knowledge and perception.
The system is good i think, although the judges should have aids to help them see what they missed.. i.e somet like a fast action replay where they can review enchanges where they felt like they may have missed somthing between rounds and at the end of the fight. Lets face it, it is hard to break down a rapid exchange of blows in the seconds before the next.