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The date for Shogun to get his belt has been set. Bit early, was excited to hear the news so made the thread anyway.

“Lyoto Machida will fight May 1 in Montreal against ‘Shogun’,” Dana White told Yahoo! Sports on Wednesday.

White had promised a rematch as soon as possible after the unbeaten Machida defeated Rua in a unanimous but highly debated decision on Oct. 24 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. White was one of many onlookers who believed Rua had won the fight.

All three judges disagreed, allowing Machida to retain his championship, giving Machida scores of 48-47 across the baord.

A rematch was tentatively scheduled for Jan 2, 2010 in Las Vegas, but was postponed while Machida recovered from surgery to repair a broken hand.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news;_ylt=A ... &type=lgns

If they add one more solid fight to this card I'll definitely be going!

That's awesome. Shame they couldn't get GSP on the card, though. Maybe that changes. Regardless, I'll be there.

Machida will prolly come out and win this one fair and square . He knows he shoulda lost that last one and he is better that what he showed in that fight

sh00n wrote:That's awesome. Shame they couldn't get GSP on the card, though.
Maybe that changes. Regardless, I'll be there.

when is the GSP vs Hardy fight ? If early in 2010, maybe they add GSP vs Fitch in a rematch after GSP destroys Hardy. IMO Hardy is not a legit title contender yet. I think Fitch should get a rematch vs GSP. GSP has dominated this div and I think 4 fighters are legit at taking his title away. Fitch(GSP won first match) Koscheck(GSP won first match) Kampmann and Swick. Both Fitch and Kos have improved a lot since they lost to GSP.

GSP/Hardy is tentatively set for February. Depending on how that fight goes I think 2 months is too quick a turnaround for GSP.

And of the guys you mentioned I think only Fitch or Kos have any hope of dethroning him. Swick got exposed against Hardy, he still has good TDD but if Hardy can control him around the ring like that then GSP should have no problem. And Kampmann hasn't really proved much in the division yet to warrant a title shot.

Also, out of Kos or Fitch I'm more interested in seeing Kos, as I think he's improved a lot more from the fighter he was when he faced GSP than Fitch has. Fitch, though if he keeps beating up other guys in the division has to get another shot at some point. Maybe an Alves/Fitch fight down the line to determine who gets their rematch.

2009NBAChamps wrote:GSP/Hardy is tentatively set for February.Depending on how that fight goes I think 2 months is too quick a turnaround for GSP.

And of the guys you mentioned I think only Fitch or Kos have any hope of dethroning him. Swick got exposed against Hardy, he still has good TDD but if Hardy can control him around the ring like that then GSP should have no problem. And Kampmann hasn't really proved much in the division yet to warrant a title shot.

Also, out of Kos or Fitch I'm more interested in seeing Kos, as I think he's improved a lot more from the fighter he was when he faced GSP than Fitch has. Fitch, though if he keeps beating up other guys in the division has to get another shot at some point. Maybe an Alves/Fitch fight down the line to determine who gets their rematch.

K, thanks. it might not, GSP has always been in great shape and he's in a good camp. Hardy does not stand a chance vs GSP, that fight will be over in the first rd.

Machida ftw. Machida will be able to handle the low kicks now, and Rua needs to actually land some combinations to win this fight, and I just don't see him getting the better of most of them. The more aggressive you are, the more vulnerable you are to Machida Karate!

It's certainly not a foregone conclusion that Rua wins this fight. I think Machida redeems himself and gets a decisive victory this time.

I'm not sure I really need to see an immediate rematch, to be honest. I suppose it's the fair thing to do for Shogun, but I think I would have preferred to see them against other opponents. I guess there isn't anyone else quite ready for a title shot though. I think Rampage vs. Forrest was more worthy of an immediate rematch, especially since it was the champ who lost the belt, but with Rampage's incident and Rashad's emergence as a #1 contender (with Machida at that level at the time as well), the circumstances were different.

I don't see Machida losing this one.

I think that fight was a case of the best Shogun we've seen since Pride, and the worst we've seen Machida in the UFC. That thrown together saw the fight we got.

Even if Shogun comes back as good as he was in that fight (which I really do doubt, I think he was just on form that day, and it wasn't even enough to win the fight decisively) Machida surely will make some form of come back.

We'll see, but given the 2nd crack at the whip, I don't see it going the same way (in terms of the fight, not the decision).

damo[23] wrote:I don't see Machida losing this one.

I think that fight was a case of the best Shogun we've seen since Pride, and the worst we've seen Machida in the UFC. That thrown together saw the fight we got.

Even if Shogun comes back as good as he was in that fight (which I really do doubt, I think he was just on form that day, and it wasn't even enough to win the fight decisively) Machida surely will make some form of come back.

We'll see, but given the 2nd crack at the whip, I don't see it going the same way (in terms of the fight, not the decision).

What did Machida have working against him? He was fully prepared and got it handed to him.

Shogun had a great gameplan which no doubt in the rematch Machida will be better prepared to deal with, but I'm sure as well that Shogun will come up with additional tactics that have a good chance of working as well.

It's tough to take on a guy like Machida and take too many chances, but I think in the rematch Shogun will be more aggressive which will either lead to a decisive finish for him, or against him.

Also, I think this rematch had to happen based on the controversy surrounding it. A lot more people were upset over this decision than the Forrest/Rampage fight (ironic how both challengers used similar strategies, yet opposite results).

2009NBAChamps wrote:

damo[23] wrote:I don't see Machida losing this one.

I think that fight was a case of the best Shogun we've seen since Pride, and the worst we've seen Machida in the UFC. That thrown together saw the fight we got.

Even if Shogun comes back as good as he was in that fight (which I really do doubt, I think he was just on form that day, and it wasn't even enough to win the fight decisively) Machida surely will make some form of come back.

We'll see, but given the 2nd crack at the whip, I don't see it going the same way (in terms of the fight, not the decision).

What did Machida have working against him? He was fully prepared and got it handed to him.

Shogun had a great gameplan which no doubt in the rematch Machida will be better prepared to deal with, but I'm sure as well that Shogun will come up with additional tactics that have a good chance of working as well.

It's tough to take on a guy like Machida and take too many chances, but I think in the rematch Shogun will be more aggressive which will either lead to a decisive finish for him, or against him.

Also, I think this rematch had to happen based on the controversy surrounding it. A lot more people were upset over this decision than the Forrest/Rampage fight (ironic how both challengers used similar strategies, yet opposite results).

IMO Forrest did more damage and clearly won that fight .

What do you mean "what did he have working against him". Its like anything, you don't necessarily always perform to the best of your ability every time. Shogun was good, but lets not make it out like he "neutralised" what Machida is as a fighter, Lyoto clearly was not on form, could have been a case of over training, under training, nerves (of defending the belt) lack of focus (with all the new attention he's getting) or whatever, but clearly he was not the fighter he showed up to gaining that belt.

I am not disputing the result, or that Shogun fought an excellent fight. But that's it, that's the best we've seen him in a while, and by far and away the worst we've seen Machida fight, and yet while we lean towards a Shogun decision, it wasn't the worlds most decisive victory.

Shogun has to bring it in the second fight, possibly more so, because I severely doubt we see Machida fight that badly again, and the same performance by Shogun may well not be enough to get the win. If Machida fights at what we expect from him ... well we'll see won't we.

And anyway, I think this whole "to be the champ you have to BEAT the champ" thing has gone out the window, we've seen some terrible judging recently. For a fight like Forrest Rampage, it was close, but I think most felt Forrest won. In the Shogun Machida fight, it was a bad decision for most (me included).

Lyoto won more of the combination exchanges. For Rua to win, he will have to do more then just land effective counters.

People compare it to Forrest-Jackson, but the difference is that Forest used leg kicks to injure Jackson early, then went off on him. Rua injured Lyoto with leg kicks later, then danced around the 5th round doing **** all.

Rua will either have to lay in a KO strike, or he will have to be more aggressive and win more of the combination exchanges. Otherwise, he should be prepared to suffer another decision loss.

It will be interesting to see if this next fight ends up going to the ground somehow also. If Rua is focused on beating Lyoto in kick boxing though, he will have to bring his A game since he needs to be more aggressive to win, but ill placed aggression is when Machida makes you pay.

Does Machida take it to the ground in this fight?

Shaazzam wrote:Does Machida take it to the ground in this fight?

Machida take Shogun to the ground? Not a smart plan.

Cammo101 wrote:

Shaazzam wrote:Does Machida take it to the ground in this fight?

Machida take Shogun to the ground? Not a smart plan.

Lyoto's shown that he's crazy quick on the ground and in scrambles, so I'm not so sure that going the ground would be a distinct advantage to either fighter.

I think there is more of a chance Shogun tries to take it to ground in this fight, so he can score some more decisive points. Shogun has yet to show he can score combo strikes against Machida, and I believe the reason he didnt was because Machida is an amazing counter striker and extremely fast, and such a task would be very hard. However, the reverse could apply if Machida feels he is in trouble with the judges, he could try to take it to the ground as well instead of trying to score a TKO.

Spartan13 wrote:I think there is more of a chance Shogun tries to take it to ground in this fight, so he can score some more decisive points. Shogun has yet to show he can score combo strikes against Machida, and I believe the reason he didnt was because Machida is an amazing counter striker and extremely fast, and such a task would be very hard. However, the reverse could apply if Machida feels he is in trouble with the judges, he could try to take it to the ground as well instead of trying to score a TKO.

I asked if Machide would go to the ground because it looked like that Rua tried in the first fight but was unable to beat Machida's sprawl. I just remember Machida's comments about changing his strategy for the next one and figured, hey the first fight was pure standup. Would Machida try and roll with Rua?

That would be awesome to see IMO. I know Rua has a mad ground and it would be interesting to see how Machida stacks up.

Machida is trained in Nogueira Ju-Jitsu. I would'nt count him out on the ground to anyone, but it is a matter of personal pride for Machida to win using Karate, so unless he feels he is losing the fight standing, I doubt he will try to take it to the ground.