Machida (L) edged Rua (R) in a close bout (Susana Capra/Capra Photo)
The Machida Era nearly ended before it started.
Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida earned a narrow unanimous decision - if there is such a thing - over Mauricio "Shogun" Rua on Saturday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles to retain the UFC light-heavyweight champion's belt.
The fact is Machida won 48-47 on all three judges' cards.
The reality is the majority in attendance did not agree with the decision, which was greeted with significant boos from a crowd that chanted Machida's name at times throughout the early portion of the fight but later appeared to be pulling for Rua, the former Pride champion.
"It was the most difficult fight that I have had in the UFC," Machida said after increasing his record to 16-0. He then basically apologized to the crowd: "We have three (judges). If the three give me the win, sorry guys."
Without the mystique of Machida's karate style and the lack of pundits' respect afforded Rua, this basically was a boring fight. If future challengers follow the Rua game plan, Machida is quickly going to hear the complaints his pal Anderson Silva, the middleweight champ, heard when he won boring.
Rua stunted his own aggressive style by laying back and countering the counter-striker with consistent low kicks and body kicks. However, there was more pawing with the fighters' respective front hands than we have seen since short-armed dinosaurs did battle in the Mesozoic Era.
The drama was that Rua appeared to be winning, as did those watching in the Staples Center, the broadcasters and pretty much everyone outside of the three judges and the Machida camp.
"My corner told me I was winning the rounds," Rua said. "But a fight is a fight, and what can you do?
"I trained hard for this fight for four months. ... Lyoto is a great fighter and I trained very hard in practice, about a thousand kicks per day. That was the plan."
"It's a tough thing right now," UFC president Dana White said of the judges scoring. "We have absolutely no say."
White does have a say in match-making, and he assured fans that there will be a rematch put together on short order.
"Of course I am thinking about the rematch. I have been thinking about the rematch since the fight was called," Rua said. "Everybody thinks that I won the fight, so I would do the same strategy and hopefully get the win.
"We have been watching him and studying his fights for five months. We came to the conclusion on the strategy and agreed that it would work. I am very happy with my performance but very disappointed in the loss."
Machida already started getting ready for the rematch by the time he got back to the locker room.
"Of course. If the UFC decides we should have a rematch, then let's have a rematch," the champion said. "Like I've said before, you cannot please everybody. My next fight, I will try to make a better performance. I have already been corrected in the back (room) by my father and Anderson. You always have to keep learning."
Shogun's plan was carried out to near perfection, and while it did not result in a victory for Rua it revealed two things about his opponent: Machida is beatable; and, for someone to beat him, the action in the Octagon is going to bore us to tears.
Machida's best asset is his astounding defense, an extension of perhaps the game's best footwork. He is so difficult to hit with punches that Rua nearly removed that offensive aspect from his plan of attack. Rua made only a couple of lackluster takedown attempts.
So that left a standup fight in which one of the competitors did not land - or even attempt - a significant amount of punches.
No submission attempts plus no hand strikes equals no excitement.
Funny thing is, the author is a fan of winning ugly and defensive styles not only in MMA, but also in most sports. I'll take the drama of a well-played 1-0 NHL game, a 12-10 defensive slugfest in the NFL or a classic pitchers duel in baseball any day.
If Machida had no mystery and no UFC belt, we would not be talking at all about this fight. At least it would only have been three rounds.
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