Lyoto Machida vs. “Shogun” Rua Rematch Set for May 1 in Montreal
A rematch between UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua will headline a May 1 UFC event in Montreal, Canada, UFC President Dana White confirmed with Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel on Wednesday.
Machida retained the 205-pound title with a controversial unanimous decision win over Rua in their first meeting at UFC 104 in October.
Machida (16-0) has remained undefeated with eight-straight UFC victories, including wins over Tito Ortiz, Thiago Silva, and then title-holder Rashad Evans.
A PRIDE veteran, Rua (18-4) was upset by Forrest Griffin in his UFC debut in 2007 but rebounded with back-to-back wins over Mark Coleman and Chuck Liddell before falling to Machida in a bout most observers scored in Shogun’s favor.
The rematch was expected to take place in January at UFC 108, but was postponed after Machida underwent surgery to repair a hand injury suffered in his October win.
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Cool to see that the UFC is on the money when it comes to logistics.
We haven’t even seen Thanksgiving yet, and Dana is dropping fights for MayDay.
Although, shouldn’t the Greatness be headlining UFC events in Montreal?
The Greatness will probably fight before then.
I am very surprised to see that GSP may not be fighting on a Montreal card. Perhaps the UFC knows it’s a guaranteed sell-out and they don’t need his draw. I agree Justin, with headliners dropping like flies due to injuries and such, GSP will be put on a card early in the new year.
No injury suspension to Hardy only helps the situation.
Kosckeck is better than Hardy whether you like him or not.Dana is just Europe crazy for the money. the TUF season is proof. It had Britains best and there are a lot better fighters than what Dana picked for the US team. Swick had to fight Hardy in England, that was bull. Bisping gets his comeback in England. Dana is trying to make a great british fighter emerge,so he can have the market,but unless GSP pulls another Matt Serra,it will be a while before a Brit is a champ. but just wait till someone like,alves, koschek or GSP fight Hardy and we see him fall right to the middle of the pack. Ross is their only Hope and I think we still don’t quite know who he is yet but of the 3 best Brits he is the most talented. Hardy would get KOd by alves, and Kos and GSP would dominate him on the ground. Hardy was just a horrible match-up for Swick and everyone knew it, then throw in some jet-lag.
wow thats great cant wait, IMO Machida will take this, he will adjust to Shoguns style. neverless what a war that should be.!
In a lot of ways its a shame, but I don’t think that Mauricio Rua will ever come as close to winning the UFC 205 title as he did back at 104…
Don’t forget what happened the last time people doubted Shogun. Do not underestimate him. The superior fighter will win this match.
ONEWAYTIKE,
I agree, machida will definately have the chance to adjust to possibly the best gameplan ever when they meet again. That’s a damn shame dude. No one, not machida, not his trainers, not dana white and not all of the mma fans saw shoguns strategy coming. He caught the *former* champ
machida completely off guard and he executed it brilliantly! Shogun wont that fight dude.
It will be harder for shogun to kick machidas ass the way he did in their first fight because machida will be ready for shoguns spectacular muay thai. HOwever, i believe shogun has machidas number and will come back and reclaim what is rightfully his. He knows he won the fight so he’ll come in more confident and more comfortable and i’m sure he too will adjust his game to throw the *former* champ off again.
Great fight for the canadians they seem to always get the awesome fights.
I think Shogun found a chink in Machida’s armor and has now laid out the blue print on how to effectively score against Machida. I think the solution to the puzzle was, after exchanges, when Machida would back peddle to get out of harms way, Shogun chased him down and threw leg and body kicks. Other opponents would try to chase him down and try to land punches, but this would bring them into Machida’s striking range and lead to a bad night for them. The kicks allowed Shogun to not get counter struck as often when pursuing and proved very effective. Should be a great second fight and I can’t wait to see it. I think Shogun takes the decision next time.
We’ll see in April when he beats Machida again. I dont care what the judges said. I watched the fight 5 times and Machida got beat up and definately lost. Its as if the judges got the names mixed up. Clearly you havent watched many Shogun fights other than his injury-ridden UFC fights. He has great wrestling, he is very strong, KO power in all limbs, great jitz, and has beat way tougher guys. Overeem twice(2KOs),RAmpage(tko),Arona(KO),Liddell(KO)Randleman(submission)Rogerio Noguera(dec).He is clearly back to form and Machidas resume of fighters and KOs isnt nearly that impressive.
Machida is going to have to change up the way he;s going to attack Shogun because if Machida fights the same way all Shogun has to do is implement his same game plan as the first fight.
Machida doesn’t really use hooks or roundhose punches but uses more straight punches which is why Shogun was able to block them so well.
Machida’s stance aloowed Shogun to get him with all those leg kicks so whether Machida wants to accept it or not he really is going to have to change a couple of things before this fight or else he’ll once again be on the receiving end of some brutal leg kicks again.
Shogun should work more on his takedown offense this time around because i’m sure tha Machida will be expecting leg kicks and might want to reverse that on Shogun.
I’m sure that both Machida and Shogun won’t let this fight go to a decision especially Shogun because he does not want to get robbed twice.
Shogun needs to stay out of Machida’s range but keep it at just the rifght distance so he can still score some leg kicks. What Shogun should also do is work more on his Boxing because if Machida indeed does exppect leg kicks then he’ll problably have his hands a bit lower than usual in anticipation of leg kicks where then Shogun could capitalize and try to do some damage with his hands.
Machida needs to press the fight waaay more this time and put some pressure on Shogun and maybe Machida needs to try and go to the ground because that might be the last thing that the Shogun camp expects. Machida also needs to change up his stance if he wants to avoid getting kicked all night and also should focus on hooks and over hand punches that can penetrate Shogun’s blocks because the reason why Shogun blocked all of Machida’s punches is because Machida was only throwing straight punches and predictable uppercuts that Shogun saw a mile away.
I’m almost sure that Machida will try and use his style of kicks in this fight to set-up his combination of left kick-straight punch, but i’ll bet that we’ll see a very different approach from Machida this time around but not so much of a different approach from Shogun because this time Machida is the one that will have to adapt to Shogun’s style not the other way around.
This fight will end in the 1st or 2nd roung by ko for sure..
Shogun via tko or ko in the 1st or early 2nd.
i think your right about shogun trying to end the fight rather then go to decision which i think will cost him the fight. He is going to be to aggresive and he will get caught as oppose to last time he was patient and and picked his shots, but you never know anything can happen.
Thank you,u r exactly right.
Sucks we have to wait til May, I can’t wait hopefully Shogun beats him worse this time.
This will be a very exciting fight now that both of these guys no what to expect its going to be a war. Shogun was phenomenal that night and hes going to come out like a monster. Machida just needs to loosen up and do what he did against Rashad evans. Going to be a great fight even tho yes it is far away it is worth the wait.
News flash Rashad isn’t that great. He beat a washed up Liddell and Forrest who really isnt top 5 if top ten. YOu saw the fight, you know Shogun won and there shouldnt even be a rematch cause it wasnt even close. The only reason there is, is because everyone knows machida got beat. Shogun and Rogerio are the 2 best in the UFC at 205. With more fights you will see how good little nog is.
machida better change his game plan if he fights like he did last time he should loose the fight if the judges do their job right
I saw it coming…. I think Mk4 did too
the key for machida winning rematch with rua is everytime rua throws a kick is for machida to throw roundhouse kick to the side of the knee on the leg planted holding all of ruas weight game over rua will stop kicking or will be rolling on the mat holding his knee. rua was my favorite in pride and machida in ufc. two great fighters may the best man win.
Yeah a world champ Muy tai fighter like Shogun will be baffled by that gameplan, quick call Machida and tell him right away Einstein.