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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UFC officials have confirmed that Lyoto Machida will need surgery on one of his hands, thus delaying the planned middleweight championship rematch with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (18-4). Machida injured his hand during his controversial win over Rua during UFC 104 Saturday in Los Angeles.

White was hopeful to get the rematch in as soon as Jan. 2, when the company has one of its traditional major events of the year at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Rua had agreed to the date, but Machida’s surgery eliminates whatever slim possibility there was that he would be fully recovered and ready in time for that date. Right now, it is not known when the fight would be able to take place.

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“I thought “Shogun” won the fight. I think there will be a rematch.” said UFC President Dana White at the post-fight press conference. “I talked to both of them and they both agreed to a rematch.”

The Machida-Rua rematch will happen “as fast as we can,” according to White, with an official date to be determined in the coming weeks as both fighters determine when they’ll be able to return to the Octagon.

Light heavyweight champ Lyoto Machida (202.5) and challenger Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (204.5) successfully made weight for the UFC 104 main event, as did co-headliners Cain Velasquez (238) and Ben Rothwell (265).

Welterweight knockout artist Anthony Johnson will likely be moving to middleweight for his next bout after weighing in 6 pounds over the division’s 170 pound limit. Johnson will forfeit 20 percent of his purse to opponent Yoshiyuki Yoshida, who weighed in at 170 pounds, but the fight will go on as scheduled.

Lightweights Josh Neer and Gleison Tibau both narrowly missed the division’s 155 pound limit for their matchup, but have agreed that neither will need to shed extra weight, instead meeting at a 157 pound catchweight.

Stop back to MMAFrenzy.com tomorrow night beginning at 7pm ET for live coverage of UFC 104.

The official weigh-in results were:

MAIN CARD

• 205: Lyoto Machida (c) (202.5) vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (204.5)
  UFC Light Heavyweight Championship
• 265: Cain Velasquez (238) vs. Ben Rothwell (265)
• 155: Joe Stevenson (155.5) vs. Spencer Fisher (155)
• 170: Anthony Johnson (176) vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida (170)*
• 155: Josh Neer (156.5) vs. Gleison Tibau (157)**

PRELIMINARY CARD

• 205: Ryan Bader (205) vs. Eric Schafer (205.5)
• 265: Antoni Hardonk (249.5) vs. Patrick Barry (237)
• 185: Yushin Okami (185) vs. Chael Sonnen (185)
• 185: Jorge Rivera (185) vs. Rob Kimmons (185)
• 205: Kyle Kingsbury (205.5) vs. Razak Al-Hassan (204.5)
• 265: Stefan Struve (243.5) vs. Chase Gormley (262)

* Johnson, who weighed in 6 pounds over the welterweight limit, will forfeit 20% of his purse to Yoshida for failing to make weight, but the fight will go on as scheduled.
** Neer and Tibau have agreed to fight at a catchweight of 157-pounds after both weighed in over the lightweight limit.

Pictured: Lyoto Machida

“Lyoto is a nice guy and we’ve known each other for a while,” said Rua. “Even though we are friends, I got very surprised to see him on the plane and actually sitting next to me for the whole flight from Brazil to here. It was a funny situation, but we’re both professionals, we’re training very hard and we both want the same goal, so we’re gonna do our best.”

Machida improved to 15-0 in May with a second-round knockout of title-holder Rashad Evans, employing his elusive Karate-influenced style that has allowed him to win seven-straight bouts since joining the UFC in 2007, with his latest victory being referred by many as the start of the “Machida Era”.

“Lyoto is a standup fighter,” commented Rua. “I’m a standup fighter myself, but he comes from karate and is a very good counterstriker; he fights in a very efficient style. I’m a Muay Thai fighter and I fight much more in a pressing style by being aggressive. I think this is a big motivation for me, to show and prove that Muay Thai can be very efficient against his style.

“Each fight is a different story,” Rua continued. “To fight Chuck Liddell I believed I needed to emphasize boxing, and Sao Paulo has the best boxing in Brazil, so I went there to train and to prepare. For this fight against Lyoto I think I need different aspects of training, so me and my team talked about it and we decided to stay in Curitiba for this fight. My team is my team, but I’ll go wherever is best for my strategy and my opponent, and I’ll bring my team with me.”

A longtime PRIDE veteran, Rua looked unimpressive in losing his UFC debut to Forrest Griffin in late-2007 after previously winning five-straight, but back-to-back TKOs of Mark Coleman and Chuck Liddell in 2009 have propelled him into title contention.

“My style is karate,” said Machida “My personal style is counterstriking. Shogun is a very aggressive fighter with good knees, good punching, but I’ll try to push him into my style.

“I keep training a lot for the night of the fight,” Machida concluded. “This is my first title defense and I hope I’ll win. My opponent is tough, a great person, very good on the ground and (in his) striking, but I know one thing – I’ll keep doing my homework.”

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HT: UFC.com

The day’s events kick off at 8am PT, as fans can tune in to hear UFC President Dana White on KROQ’s Kevin & Bean show. Then, at 9:20am PT, White will be joined by UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida and challenger Mauricio “Shogun” Rua on KTLA’s morning show. Finally, at noon, Machida, Rua, Cain Velasquez, and Ben Rothwell will meet the media for the UFC 104 press conference.

Though most of the focus at the press conference will be on UFC 104, White headed to Los Angeles on Monday with hopes of finalizing a deal with an undisclosed network to air a November event headlined by BJ Penn vs. Diego Sanchez. If finished, the deal could be announced as early as today.

Stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com for UFC news when/if it is announced later today.

Light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida will defend his title against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in the pay-per-view headliner, while a heavyweight matchup between Cain Velasquez and Ben Rothwell was also confirmed for the card.

Tickets for UFC 104 will go on sale to the public on Saturday, August 29 at 10 am PT through Ticketmaster and will be priced from $50 to $600. UFC Fight Club members can purchase tickets beginning at 10am on Thursday, August 27, while UFC newsletter subscribers have access to tickets using the presale password “DRAGON” beginning on Friday, August 28 at 10am.

For the latest UFC 104 rumors check out the MMAFrenzy.com UFC rumors section.

As a guest on “Inside the Octagon” hosted by TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah, White also confirmed that light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida will defend his title on October 24 in Los Angeles against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and maintained that he’d prefer Chuck Liddell retire, though the most surprising news was the announcement that Belfort may again be competing inside the Octagon.

Currently under contract with Affliction and scheduled to fight Jorge Santiago on August 1 at Affliction: Trilogy, Belfort has won four-straight fights since 2007, defeating Ivan Serati and James Zikic at light heavyweight before moving to middleweight in July 2008 with a second-round knockout of Terry Martin. In January, Belfort dispatched of veteran Matt Lindland via knockout in just 37-seconds.

Belfort won the UFC light heavyweight title in 2004 with a first-round cut TKO of Randy Couture, but lost the belt to Couture in a rematch later that year via third-round doctor’s stoppage. “The Phenom” left the UFC following a split-decision loss to Tito Ortiz, then suffered another loss to Alistair Overeem in PRIDE. Belfort went 2-2 with another loss to Overeem and a defeat to Dan Henderson before his recent four-fight win streak. He holds previous notable wins over Marvin Eastman, Bobby Southworth, Heath Herring, Wanderlei Silva, and Gilbert Yvel.

According to White, Silva wishes to remain at 185-pounds following his UFC 101 light heavyweight bout against Forrest Griffin and should Belfort win his August bout he could be fast-tracked to a middleweight title shot.

[Pictured: Vitor Belfort]

During yesterday’s media conference call announcing Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans as coaches for The Ultimate Fighter 10, UFC President Dana White dismissed reports that Machida would fight at UFC 103,  but confirmed they were working on Machida’s first title defense and expected to announce the matchup in the coming days.

UFC 104 is scheduled to take place on October 24th at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

[Pictured: Mauricio "Shogun" Rua]

Rua was in the UFC offices earlier this week and may have been negotiating to fight Machida at the fall event, which is now rumored to take place in Texas and currently lacks a main event.

The winner of Jackson-Evans and Machida-Rua would then meet next year.

[Pictured: Mauricio "Shougun" Rua and UFC President Dana White on Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at the UFC offices in Las Vegas]