A duel of the titans, this is how the main fight of UFC-104 can be summed up, a confrontation that the audience at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles, watched between the Brazilians Lyoto Machida e Mauricio Shogun. In the fight, valid for the Ultimate light heavyweight belt, five rounds with a lot of movement and plenty of balance in all rounds, with Lyoto coming out on top in a tight and controversial decision by the judges.
Right at the beginning of the fight, Lyoto used the well-known caution, looking for a counterattack after Shogun's entrances, who responded well to the attacks and at the end of the first round Machida felt his leg due to the low kicks applied by the Curitiba native. In the second round, the current champion came back better and used his knee strikes well, punishing Shogun, who was not intimidated and continued to fight. In the third round, Lyoto maintained the good pace of the previous round and had his best moment in the fight, where he punished the challenger with a good series of punches at close range.
When the fight seemed to be heading towards a successful title defense, Shogun recovered and showed a lot of aggression in the fourth round, looking to attack all the time, while Lyoto had difficulty maintaining his base, due to the kicks he suffered to his left leg. In the last round, the exchange was frank and Lyoto already had a cut on his mouth, even so, the karateka didn't run away from the fight and sought the fight. Shogun, on the other hand, tried to take advantage of the best moment to add points to the judges' scorecard. At the end of the fight, the athletes were applauded throughout the gym, and according to the three side referees, they won. Lyoto Machida by 48×47, a result that provoked some boos from those present.
After the fight, Lyoto highlighted that three judges noted the same score, which would be the fairest, however, he made it clear that he accepts a rematch against Shogun, who showed his dissatisfaction with the result, believing, based on what his corners said during combat.
In addition to the Brazilian fight for the light heavyweight belt, another Brazilian was in action at UFC-104. Showing a good takedown game, Gleison Tibau faced former boxer Josh Neer and from the start of the fight, he took his opponent to the ground several times, scoring important points, even though he was unable to keep the American on the ground. At the end of the fight, the Brazilian already appeared tired and did not maintain his initial pace, but his opponent, who was also tired, did not pose any danger to the native of Rio Grande do Norte who took the unanimous decision of the referees. Check out the full results:
Main card:
- Lyoto Machida defeated Mauricio “Shogun” Rua via unanimous decision by the judges;
- Cain Velazquez defeated Ben Rothwell by technical knockout 58 seconds into R2;
– Gleison Tibau defeated Josh Neer via unanimous decision by the judges;
– Joe Stevenson defeated Spencer Fisher by technical knockout at 1min03s of R2;
- Anthony Johnson defeated Yoshiyuki Yoshida by technical knockout 41s into R1;
Preliminary Card
- Ryan bader defeated Eric Schafer via unanimous decision;
– Patrick Barry defeated Antoni Hardonk by technical knockout 2min30s into R1;
- Chael Sonnen derrotou Yushin Okami in the unanimous decision of the judges;
– Jorge Rivera defeated Rob Kimmons by technical knockout at 1min53s of R1;
– Kyle Kingsbury defeated Razak Al-Hassan via split decision;
- Stefan struve finished Chase Gormley with a triangle choke 4min04s into R1.
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