The Dragon emerges from UFC on Fox 4 as the #1 Contender | UFC News
By: Chris Taylor
Earlier this week, UFC president Dana White stated that “whoever wins the most impressively” from the contests involving Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Brandon Vera and Lyoto Machida vs. Ryan Bader would be deemed the #1 contender for the Light Heavyweight title.
Machida and Bader were the first to take to the octagon last night and that fight resulted in an emphatic KO being delivered by the former champion Machida. That devastating finish from Lyoto was followed by a hard fought 4th round TKO delivered by Shogun Rua, to his very game opponent Brandon Vera.
After watching the two main event bouts, I was torn as to which was ultimately more impressive. Lyoto’s knockout of Ryan Bader was nothing less than devastating, but that said, Bader more less threw himself into the loss column yesterday by leaping into Machida’s right hand.
Shogun on the other hand was fighting a veteran who had everything to gain and nothing to lose in Brandon Vera. Vera fought like a man whose career and families well being were on the line. The two men went back and forth in a serious battle that lasted until the closing stages of the 4th round, where Shogun was able to finish the main event with the TKO stoppage, after Vera was seemingly overwhelmed by fatigue and punishment.
Though I found some difficulty deciphering whose win was more impressive, the UFC and president Dana White had no such problem. They declared immediately following the event that indeed Lyoto Machida was the new #1 contender and that he would be fighting the winner of Jon Jones vs. Dan Henderson.
Lyoto stated that he has no preference in regards to who he faces next (Jones or Henderson), but he did state “I have to improve my wrestling”. One can only hope that a rematch between Jones and Machida would prove more competitive than their first meeting at UFC 140, where Jones choked Machida out cold in the second round.
We won’t know until September 1st who in fact the “Dragon” will be facing for the light heavyweight title, but until then we can always speculate. Who do you think Lyoto will be facing Penn Nation and did the UFC make the right call giving the “Dragon” the shot over Shogun? Let’s hear it..
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War machida
Machida is coming for the title you bitch ass niggas..hahaha
Big Shogun fan gutted when I first heared that he isn’t the number 1 guy to fight for the bellt, but during the press conference he never looked to bothered so can’t really complain over the descion.
After Hendo Ko’s Bones, Machida vs Hendo should be a great fight. Hendo by overhand left to the chin night night… Down goes Jones down goes Jones!
We all know how Hendo likes to throw overhand lefts O.o
hendo sorry i just dont think he can do it…he may hit jon harder then ever but jon will over come an get him out of the game…machida will be the next champ sorry silva your buddies will bump heads one more time…who will you back in this fight? machida will make you eat your works on no brizilen can beat jon…
lmfao
Lyoto won b/c he threw a lucky punch but shogun knocked brandon vera out with skill while he was tired and lyoto got the shot b/s if u don’t agree with what I wrote rewatch the fights and u will
Lucky punch? Okaaaaaay LOL
Actually it was lucky lyoto only threw like 25 strikes i was at the event and only when the crowd roared with booos did bader rush in and get hit long live shogun good fight vera
Being a Shogun fan I have to disagree with your “Lucky Punch”. That’s Machida’s style counter punching, so it wasn’t lucky it was him dictating the fight and finishing his opponent. Shogun wasn’t in his game, he even apologized after for sucking and dodged the question from JoRo about why he’s sorry?. Like I said I’m a shogun fan and I wouldn’t want him to fight Jones until he’s 100% game on. No fu*kn apologies after win or lose. Ya know.. Dude and Shogun’s knock out wasn’t skilled Vera took a personal time out to fix his mouth price and got knocked out because you don’t stop till the Ref tells you to stop. Watch that again.!
That guy has been striking before puberty. Lucky punch my ass.
he landed a straight right how is that luck
Luck will favor the prepared mjnd.
luck. you think his hand had a mind of its own and just with sheer wild spirit it arose and slapped bader in the snout?
you mthrfkr
Lucky… Bahahhahahhaha dude you must be dreaming
Machida’s gameplan worked out really well against Bader. Bader could not or would not get a takedown so he tried to stand and bang with Machida. Machida has got to be one of the most frustrating fighters to fight because of his elusiveness. The knockout was impressive however bader overcome with frustration made a huge amateur mistake and ran right into machidas fist. I believe Shogun deserves the number one contender spot because of how much heart he showed in that fight. It took a lot to finish the fight, but he did. Both Vera and Shogun showed an incredible amount of heart. Plus who wants to watch Machida dance around the ring for 25 minutes, Not this guy. However credit is due for his knockout.
Ill have to disagree in shoguns first fight with jones he got gassed and then got dominated in the fight. in this fight it shows his cardio has not improved so it’ll be a repeat. Plus heart doesn’t win fights!!!!!!!!!
Damn straight! Straight right hands win fights lol
i know Lyoto was very impressive yesterday but he’s on a one fight winning streak… it should’ve been Rua vs Machida III as a title elimination.
To all those saying Rua was more deserving of the title shot, who do you think has a better chance of beating Jones? Machida at least won the first round against him and completely outclassed him in standup. Shogun, on the other hand, was completely dominated in every aspect of the fight.
It makes a lot more sense to give the shot to Lyoto.
Shogun was coming off of knee surgery. Every time he has surgery his next fight he looks like a retard and can’t do anything. Remember the first fight with forrest? I’d like to see shogun fight him without coming off of knee surgery.
Shogun already beat Machida twice… Nuff said.
Shogun beat machida once ad lost to him once.. Dipshit
I disagree, Shogun won the first fight 3 rounds to 2, my opinion is useless though.
Machida deserves the shot. Ryan Bader is not a chump, the dude has skills and Machida made him look like an amateur, I’d say that is a definition of impressive.
Shogun had to go deep to drag away that win from Vera. It was a great fight by both fighters, but if that’s what he would bring to fight Jones/Hendo then I think it’s just not enough. So all in all less impressive.
In the shogun jones fight Hua was fighting the flu. However its not likely he would have beat jones, jones 85 inch reach also didnt bode well for hua. Its hard for anyone to beat jones when he has almost a 10 inch reach advantage over anyone he fights lol.
Shogun is always fighting some sort of injury/illness. He hasnt been in great shape since Pride.
His name is RUA -__-
oppps!
This is so dumb. Machida is 2-3 in his last five fights. He beats Randy couture and ryan bader and gets a title shot again? He already got choked uncoscious by the champ. The only way this makes sense is if hendo wins. Gustafon should get the next shot at jones.
He also was the only one of the four who managed to win a round. Machida was doing pretty good up until he made a mistake and got choked out.
ALEXANDER GUSTUFFSON GETS NO CONSIDERATION????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? INSTEAD BRING THE SAME TWO GUYS THAT GOT ****ED UP THE FIRST TIME AGAIN?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????HEY DANA LORENZEO U ****ED UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Machida may have a shady record in the last 5 fights, but he has been looking great in the last 3 fights… Jones included.. He made a mistake and ate a choke for it, but like everyone has pointed out he was the only person int he last several fights to beat Jones in a round and show the weaknesses in Jones’ striking skills.
Gustuffson is quite exciting and will be a contender, but not yet… He needs to cut his teeth on the top 10 a bit more before he deserves a shot (this is a similar discussion as the one going on in the MW division with people thinking Weidman already deserves a shot before he cuts his teeth on the top 10 in his division some more).
No one is saying Machida will win, but he is an incredibly cerebral fighter, and if anyone knows how to learn from their mistakes and right the course, its Machida… Rua is getting a bit tired, as can be seen from his lack of conditioning, his tendency to get gassed real quick, and his constant injuries. Amazing fighter, and yes he did beat Machida once (and some would say twice), but while Rua has been looking worse for the wear, if you look at Machida’s conditioning/shape over the last several fights, and his determination, it becomes clear who is in a more likely position of the two to pull something out of a hat and beat Jones (that is if he manages to stay clear of the H-Bomb… Which I hope he doesn’t… as a Machida/Hendo fight would be great, and then maybe Jones would do what he should… be fair and move to HW).
Sorry for the long message all…
How about you gustafsson take back his loss to phil davis before he even gets a shot at jones.. he looks impressive, but he has work to do.. jones is an even stronger wrestler than phil davis, i don’t think gustafsson has the experience yet.
Not a good fight from either Bader or Machida. Machida looked no different to me, hasn’t learned anything from his mistakes, contrary to what he’s said, and if he fights Jones, he’s good as dead, rnd 2, IMO. I was hoping for more from him. Even if he drops to MW, he doesn’t stand a chance against Silva. Now i see both divisions have champs that nobody stands a chance against and make for a very dull ufc. I guess GSP and Silva, or Jones and Silva are the only real fights worth seeing atm. Or any fight with a Brazilian named Aldo or Barao – lol.