Lyoto Machida stands out, wins title shot on thrilling UFC on Fox 4 card

by Kevin Iole

LOS ANGELES – After every weigh-in, UFC president Dana White gathers his fighters and delivers a short motivational speech.
On Friday, he delivered a very succinct message to those who would be fighting the next night on the UFC on Fox 4 card at Staples Center.
“If people are channel surfing, give them a reason to stay on Fox,” White told them.
Almost to a man, the fighters delivered. It was one of the finest top-to-bottom fight cards the UFC has put on in quite a while, filled with great action, dramatic finishes, devastating knockouts and expert submissions.
Lyoto Machida celebrates after knocking out Ryan Bader on Saturday. (Photo courtesy Tracy Lee)
At the end of the day, though, it was one of the UFC’s nearly forgotten former champs who was the star of the day.
Lyoto Machida knocked out Ryan Bader with a short and devastating right hand at 1:32 of the second, earning himself a shot at the belt he once owned. He’ll face the winner of the title match between champion Jon Jones and Dan Henderson that headlines UFC 151 on Sept. 1 in Las Vegas.
Bader didn’t lay a glove on Machida, who fought like the man who dazzled everyone as he rolled toward the title in 2008 and 2009. The victory left the normally low-key Brazilian brimming with confidence. He was dominated by Jones at UFC 140 last year, but if Jones beats Henderson, Machida said he’d feel good about his chances in the rematch.
“I have to have belief in myself,” Machida said. “For sure, I can beat him.”
The title shot was up for grabs Saturday, with White having said the fighter who looked the best among Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Brandon Vera, Machida and Bader would get it.
Rua knocked out Vera in the fourth round of a rousing battle in the main event, but White was more impressed by Machida’s near-flawless effort.
“Everything I’ve seen from Lyoto Machida looks like he wants this [title shot] worse than Shogun does,” White said. “Shogun hasn’t shown me anything that he’s demanding to fight Jon Jones again. Machida has, and more than just the knockout.
“You have this situation where, everybody’s an expert. Everybody’s a genius. Everybody’s got an opinion. But you can’t put a number or a ranking or a rating on someone’s heart and determination.”
There was plenty of heart shown on Saturday’s card, and not just in the final two fights. It was shown by Mike Swick, who hadn’t fought in 910 days because of a series of injuries and illness. At one point, he was told his career might be over because of esophageal spasm.
But Swick was determined to get back and was welcomed by the crowd of 16,080 with a standing ovation when he walked to the cage for his match with DaMarques Johnson.
Mike Swick puts the finishing touches on his win over DeMarques Johnson. (Courtesy Tracy Lee)
He then delivered an amazingly brutal knockout in the second round that had the place roaring. He caught a Johnson kick and quickly upended him. In nearly the same motion, Swick went after Johnson with a punch and landed a crunching right to the chin of a prone Johnson.
That first punch put Johnson out, but Swick landed two equally punishing shots, raising the ire of some who saw it. Paramedics brought in a stretcher to aid Johnson, but he ultimately walked out of the cage of his own accord.
That bit of minor controversy was the only bad part of what was a great night for Swick, who was highly apologetic at the post-fight news conference. In a similar situation in April, middleweight Brian Stann was in top position on Alessio Sakara and knocked him out. Though the referee didn’t notice, Stann did and didn’t fire another punch.
Swick’s situation was a bit different, as it happened more quickly.
“At the time, I was just in the mode and I definitely didn’t notice [he was out],” Swick said. “I’ve seen fighters where guys have done that and I was like, ‘Aw man, that’s excessive.’ But you know, I hit him with some very hard shots in the first and it didn’t put him down.
“He was still coming after me. When I had the opportunity, I was unloading everything I had trying to get the fight over with.”
Joe Lauzon and Jamie Varner also put on an exceptional show and anyone who had the remote in their hand and stopped on Fox during that fight surely would have stayed.
There was rarely a break in the match as the two fought a pitched battle that earned them a $50,000 bonus for Fight of the Night. Lauzon, who has a knack for earning fight night bonuses, added another $50,000 when he got the Submission of the Night, as well.
Joe Lauzon and Jamie Varner won Fight of the Night honors for their three-round thriller. (Courtesy Tracy Lee)
His triangle choke forced Varner to tap in the third, ending a fierce and high-paced battle that will have plenty of clips on the UFC’s next highlight reel.
Lauzon said his biggest concern was getting tagged by the heavy-handed Varner. However, Lauzon said Varner injured himself in the second round and that opened things for him.
“Boxing-wise, the only thing we were worried about was his overhand right,” Lauzon said. “In the second round, he broke his hand and I knew he hurt his hand. I had zero fear, zero worry about anything. It ended up being a little more boxing, but I always want to fight on the ground.
“I’m a jiu-jitsu guy first and I love to ground and pound and set up submissions. But, for me to go out there and shoot for the takedown right off the bat, he’s going to see it coming and I’m going to have to pay for it. I have to use my head to set up my takedowns.”
Rua managed a number of takedowns on Vera, but that was only because Vera was stinging him with punches, kicks and knees. Rua had Vera in trouble early, but Vera lived up to his pre-fight promise to put on a main event-worthy performance.
Fans howled on Monday when White said on a conference call that the Rua-Vera winner would land a title shot. Vera entered the bout with a 1-2 mark with one no contest in his last four.
He took the criticism personally and fought like it on Saturday.
“There was a lot of trash coming out of people’s mouths,” Vera said. “Like Dana said, people forget real quick. Tonight, I wanted to put on the performance of my life. I got to fight one of my heroes and fight someone I looked up to since before I got into the game.
“The outcome wasn’t what I wanted, man, but I think you guys enjoyed the fight, man.”
It was that way round after round and fight after fight.
And when it was over, White struggled to put into words what it meant to him. The show went head-to-head with the Olympics on NBC, which are drawing massive television ratings.
The hard reality when the numbers finally come out will probably show that the best card competition-wise of the four that have been on Fox will have by far delivered the poorest numbers. White generally is ready to brawl with anyone who disses the UFC on Fox ratings, but he was philosophical after the great show on Saturday.
“I’m not even thinking about [the ratings],” White said. “We put on a great performance here in Los Angeles. The place was packed. Ticket sales were awesome. We did a $1.1 million gate for a fight card that was available to everyone on free television.
“These guys went out and put on an amazing show, [filled with] incredible performances. Whatever the number is, it is.”
After that kind of a show, it was hard not to be positive.
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Does Mauricio “Shogun” Rua have enough gas left in the tank for another title run?

by Kevin Iole

The calendar tells one story, but only a part of it. It notes, correctly, that Mauricio “Shogun” Rua is a young man, at 30 one who is in the midst of his athletic prime.
Rua, though, is a mixed martial arts fighter, and the age of a fighter is measured not only by a calendar but also by the type of abuse one has taken.
Though Rua insists he’s the same guy who is one of the sport’s icons, his recent history would suggest his decline could come very quickly.
Mauricio Rua is already bruised and bloody in the first round of his fight against Dan Henderson. (AP)
Rua fights Brandon Vera on Saturday at Staples Center in Los Angeles in the main event of UFC on Fox 4, with a shot at the light heavyweight title hanging in the balance.
UFC president Dana White said the man who looks the best in Saturday’s final two bouts, between Rua and Vera and another between Ryan Bader and Lyoto Machida, will fight the Jon Jones-Dan Henderson winner for the title.
By resume, Rua would be an easy choice. But Rua’s 2011 was a very difficult one, and few fighters come back strong after the kind of punishment he took in losses to Jones and Henderson.
Rua insists he’s physically fine and will be the same as he’s always been.
“I had a good break between fights and I am [not limited in any way],” Rua said. “The good thing is, I had no broken bones or other damage like that, so the recovery was simpler.”
Take that, however, with an extremely large grain of salt. The last thing a fighter wants to do before a bout is let an opponent know he’s vulnerable.
No fighter goes into a bout 100 percent. There are always bumps and bruises that are more annoying than anything else.
Rua, though, was battered and beaten so badly by Jones and Henderson that the question of whether he’ll ever be the same is a valid one.
The body can only take so much abuse. It’s why, for example, the average career of an NFL running back is so short. They are pounded repeatedly by extremely large, extremely fit men . It’s no different than running a car into the wall 10 times in a row. Sooner or later, the car will start to break down.
Rua’s bout with Henderson at UFC 139 last November is, arguably, the greatest match in MMA history. The fury with which they went at each other and the punishment each absorbed was jaw-dropping.
“[Rua's] last fight with Dan Henderson was one of the sickest fights I’ve ever seen in my life,” White said.
For Rua, that fight was only eight months after another bout in which he was beaten very severely. He lost his title to Jones at UFC 128 on March 19, 2011, in a frightful beating. His face wouldn’t have looked much, if any, worse than it did after the Jones fight had someone taken his head and slammed it into concrete eight or nine times.
Rua points to the fact that he beat Forrest Griffin after his loss to Jones as a sign that his body is fine. He took abuse from Jones, he said, but recovered to score a first-round stoppage of Griffin just five months later.
“When you are in this business, you are going to get injuries and you’re going to take blows,” Rua said. “But I made sure I took enough time to [recover]. I will be the same.”
But the adage that a fighter can get old overnight has some merit. And that is especially true for a fighter who has been in some of the kinds of high-pace, heavy contact type of battles Rua has been involved in.
If he’s the old Rua, history would suggest he should roll over Vera. Rua has nine wins over men who have held either a UFC, PRIDE or Strikeforce title and has been one of the elite men in his division for years.
He’s also motivated because he wants another shot at Jones. The one-sided loss he suffered doesn’t sit well with him. He’s got the pride that all elite athletes possess and wants another opportunity to prove himself.
His experience, though, has come in handy because he won’t make the mistake that Vera concedes he made when he fought Jones.
“The very first time I fought Jon Jones, I just thought he was some young punk and I didn’t respect him at all,” Vera said. “I didn’t even train hard and I didn’t even pay him a mind, and the outcome showed itself. I got what I deserved for thinking the way I did, so if and when I do get a chance to fight Mr. Jones again, I promise he will have my full and undivided attention.”
Rua isn’t one to make such a mistake. There has been a big outcry that Vera A) got a main event slot and B) could get a title shot with a win. Mostly, that’s because of his middling recent record, in which he’s 1-2 with a no-contest (which was a loss before it was changed after Thiago Silva failed a drug test) and his lack of a marquee win in the division.
Those same arguments can’t be made about Rua. And, to use Vera’s terminology, Vera has Rua’s full and undivided attention.
“He’s a very tough guy as he has proven many times in the past and he’s got a lot of [varied] skills,” Rua said. “I have complete respect for his ability and for what he’s done.”
That leaves one question unanswered: Will it be the Rua of old who shows up on Saturday? Or will it be an old Rua?
Until the bell rings, no one knows for sure, not even Rua himself.
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