UFC 104 had the makings of a classic light heavyweight title match. Undefeated champion Lyoto Machida was quickly becoming one of UFC’s top stars and a huge fan favorite.
Shogun Rua fought a championship style match and did all the little things to win the title. The fight goes to the score cards and the judges rule the Machida wins by unanimous decision. Are you out of your minds? Let the conspiracy nuts have their say because nobody outside of Machida’s corner and the judges thought he won.
Congratulations UFC, you have just taken one step closer to becoming more like boxing. Boxing is truly a sport mired in controversial outcomes. How many times have we seen a decision that made you think controversy or fix? Well, UFC can now claim this same distinction. There was no way Machida won by unanimous decision. Rua forced the action and was the aggressor for the majority of all 5 rounds. The crowd was so angered by the outcome that they booed Machida as if he were in on the fix. Machida is a great fighter but you can put the asterisk next to this victory because Shogun was clearly the winner in the eyes of everyone but the judges. Where does UFC go from here? How do they overcome this drama? This isn’t something you can sweep under the rug. Fans all over the internet are blasting the outcome. In my opinion, this is a small step backwards for UFC and MMA as a whole. This sport can’t develop the stigma of fixed outcomes as boxing had over the years.
For a sport that’s trying to tap out boxing, becoming more like boxing is not the answer…
What do you guys think of this outcome and comparison?
