I think Machida totally won that fight. I know he didn't really do too much, but he still did more than Davis. I mean the counter striking style is very good, but you can't only do that for the whole fight. Need to throw some offense too.

UFC judges need to start making more judgements a draw. Based on these fights where each opponent is scared of each other or doesn't engage the fight enough. Or give them no money. I'm tired of these types of sissy a$$ fighting. Sometimes you have to take a chance.

Judging them with some actual knowledge of MMA would be a good start.

old but i haven't seen this lol

I disagree. Machida and other fighters with the similar fighting style of being a counter puncher are heavily dependent on the other fighter being the aggressor and catching them in a mistake. A smart fighter when facing these guys would stay back and force them to move forward, but this is not their forte nor their comfort zone so then you get lackluster fights without any action. As the saying goes styles make fights....too bad Joe Silva messes this up more times than he should.

The only time I would give a fight of this nature to Machida is where he was the titleholder or <insert champion here>. I believe you have to take the belt away from the champion. You can't tie or split the decision. I'm looking at you Frankie "Two Times" Edgar. It has to be a KO,TKO, submission, or unanimous. Otherwise why stop at 5 rounds if its even? Sudden death rounds or OT if you will as the sudden death in cage fighting doesn't sound politically correct. Someone will fatigue and get caught.

I'll use Anderson Silva as an example. He is more of a counter fighter, but when he needs to he can be the agressor as well. I think that's what they should be doing more of. IMO if you hit your opponent more than he hits you and you do more damage, then you should get the nod for the decision (of course you also have to take into account takedowns, submission, ground work, etc). Yeah Davis should get some points for moving forward, but if he's till taking more significant shots than he's landing then that should count for something too.

I think there is a big difference between fighters that try to run away from the action and those that are more counter fighters. Seems like not all of the judges get this concept.

I agree, Anderson Silva will go for a finish and has a killer instinct to finish fights when he isn't to busy clowning around. However the Machida's out there they do not like to take those chances. You saw him flurry one time when he rushed Davis. If he would of done that just a few more times I believe you would have seen a stoppage. Instead he was content sitting back taking pot shots scoring points and going to decision. For a fighter it may be the smarter route to take but for entertainment value you might as well be watching GSP and Jake Shields.

I definitely agree with you there. It can be awesome if it results in a finish or even some big hits, but is pretty boring otherwise.

BTW - late to the party here, but I got Sonnen via wrestlef*ck.

This could be a good sign for Shogun and hopefully an exciting fight
Freddie Roach: Shogun doesn

I'd love to see a KO in that fight

Meh... Freddie Roach. He does a great job of hyping the guys that he trains. So much so that I believed GSP was going to knock out Koscheck. And Shields. And Diaz. I take that with a grain of salt.

I have gotten so pumped for recent fights for Shogun for many reasons, and the only time I have been thoroughly satisfied is the Machida fight. (I'm not convinced that Machida's chin is the greatest - he hardly gets hit and is very elusive, and the one time I remember him getting clocked is Shogun)

In my humble assessment, here are the keys to the fight that brought me to my prediction.

1) Gas tanks.

Let's be real here - Sonnen goes 200% for the whole fight from the opening bell to the final buzzer. While Shogun looked like he held his own cardio wise against Hendo (and I'm a big fan of Hendo), it was against a 40+ year old Hendo who is known to fade after the first or second round as of late.

Sonnen has never gassed in his recent UFC run. Sure he's been clocked a couple times, but he never gives up. While he seemed to show a bit of trouble in the Bisping fight toward the end (I think he was hurt), I don't think he has any trouble with Shogun from a cardio standpoint.

2) Grappling.
Forrest Griffin. Mark Coleman. Jon Jones. Dan Henderson. All of those men have taken Shogun down during his UFC tenure. Sonnen trains with Henderson and has fought Jones. Shogun had trouble with Brandon Vera. Shogun can take a beating, but let's be real here - in the grappling game, Sonnen has his way with him up and down, and it will only get easier as the fight progresses.

3) Striking and Durability

Lest we forget - Shogun's knees are nearly shot, and that affects EVERY aspect of his fight game. Punches, kicks, grappling, TDD... all of it. That also affects his ability to keep his cardio up during training. If you have ever had hurt knees, it's borderline impossible to train effectively from a cardio standpoint. He fades quickly. On top of that, Sonnen can take a shot, and you can bet he will eat a couple to secure a takedown. Sonnen at a lot of strikes from Anderson. I don't see Shogun hitting all that much harder than Anderson. Shogun doesn't cut much weight to get to 205, while Sonnen has said himself that he walks at around 235 (for either MW or LHW), while Silva walks at around 220-230. The weight won't be an issue.

I'm really looking for a lopsided decision here.

Let's be real here. I don't remember the Sonnen v Bisping fight making Sonnen look like a cardio freak. If that was 200% then watch out because Bisping went 200% as well. If he was hurt he didn't disclose any injury after the fight. Maybe he had a minor injury or maybe he was gassing. Basically anyone who went to decision with Bisping loses. You should never go to decision with Bisping....EVER! Hendo must not of shown him how to properly knock Bisping out.

I think you are understimating Shogun here. I don't think it will be a lopsided decision. Sonnen didn't eat many strikes from Anderson, the fight was pretty much on the ground for most of the time. Shogun definitely has the striking advantage in this one. Even an out of shape Shogun will put up enough of a fight to keep it from being overly lopsided for Sonnen IMO.

Well... Shogun has developed a bit of a pattern here as of late.

His last 7 fights:
Loss Gustasfsson - Decision
Win Vera - TKO4
Loss Hendo - Decision
Win Griffin - KO1
Loss Jones - TKO3
Win Machida - TKO1
Loss Machida - Decision

If you want to get superstitious, then it looks as though Sonnen is due to get knocked out. lol

But - I will stand by this statistic - look at Shogun's record against higher profile wrestlers in his UFC tenure. (Leaving out Liddell because he stopped using his wrestling long before he fought Shogun, and leaving out Forrest even though he utilizes a wrestling base)

Loss - Hendo
Loss - Jones
Win - Coleman

Anyway - I still have Sonnen winning. He might tag in Hendo so we can have MMA fight of the year again.