Ultimate Fighting Championship 104

Date Time: Oct-24-2009 7pm PT / 10pm ET / 2am GMT
Location: Staples Center, California


Description:

In May, Lyoto Machida electrified the mixed martial arts world with a stirring knockout of Rashad Evans. On Saturday, October 24th, “The Dragon” will make the first defense of his UFC light heavyweight crown in the main event of UFC 104 against former PRIDE star Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, who is coming off back-to-back knockouts of Chuck Liddell and Mark Coleman.

In the co-feature, two of the top young heavyweight contenders in the sport will clash, as unbeaten Cain Velasquez takes on former IFL star “Big” Ben Rothwell in what promises to be one of the most memorable bouts of 2009.

UFC 104: Machida vs. Shogun - Saturday, October 24th, live on Pay-Per-View from Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.


Lyoto Machida Vs. Mauricio Rua - Light Heavyweight Championship Match
Cain Velasquez Vs. Ben Rothwell
Gleison Tibau Vs. Josh Neer
Joe Stevenson Vs. Spencer Fisher
Anthony Johnson Vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida
Yushin Okami Vs. Chael Sonnen
Antoni Hardonk Vs. Pat Barry
Jorge Rivera Vs. Rob Kimmons
Ryan Bader Vs. Eric Schafer
Kyle Kingsbury Vs. Razak Al-Hassan
Stefan Struve Vs. Chase Gormley

Picks?

Machida, Spencer, Cain, Neer, Johnson, Sonnen, no idea for the rest.

This looks like a slightly better card than than the one before.
Rothwell vs Velasquez is going to be the truth.

I don't know what Sonnen is gonna do with that narrow of a wrestling advantage against the bigger, well-rounded Okami. I hope after this that Okami gets to try out Maia.

Lyoto Machida Vs. Mauricio Rua - Via Karate awesomeness
Cain Velasquez Vs. Ben Rothwell
Gleison Tibau Vs. Josh Neer
Joe Stevenson Vs. Spencer Fisher
Anthony Johnson Vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida
Yushin Okami Vs. Chael Sonnen
Antoni Hardonk Vs. Pat Barry
Jorge Rivera Vs. Rob Kimmons
Ryan Bader Vs. Eric Schafer
Kyle Kingsbury Vs. Razak Al-Hassan - Via cool name
Stefan Struve Vs. Chase Gormley

Is Pat Barry fighting on the main card or the under card? He promised to come out to the Technoviking dance if he gets a main card fight.

I'm excited for the main card. Style clash between Machida and Shogun should be exciting, though I doubt it'll last more than a round and a half. Leg kick-off between Barry and Hardonk will be awesome too, and I'm hoping Rothwell's takedown defense can test Velasquez a bit.

Lyoto Machida Vs. Mauricio Rua - I don't get this. Shogun is 2-1 in the UFC, losing to Griffin and then beating an ancient Coleman and washed up Liddel, and he is getting a title shot? Are you kidding me?
Cain Velasquez Vs. Ben Rothwell - I believe Cain will be exposed as not so great.
Gleison Tibau Vs. Josh Neer
Joe Stevenson Vs. Spencer Fisher - SHould be a war. Too close to call.
Anthony Johnson Vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida
Yushin Okami Vs. Chael Sonnen
Antoni Hardonk Vs. Pat Barry
Jorge Rivera Vs. Rob Kimmons
Ryan Bader Vs. Eric Schafer
Kyle Kingsbury Vs. Razak Al-Hassan
Stefan Struve Vs. Chase Gormley

I was going to go through and bold them, but then I realized I could just say

Everyone on the left.

Lyoto Machida Vs. Mauricio Rua - I don't get this. Shogun is 2-1 in the UFC, losing to Griffin and then beating an ancient Coleman and washed up Liddel, and he is getting a title shot? Are you kidding me?

Best option available, nothing more. Rampage and Rashad were planning to fight each other at the end of TUF 10 when this matchup was made. Forrest was set to fight Anderson just 2 months before UFC 104, and not double-booking him turned out to be a smart move, considering how that fight turned out.

Who else in the LHW division really deserves a title shot right now? Shogun is the best choice based on his former stature in Pride, and a fairly impressive performance against Chuck (no matter how washed up Liddell may be) in April.

Thiago isn't compelling or deserving based on his first fight with Lyoto, and he took Jardine completely out of the picture in their fight. Rich Franklin not only just lost, but hasn't been at 205 consistently enough to put 2 wins together in that division. Cane hasn't fought anyone yet, and isn't marketable either. I'd love to see a fight against Lil' Nog, but he hasn't even had his first UFC fight, and needs to beat someone at least top 15 before he deserves a title shot.

Lil nog won't fight him anyway.

Edit: Disregard, I'm tired and all Brazillians look alike. DURRR.

I believe that Shogun will beat Machida because Muay Thai is better than Karate.

Doesn't Machida also cross-train in Muay Thai?

Machida vs. Shogun will probably be interesting for a few minutes before Rua gets knocked out. The aggressive Chute Boxe style he's got is going to play right into Machida's hands.

Doesn't Machida also cross-train in Muay Thai?

Not currently, although he has. Also, Sumo, Shootwrestling, boxing, judo, bjj.

Shogun has very slick Capo.