Several UFC fighters have been discussing the controversial decision on Saturday night’s UFC 104 main event. Machida retained his UFC light heavyweight title this past weekend, defeating the former 2005 Pride Grand Prix champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua via a unanimous decision.
Although a high percentage of MMA fans around the world thought “Shogun” clearly won the main event, the judges that night believed Machida did enough to keep the belt around his waist.
Here are a couple of comments made by some of the most popular UFC fighters…
From Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva:
“I think that Shogun won the fight, he should be the UFC champion now…He attacked more, he was more effective. Machida was not attacking, he did not do enough to win the fight…I think those three judges must have been the same three guys that judged the fight between me and [Rich] Franklin…It is a big problem, this judging. It was such a disappointment for me [at UFC 99] and now for Shogun. Imagine, he could have had the belt on him today…We need the system to be changed, to protect the fighters and to avoid this kind of situation. It is very hard for your head (‘mentally’) when you lose a decision like this. Shogun should be the new champion…need better selection, a better selection method for judges”
From Quinton “Rampage” Jackson:
“The UFC looked like assholes this weekend.The main event was boring. I anticipated that because let’s be real … Machida is a boring fighter. But Shogun getting robbed like that was pretty cutthroat…. Most of the people from the ‘A-Team movie’ were just watching it because I was watching it and they don’t know much about MMA and were starting to get into it, but [Saturday] night they didn’t have anything good to say about my sport. So I was so ashamed…. The UFC needs to get some new judges before I even think about coming back. I want the hardcore fans to go back and watch all the fights that you thought was kinda shady with the judges in the UFC and TUF and write down the names of the judges so you guys can complain and have a voice. Do your homework. This sport wouldn’t be what it is without the fans. It’s hard for me to believe that the UFC is so successful and has over 100 shows and can’t tell who wins a fight.”
