UFC 104: Rua vs. Machida

• By MATT RAMSAY
• Special to 2theadvocate.com
• Published: Oct 22, 2009

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Two of Brazil’s most decorated Mixed Martial Arts warriors (MMA) -- Lyoto Machida and Mauricio Rua -- will face off for the Light Heavyweight Championship Saturday night, Oct 24, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The card as a whole is not the wealthiest, but is one of the biggest main events of the year. The winner of the co-main event will be a third man in line for a shot at facing Brock Lesnar for the heavyweight title. Also, for the second time this year at least two preliminary bouts will be shown for free live on network cable TV.

Main Event:

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida

Mauricio Rua – Curitiba, Brazil, 6-1, 205 pounds, 15-0-0
Lyoto Machida – Belem, Brazil, 6-1, 205 pounds, 18-3-0

Machida has brought traditional karate back to the spotlight by just simply dominating everyone in front of him, including Tito Ortiz, Thiago Silva, Rich Franklin, B.J. Penn and most recently, Rashad Evans. What makes Machida even more impressive is that not only is he undefeated, he has never lost a single round through 15 fights.

At one time, Mauricio Rua was ranked the best light heavyweight fighter in the world until suffering a knee injury prior to entering the UFC. He has since been a shell of his former self but has managed to put back-to-back wins in the UFC, including a first round knockout of Chuck Liddell. Unless Rua can dig up some magic from his old days in Pride Fighting Championship, look for another easy win for Machida.

Machida by Unanimous Decision

Main Card:

Cain Velasquez vs. Ben Rothwell

Cain Velasquez -- Salinas, Calif., 6-1, 240 pounds, 6-0-0
Ben Rothwell – Kenosha, Wis., 6-4, 265 pounds, 30-6-0

This will be an interesting match up of MMA veteran vs. UFC veteran. Ben Rothwell has been around the MMA world, acquiring 36 fights to his name and having faced veterans such as Andre Arlovski, Tim Sylvia, Mike Whitehead, Roy Nelson, Travis Fulton and Krzysztof Soszynski.

Cain Velazquez doesn’t have as much experience on paper but does have four UFC fights to his name, and that’s four more than Rothwell. I see this being a brutal fight as Rothwell is known as a tough-as-nails brawler, but in the end I see Velazquez overpowering him on the ground, taking a close decision.

Velasquez by Unanimous Decision