Machida, I think his wrestling is reasonably underestimated and Rampage is very much a one trick horse if he can't get in close and take you down or box with you then he always looks completely lost. Rashad outpointed him in a vague machida style and Forrest showed before the rampage does't have an answer to people stifling his close range boxing. That together with what I feel is a loss of dedication to the sport from Jackson and I can't see him winning. That said Shogun didn't really use a gameplan in the rematch with machida and still owned him so if rampage can get in close enough to use his boxing he wouldn't neccasarily need to land many to put machida down. I think rampage could get a lucky hit in but overall I'm with Machida. Shame, I'd like to see rampage and shogun.
... Southpaw535 made al of the best points and I agree. Machida's unorthodox style and speed in and out will be too much for Rampage. Rampage is almost as far from his prime as Tito is/was. LOL I would love to see Machida submit Jackson. My prediction is unanimous decision Machida.
I dont think rampage is in the same boat as tito, but as already said, he lacks the motivation to train/fight anymore. Machida on the otherhand, I feel will come out strong post shogun and try and re-assert his position in the division... prediction U/D to machida. (75% confident) or K.O. by Rampage 2nd round (10 % confidence)
While I used to be a fan of Rampage's powerbombs and power punches I've also grown tired of his bull outside of the cage. Going back to his hallucinations back in the Pride days. Even though he's a raging bull he basically has nothing if you can dodge his punches and either avoid his takedowns or tie him up on the ground. On the other hand I'm not really a fan of the Machida's **** drinking either. But more importantly I do find Machida's style quite a bit boring. He's simply not good very aggressive the one time he tried he got caught by Shogun. He's always going to be a counter fighter and really it works best for him I just don't like it too much. Even when Machida takes you down it seems to come off a counter. I also am not a fan of his karate kicks. They aren't too powerful even though they're harder to predict. I'm just biased towards Thai boxing kicks. Also not a fan of that weird lean he does just prefer head movement for dodging strikes. Still I'm always curious how styles match up. And even though I don't like Machida's style it is nonetheless quite effective. I don't see Rampage being able to take Machida down cuz one Machida's always moving back and usually pushes takedowns off and two Rampage has seems to have stopped training his wrestling in favor of power punching. I also don't see Rampage landing anything other than glancing punches. Machida's lean and angles will easily avoid Rampage's punches. Rampage punches hard inside but Machida usually fights slightly outside of the pocket or at a distance. I'm pulling for Machida despite the fact he drinks pee.
but what if rampage starts drinking his own **** too? he's screwed if machida started drinking shogun's **** though
but what if rampage starts drinking his own **** too? he's screwed if machida started drinking shogun's **** though
can we plz not talk about gay golden shower pr0n.... also Machida by running rings around Rampage. =_=
Machida will win. I think he has a better skill set. However he could get caught and slamed by one of Rampage's power slams, but we havent seen those since his pride days.
Rampage used to be 2 dimensional. He has improved on one of those dimensions and completely disregarded the other. In other news, Rampage no longer knows how to slam people.
Reading mmanews it seems Rampage IS taking this fight semi-seriously, at least he's training, which is nice to see but I still don't see him pulling this off. If nothing else I don't see his camp being good enough if he's still at Wolfslair. Some decent gatekeeper competition there but no one really at machida's level
Meh, I had the first two rounds for rampage machida barely did a thing. Nice to see rampage getting back on form even if he is stilll stubborn as hell about changing his style
You realize that Rampage landed jack **** the first 2 rounds right? All this points for "octagon control" is making judging so screwed up I don't even... So no, Machida won if we're going by strikes landed (even if they weren't power punches).
Maybe Machida will think it's sake and go gombai (bottoms up for you) on Rampage.. But the truth will be told in the final round or it will go to a decision.. Like Dana White says " Don't let it go to the judges"
Spoiler Again I'm proven wrong. If only by one point. I do feel Machida won because I always judge fights by the entirety. Even breaking it down round by round I'm not afraid to dip below the standard 9 to 8 for the guy who lost the fight. With that logic I feel like like the first two rounds were 10-9 in favor of Rampage. If only because he did seem to ring Machida's bell each time he got some punches in the clinch. Round 3 was clearly Machida's he landed a lot of hard punches took him down and kept on working ground and pound. Even when he got reversed at the end Machida was attacking with a submission from the guard and avoiding damage. Nonetheless officially I called it wrong again :woo: Regarding the rest of the card. Sad but not surprised Karo got beat. Love that one armed Kimura by Davis. Why give it a dumb nickname though? I prefer it when moves are called what they are. Just so I know what the hell ppl are referring to. Loved the Sotripolous fight! I can't remember all the moves in the fight it was that mixed up! I thought the new guy from Brazil did do a number on Harris. He had great striking and transitioned very well to offensive JJ as soon as it hit the ground or he got tied up. I just wish he woulda pressed forward more Harris clearly had no idea how to box. All around great card! Best UFC I've gone to see at a bar since UFC 100
So "machida" is a verb now? Spoiler Which nicknames are considered "dumb", though? Given that the technique was rechristened "kimura" after a person named Kimura, are they now going to rename the one-armed application of that technique the "davis"?
