UFC 104 Re-Cap

UFC 104: Machida vs. Shogun
10/24/09
Los Angeles, Ca
Staples Center

Lyoto Machida makes his first defense of his Light Heavyweight Title tonight against Shogun Rua. Cain Velasquez will try to stay undefeated when he takes on Ben Rothwell.

Welterweight Fight (Catchweight of 176)- Anthony Johnson (7-2) vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida (11-3)

Yoshida subbed Brandon Wolff at UFC 98. Anthony Johnson TKO’d Luigi Fioravanti at Fight Night 17. Yoshida is a 4th degree Judo Black Belt. Johnson missed weight for this fight by six pounds. Joe Rogan says he’s been rumored to walk around as big as 220 so his days as a Welterweight might be numbered. Johnson has been training with Cung Le and has Le and Josh Thomson in his corner. Johnson has a 3” height, 8” reach and 6 lb weight advantage.

R1- Johnson landed some punches early in the clinch and then decked him with a right hand and this one is over. Rogan pointed out that these guys looked like they were in different weight divisions. Johnson looked great but he missed weight and he has got to move up in weight if he can’t make the cut to 170.

Winner: Anthony Johnson by TKO (Punches) R1 0:41

Post-fight Johnson said that he had gotten heavy because of a knee injury that he sustained in training for Matt Brown previously. He owned up for not making weight but said that he’s not planning on moving up weight classes yet.

Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers is in the crowd.

Lightweight Fight- Spencer Fisher (24-4) vs. Joe Stevenson (35-10)

Fisher is coming off of a unanimous decision victory over Caol Uno in a very close fight. Fisher is on a 3 fight win streak. Stevenson is coming off of a win over Nate Diaz by Unanimous Decision at the Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale. Stevenson is currently training with Greg Jackson and has him in his corner for the fight. Stevenson is a jiu jitsu and judo black belt.

R1- Stevenson opened up a cut near Spencer’s eye. Stevenson fights hard for a take down but Spencer stuffs him and the ref breaks up the clinch. Spencer is blinking a lot and having some issues with the blood in his eye. Stevenson finally gets a take down with about half a minute left in the round. Joe lands some good Ground and Pound as Spencer turtled up. Stevenson takes this round and is up 10-9.

R2- Stevenson got a take down in the second minute of the round. Stevenson lands some good elbows in half guard. Stevenson just starts destroying Spencer with elbows and Herb Dean steps in and puts a stop to the fight. Stevenson has looked really good under the direction of Greg Jackson.

They announce the win as tapout due to strikes.

Winner: Joe Stevenson by Submission (Elbow Strikes) R2 4:03

Chris Tucker is at the fights with his sunglasses.

Middleweight Fight- Yushin Okami vs. Chael Sonnen

The Dean of Draws Yushin Okami makes it onto the PPV in a televised pre-PPV fight. Okami’s only loss in UFC is to Rich Franklin. Matt Lindland is in Sonnen’s corner.

R1- Sonnen gets a take down in the first minute. Okami keeps getting up but Sonnen keeps taking him back down. Okami gets back to his feet about half way through the round. Sonnen got another take down with about a minute left in the round. Sonnen takes the first round 10-9.

R2- This was a pretty even round but Sonnen seemed to start getting the better of Okami towards the end of the round.

R3- Sonnen got a take down about half way through the round and landed some Ground and Pound but Okami got back up. Okami grabbed Sonnen with a kimura in full guard but could not keep it as Sonnen landed some body punches. Sonnen is going to win this fight by decision. Really good win for Sonnen.

Judges score cards say:

Winner: Chael Sonnen by Decision (Unanimous) 30-27 on all 3 score cards

Catchweight Fight- Josh Neer (25-8-1) vs. Gleison Tibau (29-6)

Tibau comes out to “Iron Man” but doesn’t have any spiked shoulder pads. Tibau is coming off a decision loss to Melvin Guillard. Tibau is fighting out of American Top Team and is a Jiu Jitsu Black Belt. Neer is coming off a decision loss to Kurt Pellegrino at UFC 101. Neer came in at 156.5 lbs and Tibau at 157 so that’s why this is a catchweight fight.

R1- Tibau got a wicked slam early but Neer got back to his feet. Tibau got another big take down/slam but Neer got up again after a short amount of time on the ground. Tibau got a third take down but Neer pushed him off when he tried to pass. Tibau got a fourth take down. Neer got to his feet and Tibau tried to grab a guillotine but Neer quickly slipped out. Tibau took this round 10-9.

Jerry Ferrera (turtle from Entourage) was shown in the crowd during the intermission between rounds. Jeremy Piven (also from Entourage) was shown a bit later.

R2- Tibau starts off the round with another powerful take down but Neer again gets up quickly. Tibau is taking Neer down at will but is not able to hold him down. Tibau was able to get a mount with half of the round left. Neer gave up his back to get out of mount and Tibau tried to get an arm bar but couldn’t and Neer ended up on top briefly. I’ve got Tibau up 20-18 but he seems to be fading a bit.

Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher are at the show tonight.

R3- Tibau started off the round with a take down. Neer was able to stuff three take downs. Tibau gets another take down with two minutes left in the fight but couldn’t hold him down. Tibau finishes the fight with yet another take down. Tibau really dominated this fight with take downs. The only round that was close was the final one.

Judges score cards say: 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28

Winner: Gleison Tibau by Decision (Unanimous)

Heavyweight Fight- Cain Velasquez (6-0) vs. Ben Rothwell (30-6)

Rothwell is making his UFC debut and is a former IFL Heavyweight Champion. Velasquez is a Top 10 Heavyweight and is coming off a big unanimous decision win over Cheick Kongo at UFC 99. Rothwell has a 3” height and 3” reach advantage and has a huge weight advantage of 27 lbs. Velasquez is from California and is a big fan favorite in this fight. Rothwell has won 14 of his last 15 fights and was 9-0 in IFL fights.

R1- Cain got a take down in the first 30 seconds but Rothwell stood back up without taking any damage. Cain got another take down at the two minute mark of the round. Cain landed a couple of punches before Rothwell got to his feet. Cain got Rothwell down again and landed some good punches and looked like he opened up a cut on Rothwell. Cain is starting to land some good punches. Cain landed some hammer fists and then peppered Rothwell with several punches. Cain is just dominating Rothwell so far. Somehow Rothwell survives that round but he took a beating in the second part of the round. 10-8 round in favor of Cain.

R2- Cain opens up the round with a take down and lands some good shots. Cain lands some big shots against the cage and Mazzagatti steps in and stops the fight. Rothwell is upset. Definitely an awkward stoppage but Cain was completely dominating the fight up to that point. Not a good time to stop the fight by Mazzagatti as Cain was landing some good punches but Rothwell was in the process of getting back to his feet.

Winner: Cain Velasquez by TKO (Punches) R2 0:58

Chuck Liddell is at the fights as is Michael Clarke Duncan.

Light Heavyweight Title Fight: Lyoto Machida © (15-0) vs. Shogun Rua (18-3)

Lyoto has had 15 career fights and has never been knocked down. He’s also never lost a round in any of his UFC fights and has absorbed fewer strikes than any other fighter in UFC history. Shogun has also never been knocked down in the UFC and has a 46% strike accuracy percentage (versus 35% of the average fighter). Machida gets a really good reception from the crowd.

R1- Machida hits a few knees early. Shogun clinched Machida a couple of times but didn’t land anything significant. Really close round with neither guy really having an advantage. Shogun was the aggressor but in a title fight I’ve got to give the benefit of the scoring to the champion if neither fighter looked like they won the round. So I’ve got 10-9 Machida (it would be a 10-10 if it was allowed to be scored that way).

R2- Machida landed a couple of strikes in the opening minute. Machida landed a punch on Shogun and knocked him off balance and later hit a leg kick that did the same thing. Machida hit a side kick at the two minute mark but Shogun countered with one of his own. Shogun clinched Machida and landed some knees on Machida’s legs. Another close round that I’ve got going to Machida. Machida 20-18 on my score card.

R3- Shogun opens up with a body kick. Machida counters with a combination. They had two good exchanges where it looked like both guys hit what they went for. Shogun is landing some good leg kicks in this round. Machida landed some punches and Shogun hit a counter as well. Really close round that Machida probably stole with that last flurry. Machida 30-27 on my score card.

R4- Shogun is landing some leg kicks early in the round. Machida slipped and Shogun quickly rushed in for a take down but couldn’t get it. Not a lot of action in this round but Shogun definitely got the better of the little strikes that hit in this round. Machida 39-37 so far.

R5- Shogun continues with the onslaught of leg kicks. But I really don’t think leg kicks should win you a championship unless they are devastating and if they are devastating. Machida landed some knees and Shogun responded with a kick. Shogun landed a couple of strikes with about a minute and a half left in the fight. Close round but I think Shogun did enough to win this round. I’ve got this fight as Machida 48 Shogun 47. Really close fight with 5 very competitive and close rounds. Shogun fought a good fight but I don’t think he did enough to unseat the champion. I could definitely see a split decision by the judges.

Judges score cards say: All 3 judges score the fight 48-47 in favor of Machida.

Winner and still champion: Lyoto Machida by Decision (Unanimous)