Lyoto Machida retained the Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight title, scoring a unanimous decision over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua that didn’t sit well with the large Saturday night crowd in the Staples Center.
The fans booed Machida lustily after he took a 48-47 verdict from the former PRIDE Fighting Championship star. Rua hurt Machida with numerous leg kicks and bloodied his mouth, making Machida look vulnerable for the first time in his career.
Machida was never able to land the counter strikes that have caused problems for his first 15 opponents. Machida was forced to fend off Rua’s kicks and also deal with Rua’s movement.
It was a very tactical fight and both men scored their share of solid blows.
All three Yahoo! Sports reporters on hand scored the fight in favor of Rua, as this reporter and Dave Doyle scored it 48-47 and Dave Meltzer had it at 49-46. Rua seemed to pull out the final round with a solid five minutes.
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