UFC 104 took place earlier this evening at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
In the night’s main event, Lyoto Machida put his UFC light heavyweight title on the line against former PRIDE GP champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.
In the co-main event, Ben Rothwell looked to make a major splash in his UFC debut against the much hyped Cain Velasquez.
Joe Stevenson and Spencer Fisher met in an lightweight bout.
Anthony Johnson looked to keep his win streak going against Yoshiyuki Yoshida.
Gleison Tibau took on Josh Neer in a lightweight battle.
Results, thoughts, bonuses and live gate (when available) after the jump.
Results
- Lyoto Machida defeats Mauricio “Shogun” Rua via Unanimous Decision
- Cain Velasquez defeats Ben Rothwell via TKO (Strikes) in Round Two
- Gleison Tibau defeats Josh Neer via Unanimous Decision
- Joe Stevenson defeats Spencer Fisher via TKO (Strikes) in Round Two
- Anthony Johnson defeats Yoshiyuki Yoshida via Knockout in Round One
- Ryan Bader defeats Eric Schafer via Unanimous Decision
- Pat Barry defeats Antoni Hardonk via TKO in Round Two
- Chael Sonnen defeats Yushin Okami via Unanimous Decision
- Jorge Rivera defeats Rob Kimmons via TKO (Strikes) in Round Three
- Kyle Kingsbury defeats Razak Al-Hassan via Split Decision
- Stefan Struve defeats Chase Gormley via Submission (Triangle Choke) in Round One
Thoughts
Anthony Johnson vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida: Anthony Johnson starts the show off with a bang. He knocks out Yoshida in less than a minute. It’s hard to get too excited about it since he missed weight by six pounds, but he seems remorseful and knows what the problem was, so hopefully it was a one-time deal. That aside, if he keeps knocking people out like he has, he’s probably going to end up in the welterweight title picture before too long.
Joe Stevenson vs. Spencer Fisher: You don’t want Joe Stevenson on top of you for too long, and that’s exactly what Spencer Fisher learned tonight the hard way. Joe took Fisher down in the second and worked his ground n’ pound. He eventually trapped Spencer’s arms and dropped devastating elbows forcing the ref to stop it. Textbook win for Stevenson.
Chael Sonnen vs Yushin Okami: That was unexpected. Chael Sonnen dominated Yushin Okami with his grappling and striking for the entire three rounds. Okami was so unimpressive, it kind of makes you wonder, what was all the fuss about? It’s one thing for Okami to win boring fights, but another entirely to lose in a lackluster performance. I wouldn’t be surprised if the UFC decides to part ways with him. Big win for Sonnen though.
Gleison Tibau vs. Josh Neer: Gleison Tibau’s takedowns and power slams were the story of this fight. He didn’t do much with them, but he secured enough of them to sway the judges.
Cain Velasquez vs. Ben Rothwell: Cain Velasquez may only have a little more than a handful of fights under his belt, but he proved tonight he deserves every ounce of hype behind him. Velasquez dominated Rothwell in the first with his wrestling and ground n’ pound in what was a 10-8 round if there ever was one. The second was more of the same except this time Steve Mazzagatti stopped it early in the round. It was definitely a little early considering Ben was in the process of standing up, but honestly Steve probably did him a favor. Huge win for Cain, one that will give UFC brass a lot to think about when they go to schedule the next heavyweight title fight.
Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua: Lyoto Machida was given a gift tonight. Shogun’s gameplan was brilliant and he executed it perfectly. He was patient, took what Machida gave him and punished him when he saw openings. It was a Shogun we’ve never seen before and it was incredible to watch. No one in Machida’s career came close to hitting him and inflicting the damage Shogun did. To be fair, Machida landed plenty of his own, but in my eyes it wasn’t enough to earn the decision. I had Shogun winning 4 out of 5 rounds. He was the aggressor, he landed more, and he inflicted the most damage, and I can’t to wait to see FightMetric and CompuStrike confirm it when they release their reports. I just don’t see how they gave it to Machida. It makes me sick.
There’s no clear cut contender waiting in line for a light heavyweight title shot. If there was ever a time to book an immediate rematch, it’s now. Machida vs. Shogun II, early 2010, make it happen UFC.
Update: How the judges scored via Josh Gross:
Official scoring: Cecil Peoples gave R 1-3 to Machida, 4 & 5 Shogun. Same for Marcos Rosales. ‘Doc’ Hamilton had R1 & 5 Shogun, 2-4 Machida.
Bonuses $60,000
Submission of the Night: Stefan Struve
Knockout of the Night: Pat Barry
Fight of the Night: Pat Barry & Antoni Hardonk ($60,000)
Live Gate & Attendance
Live gate: $1.9 million
Attendance: 16,000
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I am getting tired of these poor judge decisions! They need to change the point system or educate these judges. I know as a fighter u never want to leave it in the judges hands, but come on…Shogun won pretty much every round….and at least 3 strong rounds to give him the win. These poor decison ruin peoples careers and lifes! Shogun should be the champ and the new poster boy for the light heavyweight class! Glad I didn’t bet on Shogun….I would have to ask the Casinos for a refund! RUBBER REMATCH PLEASE. Peace Big D is out.
That decision was horrible, it was obvious to me and everyone else who watched the fight with me that shogun won the fight, i cant comprehend how machida won by a unanimous decision, it was a terrible call and as a true mma fan i am truly offended at the results of the shogun vs. machida fight.
“OFFENDED” is the perfect word. Nice call Jay K.
Agreed!
Bullshit decision aside, it’s fucking awesome to see Shogun back. I was worried about him going three rounds with his cardio issues in the Forrest and Coleman fights. He was perfectly fine in the fifth, still crisp. Machida was the one who had lost a step from all the punishment to his legs and body. God that decision pisses me off.
i didn’t see the fight but damn all i’ve been hearing is that shougn won the UFC needs to do something about this
Official scoring:
Cecil Peoples gave R 1-3 to Machida, 4 & 5 Shogun.
Same for Marcos Rosales.
Doc Hamilton had R1 & 5 Shogun, 2-4 Machida.
I don’t know what fight these refs watched…
rounds 1-3 for machida? no way! i had shogun winning both 1st and 2nd rds. maybe somehow machida got one of the first 2 rounds, but no way both. Machida lost 48-47 and should be the undisputed LHW Champ!
….. Machida lost 48-47 and SHOGUN** should be the undisputed LHW Champ!
I agree! As fans let just declare Shogun the LHW Champ from here on out! lol.
I’m in. If we did rankings, I’d put him at #1.
Just saw the second half of the press conference. Good news is Dana wants to book the rematch as soon as they possibly can. Both fighters agreed to do it.
I’ll have the press conference notes posted in a little bit after I see the first half.
Good they need to do a rematch, and then have Rampage(when he comes back, and we all know he will) Fight the winner for the true LHW Champ. Because this should have Been Rampages shot at machida, but stupidly he turned it down to coach on TUF10 then backed out to do the A-TEAM movie, regardless of Rampages stupid decisions he deserves another shot at HIS belt, then he can deal with Rahsad after that… i wish i could have Seen UFC 112 SHOGUN vs RAMPAGE for the belt.
What a mess that would have been if Rampage took the title shot and then backed out of it for the movie.
I’m a true die hard Machida fan and I even gotta admit He didn’t win that fight. I wanna see him successfully defend that belt and what we just witnessed wasn’t a true defense