UFC 123 Review

Brown Pride wrote:At the end of the day, Judges use a 10 point must scoring system. After every round they have to pick a winner and give him 10 points, and give the loser 9 or 8(very rare).

They dont count every single strike or anything like that, they just sit back and watch through the cage the fight, and decide subjectively who did better in that round.


And when there is very little action, like what we saw in the 1st 2 rounds, them seeing Machida running back and retreating and seeing Rampage moving forward and being the aggressor is exactly what made 2 of the judges say Rampage won the 1st 2 rounds.


Its like Edgar-BJ 1, Edgar looked the busier, he look more active, he looked like he was doing more damage, and he got a 49-46 decision on one of the judges card despite the fightmetric stats showing very different story.

they should watch the strikes that actually land.

This was nowhere near as close as BJ-Edgar 1. This was a one-sided fight in which Rampage literally did nothing other than plod around the cage, use wall and stall and get punched and kicked a lot.

The_Axe_Emperor wrote:I'll cop a load of shit for this i know it, but i think the Shogun- Machida decision was worse than this one.

Shogun vs Machida was a much closer fight than this. Machida won that fight, and because Dana didn't like the decision and gave the judges so much shit, Machida got screwed in this one.

what i mean is Machida wasn't pushing the fight at all until the third round. Rampage was at least trying to get in close to him.

rudeboyben84 wrote: Anfield whats your thoughts on the last round and him not pushing for the finish?

Rampage hasn't been submitted in a decade and has a much better ground game that he had back then. It's a nonsense to say Machida didn't try and finish him on the ground though. He went for a kimura and then an armbar which he had to give up or risk getting slammed. Rampage deserves credit for his submission defence.

Machida also rocked Rampage and followed up trying to finish. Rampage has only been KO'd by Wandi twice and Shogun. Machida isn't a Wandi or Shogun in terms of being a KO artist. Machida probably knew he wasn't going to be able to KO Rampage so he had to ensure he did enough to win a decision. He clearly did enough to win. The decision was a farce.

pinsman wrote:what i mean is Machida wasn't pushing the fight at all until the third round. Rampage was at least trying to get in close to him.

So plodding forward and punching air, is more effective than moving backwards but still landing strikes at will?

in my opinion Rampage did more to pus the fight than what Michida did he clinched with him up the cage he got a take down and landed a couple of strikes breaking from the clinch... Machida did nothing untill he woke up in the third.

My main point isthat Machida is wasting his talent by not to wanting the commit.

He clinched with him?? To push the pace?? You're classifying wall and stall and punches on the break as pushing the pace of the fight?

It was about al the action there was... what did Machida do if you think differently?

I have to agree with Anfield about Machida trying to finish the fight. He was clearly trying and he almost had that arm bar. But from a similar position Rampage lifted up a much bigger man in Griffin. Griffin weighs more than Rampage and he was lifted into the air. Rampage is a strong boy, he would have killed Machida from that position. Machida did the right thing letting go. And he still came a lot closer to finishing than Rampage ever did. Looking back, I think Rampage won the second round but that is it. There is no way he won the third or the 1st, Machida out struck him and there was no grappling. There is absolutely no basis to award Rampage the fight.

And this was much worse than Shogun vs Machida IMO. Shogun vs Machida was an incredibly close fight split 2-2 with one round that could have gone either way.

I would have loved to see what would have happened if Machida didnt let go. Does Rampage still have it in him to slam guys hard enough to KO them.

Machida is a small LHW, there are some MWs bigger than him. Rampage isn't as fast as he once was but I don't think he has got any weaker. I really think he would have lifted him up, dropped him down and killed him.

pinsman wrote:It was about al the action there was... what did Machida do if you think differently?

Machida controlled the entire first round using leg kicks and landing strikes anytime they engaged. He also landed a good knee and when they were in the clinch he reversed the position and scored points on the break. The key is HE LANDED STRIKES. Rampage punched him in the leg a few times. Not even close. Machida won the first round easily.

Second round was closer because Rampage got the TD but Machida still controlled it, landed the better and more effective strikes. Close round, but Machida won.

Third round was completely lopsided.

I dont think Machida is a small LHW anymore, he seems to put alot of muscle on recently, he looked about Rampage's size possibly even slightly bigger.


I'd say the 2 biggest guys at LHW are Bones and Forrest, possibly Bader aswell, then Rampage/Machida.

Really? Rampage looked a fair bit bigger to me.

The biggest LHW I think is Bonnar, then Griffin and Bader. Bader is most stacked LHW out of them I think. Ortiz is up there as well.

Machida is a way back, think the likes of Jones, Rampage, Silva are all bigger than him. Evans, Franklin and Shogun are the one's he's bigger than or the same size.

Machida is a small 205er. He is muscular but he doesn't cut much weight, he pretty much fights at his walking around weight. Rampage is a good bit bigger than him. Last night Page probably had about 15 lbs on him by fight time.

i really enjoyed 123 was easily the best card for a while. i was shocked at how short the hatt hughes/bj penn fight was.

It was a good card. The decision in the main event spoiled it unfortunately.

It was a good card. The decision in the main event spoiled it unfortunately.

the main event was too hard to call im personally happy as i like rampage more than i like machida.

After watching the fight again, i take back about him being bigger than Rampage, but he has put on quite a bit of muscle in the last year or so.

He looks a good bit bigger than he did at 104 or against Rashad.

Sorry to repeat what others have said but I thought rampage won this fight.

Machida and his team must have watched enough fights in the ufc to figure out that running away for 2 rds and throwing an occasional leg kick isn't going to win you nothing. Machida is such a boring negative fighter which is so frustrating as i think he could easily have beaten rampage had he been more eager to engage in a fight. As has been said, rampage at times was finding nothing but fresh air so why not stay that bit closer and pick him off instead of shitting himself everytime rampage got within 100metres of him.

I think the worst thing that could of ever happened to fight fans was Machida getting ko'd by Rua as he's now gone back to being that boring fuck he was before the Thiago Silva and Evans fight.

Having said all that i do think the Ufc's scoring system is shit, i dont see why you cant score rounds 10-10 as i'd have had both rds 1 and 2 a draw and would have given Machida the 3rd.... but as i have said this is the ufc so was no suprise rampage got the nod and Machida should have been more wary of this.

Also anyone else notice the similarity between Machida and Audley Harrison when there eyes light up in fear when there opponents are about to throw a punch? To conclude Machida = poor mans audley harrison haha ( anfield that was for you)

The above was a post by a man who has no clue what he is talking about.

GSPfan11 wrote:Sorry to repeat what others have said but I thought rampage won this fight.

Machida and his team must have watched enough fights in the ufc to figure out that running away for 2 rds and throwing an occasional leg kick isn't going to win you nothing. Machida is such a boring negative fighter which is so frustrating as i think he could easily have beaten rampage had he been more eager to engage in a fight. As has been said, rampage at times was finding nothing but fresh air so why not stay that bit closer and pick him off instead of shitting himself everytime rampage got within 100metres of him.

I think the worst thing that could of ever happened to fight fans was Machida getting ko'd by Rua as he's now gone back to being that boring fuck he was before the Thiago Silva and Evans fight.

Having said all that i do think the Ufc's scoring system is shit, i dont see why you cant score rounds 10-10 as i'd have had both rds 1 and 2 a draw and would have given Machida the 3rd.... but as i have said this is the ufc so was no suprise rampage got the nod and Machida should have been more wary of this.

Also anyone else notice the similarity between Machida and Audley Harrison when there eyes light up in fear when there opponents are about to throw a punch? To conclude Machida = poor mans audley harrison haha ( anfield that was for you)

how can you score a rnd 10-10?

Rampage v Machida is just another example of why the ten points round scoring system doesn't work for MMA. Machida should have won that fight and if the fight was scored as a whole he would surely have. However, I can see how the first two rounds could have been scored 10-9 in Rampage's favour but they were both close. The third round was decisively won by Machida though. If the ten point round scoring system is used in MMA then the judges have to be prepared to score rounds as 10-8 or tie closer rounds at 9-9.

King you should be able to score a round 10-10 if you don't feel any fighter done enough to win. As it happens you always have to pick a winner which is bs. In boxing although it doesn't happen very often you do get rounds scored 10-10.

Anfield thanks for biting as you normally do!!!