UFC 113: Machida vs Shogun 2 preview

Main Event Breakdown
In Machida vs. Shogun 2 we have a rare immediate rematch after the controversial decision in favor of champion Lyoto Machida at UFC 104 last October.

In that fight, a fight many gave challenger Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua no chance in, Machida was really challenged for the first time since an early career fight against a blown up BJ Penn fighting well outside of his weight class.

The challenger was the first in the UFC to cut-off Machida's escape angles in his in-and-out striking style and he was the first to pepper Machida's front leg with kicks, a strategy that for some reason had not been attempted against Machida over the course of an entire fight despite nothing else having worked against his unorthodox karate striking.

While the decision can be debated (I personally scored it 48-47 Rua with enough close rounds that it could have been viably scored anywhere in the range of 48-47 Machida to 49-46 Rua), the adjustments that both fighters must make cannot.

Machida, having been neutralized on his feet for the first time since the Penn fight in 2005, an even fight according to the Fightmetric System, must adjust to Rua leg kicks and also must aggressively take the center of the Octagon so his in-and-out striking can be truly effective with escape paths to avoid being cut-off and peppered with leg kicks ultimately affecting his agility.