T Silva, in a contenders match. You must not have watched him get spanked by Machina. Griffen would get a shot if he beats Silva and Rampage wins against either Rashad/Machina.

F NO! If forrest gets a title shot after beating Silva I will NEVER watch the UFC again! I am dead serious about that too!

Rampage didnt even lose his title in many fan’s eyes, yet he had to face wanderlei, and then Jardine before getting a title shot.

They better make Forrest “1 pump chump” Griffin win at least 2 fights before giving him a title shot.

He didn’t HAVE to face Jardine. Rashad said he wouldn’t be able to fight Rampage as soon as they wanted him too, so Rampage said he would take another fight.

Exactly right. I like Forrest alot, but I dont think he deserves a shot so quickly. I dont think Page should be getting a shot yet either, but that is how it goes these days. (Brock Lesnar???) People need to give it up, Page lost to Forrest. Straight up. The only form of winning he had was when he knocked Forrest down. Then he couldnt even finish him… Forrest won. Anyways, Shad is the reason Page isnt/hasnt fought for the title yet. If he beats Machida tho, then Shad will have my respect for sure.

Comparing Rashad being champ to Forrest and Serra is inaccurate. Serra never deserved a title shot to begin with and he won with a perfectly placed punch behind the ear against a very troubled GSP…completely undeserving and it was like winning the lottery.

Forrest won a very close decision to Page…and if the fight is that close…it should always go to the champ.

Rashad deserved the shot he got against Forrest and beat him soundly and without controversy…that makes him the champ.

Forrest and Serra were both disputed champs.

You’ll be calling Rashad champ soon enough my friend. I know you don’t believe it but Rashad will still be champ by end of the year after putting the stamp down on the top 2 contenders in Machida then your boy Page. I saved you a spot on the wagon…better hurry up and take it…I can’t save it forever…lol.

I think Rashad’s line is opening at -160…some decent money to be made there…I’ll be putting a little cabage on the champ. Rashad always wins when he’s the underdog…oh wait…he always wins no matter what.

LIke I said Buster, I really have found myself enjoying watching Rashad come into his own in the past year and raise his fight level to a clear cut top 3 LHW!!!! U will never hear me dispute that he isnt a top 3 fighter. I just am not sure if he can beat Machida or Rampage. That doesnt mean I am hating on Rashad. Lets keep it real, Rashad has never faced a legend who is in his prime like Rampage and Machida, so it makes me hard to pick him over top fighters like them. Rampage and Machida will be the toughest people Rashad has ever faced…Not saying he cant beat them, I just need to see him beat 1 of those 2 guys before I join the bandwagon.

I do however really respect the improvements Rashad has made. I loved watching him take Liddell’s head off, but Chuck isnt exactly in his prime anymore. Anyone who beats the snot out of Forrest is ok in my book! Not enough is said about what a smart fighter Rashad has become. I think he is an mma genius, problem is….so is Machida! THats what makes this match up so damn amazing!

however, I dont like the fact that Rashad sends his crony, Jardine to face his opponents first. That is a HUGE advantage for rashad. It gives him great chances to scout his opponents, and gives greg Jackson 2 shots to come up with a gameplan against shad’s opponents. I dont like that, and I know you buster….you are a real dude, and as much as you love Suga Shad, you cant possibly be happy with that!

anyone can win the title given the opportunity. Right now Shad is just babysitting the belt. When you defend that belt, thats when you become a champion. Not saying Rashad isnt capable of defending it, but until then he is just another Forrest or Serra!

I do really think the world of Shad’s skills and his mma brain…but I will still probably be betting some chump change on Machida! Machida’s style frightens opponents….I cant really say the same thing about Rashad!

What’s with all these ridiculous self-made definitions of what the word “Champ” means? What does Bruce Buffer say at the end of the fight? “And your new light heavyweight champion of the wooooorlllld!”

Not “And your new light heavyweight almost champion but not really because he doesn’t officially win the right to call him that until he defends it against someone, of the wooooorrrlllld – Rashad Evaanns!!!”

I appreciate your point of view and I agree that Shad is a top 3…he’s 1, Machida 2, Page 3 in my book.

I didn’t like the Page/Jardine matchup because I knew everyone would complain that Rashad gets insider info on Page from his good buddy but I hate when people imply that Rashad set it up so his buddy would fight him first. Joe Silva offered the match to Jardine and being the game fighter he is…he took it. Jardine fights no one but the best which is why I like him even though his skills limit him to being a contender gatekeeper for the most part. Lets not forget though that Page trains with Bisping…and he fought Rashad himself. So they both have some insider info on each other.

I agree that Machida is a bad man and people seem to duck him. I know no one is ducking Rashad but he’s undefeated and now he doesn’t even need his awesome wrestling to win fights and he did what no one else was able to do…KO the KO legend in Chuck…Wandy couldn’t do it…and Page came close to putting him to sleep…but Rashad put him to sleep. That should scare people. I’ll never forget that night…I almost pooped my pants when that happened. I didn’t see that coming at all. Rashad’s striking has improved immensly and he’s definitely the most improved fighter from TUF along with KenFlo.

I know Machida is very technical and accurate with his striking. Rashad has incredible timing and may not be as technical and accurate. Although he may not connect on as many punches that Machida does…his opponents feel it more when Rashad connects. 4 of Rashad’s last 6 fights have been by KO/TKO…Machida has 1. In fact…take out the TKO he got in 2006 against Dimitri Wanderley via exhaustion and Machida hasn’t had a TKO 2003 up until Thiago. Rashad has been hit by Chuck cleanly and it didn’t faze him…so I’m not worried about Machida’s power. Machida is a point fighter…that comes from karate. I just think that people still underestimate Rashad overall but especially his striking…it’s his bread and butter along with his footwork now. His wrestling is his insurance policy.

Machida and Rashad are probably the 2 best MMA thinkers when they get locked in the cage. There aren’t many fighters that can adapt their gameplans on the fly like that. Randy is the best at that but these 2 are pretty clever fighters and it’ll be an interesting chess match.

I realize that being a defending champ and winning the belt the first time are different things but he’s the champ in my book and deserves that title…being the undefeated champ in today’s UFC is an amazing feat.

I don’t hate on Machida and I love his style and I enjoy watching him fight. I just don’t see him threatening Rashad in any way and he’s not going to frustrate the champ. If Machida wants the belt he has to come and get it…not the other way around. People that fight Machida want to beat him so bad to get up that ladder that they play right into his bread and butter and that’s counter punching. Silva came in overly agressive and got beat down…Rashad doesn’t have to come to Machida…Machida has to come to Rashad.

Damn…you had to get me started…hahaha…I could debate this fight all day…lol.

Great post Buster!

Buster, Jardine dropped Rashad at least twice in their fight on TUF…Maybe Chuck’s one hit that actually landed wan’t a hard one…either way Rashad stopped and bounced around a bit when Chuck nailed him so I believe it did faze him, otherwise he wouldn’t have done that…either way Rashad said Chuck doesn’t hit hard yet Chuck has put how many people to sleep? Do you see the point?

It’s impossible to tell if that shot really fazed him…only Rashad knows that but it didn’t seem to bother him from what I saw. Regardless…it didn’t put him on his back or crumple his legs so he ate it and then he knew he could one up Chuck…and did.

Maybe getting punched in the face by guys like Nate and Jardine and GSP on a daily basis has toughened his chin up. Rashad has a proven chin…end of story.

I’ve been meaning to purchase the second season of TUF to rewatch it…I bought season 1. Those were the good old days of TUF…it’s not what it used to be.

BUster: WE dont really disagree much when it comes to this match up. You are just more passionate about Rashad then I am. Well thought out debate…I enjoyed it! We went at it in a respectful manner.. Like I said, I think the world of Page, Shad and Machida, and the UFc and its fans are lucky to have anyone of them as their LHW champion.

like you said, Shad and Machida are 2 of the biggest fight Genius’s in the sport, and thats whats most appealing to me about this match up.

Look at it this way, regardless of who wins, the UFC will have an UNDEFEATED LHW champion!