Yeah, TUF took away options, so maybe it makes sense, but he doesn’t deserve it yet. That part is true.

yeah and that’s why you have the right to say that the UFC ain’t about the sport!… fun thing though is that Shogun is a more dangerous opponent than Rashad was, Shogun’s striking and defense is better than most and his ground game is outstanding, Shogun has a great shot at winning!.. the hype train Machida may be about to end!.. it pretty much depends on which Shogun shows up

i think anderson needs to stfu and worry about himself… talking trash about both his former teammates, dancing away his last two title defenses against total scrubs who had no reason to be fighting for the title! shogun is a big draw, is an extremely dangerous opponent for anybody, including anderson silva…

Agreed!

If anything he’s talking trash about Dana White and the UFC.. It’s not Shogun’s fault that he got a title shot, and he’s not critizizing or downplaying Shogun’s skills…

Where’s JohnG?

I expected a 3000 word essay oh why Shogun’s life record and mitigating circumstances in the UFC make him not only the appropriate choice, but one of the greatest men to ever live. :)

“I said to our managers this fight shouldn’t happen. Shogun didn’t fight enough to deserve the belt. The thing is precious and if I was Lyoto I wouldn’t accept.”

Nah,RoB…he’s full of sh

no he isn’t, he’s entitled to his opinion and i agree with him I feel the same way… but these fighters are getting run over by the UFC anyway, so he would be in alot of trouble if he ever did that…
I like Anderson he says what he feels like saying, and he’s got the skills to back it up too!

“I like Anderson he says what he feels like saying”

How can you say that when Soares always difform his quotes?

Wait Punch,“Jizz man” will deliver tomorrow morning for sure!

A. Silva fought one time in the UFC and went straight to a belt; that means Shogun fought twice as much as he did to get to the title…

I keep hearing it depends which Shogun Shows Up! REally! Have we actually seen a good Shogun in the UFC yet. Which one do you want to see? The one that fought Forrest, The one that scrapped by a half a century old MArk Coleman, or the one the KO’d 1-3 Chuck. With the exception of Rampage and Hendo there is not a PRIDE fighter who has done well in the UFC. I know Anderson was a PRide fighter but he really made his name in CAge RAge! I personally think the juice is what kept Chute Boxe so aggresive in PRide because in the UFC the guys look like faint shells of their former selves. Shogun will be nothing more then an ant hill on the Machida Freight Train tracks. Yeah there is always a chance the train derails in some freak accident but 99 times out of a 100 the bump just gets squashed. MAchida by way murder!

So what in Anderson backs up his teammate he has every right. Teammates bck each other up all the time, that is why they are TEAM mates! To say that Anderson shouldn’t talk because of his last 2 outing is absurd. Because he was not entertaining enough for you doesn’t make him any less the champ. Sean Sherk made a championship career out of putting the audience asleep. Every fighter is not always going to shine every fight. Even GSP has looked less then stellar on occasion, Serra, the Koscheck win was not all that impressive, and personally I don’t even think the Alves fight was all that impressive. Good but not impressive. Anderson is only half to blame for those. He was not fighting himself. Coming from the old school boxing mentality I feel the competition has to bring it to the Champ whether the Champ shows up or not. Neither of them did that. Ansderson is a tactition he did not go in to those fights with reckless abandon, so what. How may people play it for the safe win?

Finally on the boxing note my uncle is up for the Greatest LW Boxer ever, Carlos Ortiz. In 70 fights he went 61-7-1 with 30wins by way of KO. He was a 2 time LW champ and 1 time Jr WW Champ. Here is the link http://www.greatestever.com/970.php
and here is the link to his story…. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Ortiz
Thanks ALL!!!!

It’s not like Machida had any name recognition either; in fact despite winning most people were complaining about his fights. He’s just now starting to build up a fan base with these last two wins. With Page tied up in TUF, Rashad and Forrest coming off loss’s, I don’t see any other option really.

Since Bumpage sold out and went for the dollars instead of the glory…who was really left to challenge for the belt? Name someone that deserved a shot more than Shogun and that stands a chance against Machida…the answer is no one. I’m not interested in seeing the belt held up just to wait for the outcome of Bumpage/Rashad. Shogun is coming off 2 wins, albeit against 2 geezers, but that along with his impressive resume is enough for me. Anderson is hardly one to talk since he got a title shot after one win and one fight in the UFC. I know the MW division was weak then but still…that’s very hypocritical. Shogun wasn’t clammoring for the belt…he was made the offer and since he isn’t retarded…he took it.

Anyone that doesn’t think Shogun has a chance or deserves this shot must not have heard of a little thing they used to have back in the day called PRIDE. If you haven’t seen Shogun’s body of work in pride then you need to educate yourself. Shogun is a true test for Machida.

Agree 100% with Buster….Shogun accepts a chance when given it and Rampage turns it down…Shogun knees Rampage to death and will do it again…I wouldn’t be surprised if Shogun surprises alot of people by beating Machida…I do believe he was hurt and the recover of a torn ACl is a long process and yet Shogun still managed to fight during the recovery stage and beat a very game Coleman who shocked alot of people on here including myself by beating Bonner…Anderson needs to shut up and worry about his 2 past performances against 2 unworthy challengers took about being a hypocrite!!!!!

ASk and you shall recieve mr. Punch!

I have been very vocal around here about Fighters EARNING THE RIGHT TO FIGHT FOR THE TITLE!!! I honestly believe thats the way it should be. if I gotta keep it real, shogun has not earned a title shot right NOW in his UFC career. hOwever, the alternative to giving Shogun a title shot would be keeping Machida and the title on the shelf till about NEXT April. Can anyone really say that they would rather have Machida sit out til April than Fight shogun?

Shogun is TOP{ SHELF Light heavyweight, and stylistically, he will be Machida’s toughest fight! BELIEVE THAT! But nO, he hasnt EARNED the title shot. since Brock arrived the UFC has become ALL ABOUT MONEY! Its not a real sport! THe only thing that matters in a real sport is MERIT! Now a days, the main requirment for earning a title shot is HOW MANY SEATS YOU CAN FILL! THat makes me FURIOUS!!!

Shogun has the skills of a title contender…He has just had a rough spell in the UFC due to injuries, After the Affliction DEBACLE, fans shouldnt be so quick to crucify shogun for his Forrest fight. Would the haters have prefered Shogun pulling out of that fight and Forrest fighting some late, Joe Blow replacement? “Hell to the Nah” (in my best whittney Houston voice)! Shogun had the ballz to step into the Octagon for the 1st time and face forrest Griffin with an acl completely snapped in his knee. I gotta applaud that! Forrest vs. Shogun was still an awesome fight, and many other fighters would have pulled out….Props to shogun, and I am 100% positive that Dana appreciates the fact that he didnt pull out of that fight, and it should have earned some points with the BOSS!!

Fact of the matter is that Shogun is so good that he easily deserved his 1st uFC fight to be a title shot. fighter like Brock lacked skills and used his fame and Size to get a title shot. At least Shogun has the skills and the overall body of work tat are impressive enough to justify giving him a title shot.

If the UFC is torn between giving 2 undeserving fighters title shots, I would much prefer giving it to the fighter that has the skills of a legit title contender instead of the fighter with the big name and drawing power that lacks title contender skills.

Truth of the matter is that If I am going to keep it real, I gotta say, that in the past 2 years, I have been completely TURNED OFF by the way the UFC matches fighters and awards title shots. THere is a long list of fighters that I feel were given title shots without earning that right:
Brock
Forrest
Leites
Cote
BJ penn at welterweight
Frank Mir
Shogun

oUt of all these fighters that got undeserving
title shots, Shogun is probably the best fighter out of the bunch along with BJ. If you can give a 1-2 fighter like Brock a title shot over a 10-0 Carwin, then you are basically saying to the world, that THIS ISNT A REAL SPORT! its entertainment. THe fighters are REAL ATLETES but the UFC isnt a sport. Entertainment has too much of an influence over matchmaking. Real sports let the chips fall were they may, and there is NO DOUBT in real sports about who the best team or player in the world is. The NBA Hated the fact that the boring Spurs were so dominant this past decade. Everytime they won the championship the ratings sucked, but that didnt keep the NBA from not allowing them to play for the title.

There is nothing I hate more about the UFC then its BS matchmaking. THe UFC does a horrible job of matching up contenders so that we are left with a deserving and consensus title contender!

If they are going to give a title shot to an undeserving fighter, at least they should give it to a TOP FIGHTER, with top shelf skills in his respective division….and Shogun fits that bill!

I dont know if Shogun will beat Machida, but I am 100% positive that he will give Machida hell and earn a lot of fans with his performance. Stylistically I think he is best suited to beat Machida. Many of you will be really surprised by Shogun’s performance against Machida.

FYI: I have watched many recent shogun training video’s on his preperation for Machida, and I have to admit, he is looking really good!

Great posts BUSTER and Robert!!!!!!!!!!

This is a very dangerous fight for Machida!!!!!!!!!

O’Damn said all that needs to be said. A Silva fought mother fuckin’ Chris Leben to get a title shot against Rich Franklin, so he can shut up about Rua deserving a title shot. I don’t care what anyone thinks they are protecting Silva at this point. They have not given him any challenges as of lately and there is absolutely no denying it.

- James Irvin
- Patrick Cote
- Thales Lietes
- Forrest Griffin

There are about five people in the world who thought any of these men could beat Silva, give me a break and give Rua to Silva next!

It is, Shogun is a technical striker and you have to have technique against Machida this is probably gonna go to a decision if Shogun doesn’t finish it… I say advantage Shogun on the ground!…

Da Monkey, yes they were drugged out and roided in Pride that’s obvious and should be a known thing, those guys never tired and they were just animals…

I think the general theme has been: Yeah, there’s no one else to take the shot so give it to him, But he doesn’t deserve it yet.

BTW, Machida is a lock! He will destroy Shogun.

John,

when you go admit that he doesn’t deserve it, but he’s the best option at this point, you basically make me have to agree with you and where’s the fun in that?

However, I disagree that he will Challenge Machida. I think Machida finishes him by the end of the second.

At this point in the UFC there are some big distances between the Champions and the rest of the field. Is there anyone that can really challenge Silva, GSP, Machida or even Brock for that matter. Even BJ is far ahead of most LW if he has his head on straight.

Like it or not, the sport is a business, and matching up fight cards and fighters is a tough thing to do. Who else can Machida fight next that would be a good fight to watch? Hendo is fighting at a lower weight, Franklin lost and hasn’t looked good at any weight lately. The only person I can think might be Thiago Silva, but that fight already happened.

The same thing goes for Anderson Silva. At the time, Franklin had cleaned out the division of the best guys. Silva was new to the UFC and had an impressive win streak before he got there, so why not throw him in against Franklin.

Love it or hate it, it’s about the money and putting together fights that people want to see. It’s about matchups, and if you are a fight fan, and don’t understand that, then you need to keep being a fan and get more knowledge and understanding about the sport overall, and not just be a fan of the best fighters!

john…nice post…I agree 100%. Looks like we’ll be the ones driving the Shogun bandwagon all the way to 104. Where are these videos of Shogun training for Machida?

I will dig the video’s up for you and post a link during my lunch break. I cant remember off the top of my head….Happy to be driving the warwagon with you buster! You are one of the bloggers who’s oppinion i respect the most around here!

Well Rampage turned the title shot chance down to fight Rashad instead and if they had to pair off Shogun with someone else (Banha maybe) to establish a number 1 contender Lyoto would be idle for too long and wouldn’t have defended the belt for quite some time.

Given the scenario and Shogun’s record and skills I don’t really see what the problem is. It was like when Anderson came to the UFC and walked through Leben. There wasn’t exactly a huge line waiting to fight Rich.

I really don’t see what the problem is. Machida has to fight again this year and if not Shogun then who?

i got shogun for the win!

How many threads you gonna post that on stink?? jk dude ;-)

2~

this one, and the wrong thread gsp rolling stoner.

Shogun is 3rd in line, and well deserving of a title shot. I have lost a little respect for Anderson. I hope he is just looking out for Lyoto… but I couldn’t disagree more!

Great post Busta & Jizz man!I’m in the ShogunWagon with you guys!

From this I think that Anderson is more critical of the UFC and their matchmaking than Shogun, although he did benefit from getting an early title shot so I can see why people are unhappy that it was him who said this. However Andy proved that he was a worthy contender by mauling Franklin and going on to become the most dominant fighter in UFC history, walking through the MW division and having the longest winning streak in the promotions history.

Recently Silva has been unfairly criticised by fans, media and his boss so he’s obviously not on the greatest terms with the UFC. If I was him I’d be fuming at my boss publicly criticising me for doing my job successfully. Andy is no doubt as frustrated as anyone else at the lack of competition that he has been given, he wants to fight the best and instead is stuck with inadequate opponents who are too scared to engage, then he is the one who gets blamed for the disappointing fights that resulted from this.

Also Machida was treated very unfairly and it’s a minor miracle that he actually got a title shot in the first place. His first few opponents were all nobodies and it seemed like he was doomed to the undercards and fight nights. The first big fight he was given by the UFC was Soko and all of the pre-fight hype was behind Soko. Then the Tito fight was all about Tito-Dana and Lyoto was an afterthought in the marketing. Fair enough him and Thiago were both played as equals but it was clear that the UFC were only going to get behind the winner and to top it all off he only got a title shot because Rampage pulled out. The only reason Lyoto is champion is because of his hard work and dedication. He had to win over fans inside the octagon with virtually no marketing behind him and is only now being given the recognition that he truly deserves. No wonder Anderson is frustrated after seeing his teammate struggle for years to earn his spot, then others like Shogun are given title fights for a lot less.

Whilst right now there is nobody else worth a title fight, with Rampage, Rashad and Forrest all in other fights, I can still see why Anderson is annoyed on behalf of his teammate at the favourtism shown to some fighters over others.

i agree somewhat

Shogun was a top 205er when he joined the UFC too

Win wise, no he doesnt deserve it. But what are the other options? Did Silva deserve it after knocking out Leben? By his own standards, no he did not.

There are no other options, personally I think Silva should worry about getting back to his old self for this fight with Forrest and let Lyoto take care of his own business.

Great post deuce

Worst post ever. How the fuck is he bad mouthing Shogun? That makes absolutely no sense. Stating a fact is considered bashing? LMAO!!

seriously?? what about the total domination of tito?? and overrated?? thiago was 13-0 , yeah he didn’t beat the best of the best but was on a knock out spree ! the fact is machida has NEVER lost a round in the ufc, and never will , he is a bad mofo who will stay champ for a long long long time!! Aside from the almost triangle tito caught him in in the last seconds of their fight when has machida been in any kind of trouble?? Machida deserved the title shot against rashad more than rampage did, in fact i would have given it to machida against forrest instead of rashad!! on a side note if i was jardine i’d be asking where my title shot was, everyone else that beat chuck as of late got a title shot, wtf!! i’d be pissed

add the fact leben HAD NOT lost in the ufc and was 6-0 when he fought anderson, getting ready for a title shot, and was fucking voted on to get the shot by the fans.. not only beat leben he MURDERED him beat him senseless where leben was supposed to be insane at,the okami fight was not in the ufc either so what relevance does that fight have?

shogun got absolutely dominated by forrest, was LOSING to mark coleman who had not trained good up until coleman finally just shutdown, and got the lamest weakass knockout on a guy who lost what 3 out of his last 4 fights?

i like shogun and wanna watch the fight but the circumstances are much much different

JJ, I agree with you a 100%. Shogun beat 2 former champs and Hall of famers too might I add. Anderson Silva beat a nobody to get his title shot.

On top of all that, Shogun puts on exciting fights almost everytime. Where as Machida was very boring to watch for a long time. Keep in mind UFC is a business and you don’t want to put a very boring fighter in your main event if he is going to lose you viewers.

Why is everyone forgetting that it was fans who voted on the UFC website to give him a shot at Franklin? Still everything he said is true despite the fact that it’s the only viable fight right now since everyone is held up.

Randy and NNR,

you took the words out of my mouth.

Jesus Christ! I forgot about all the bitching on this site! For being the toughest sport in the world there sure are alot of bitchers and moaners. Sit back and enjoy the show ,let the cards fall as they may, Everyday is " I hate Brock" ,“I hate Machida” , I hate Anderson Silva" ,“Waa Waa my vagina hurts waa waa”. John, Kevin, Punch, Mr. Murders and if Chef is anywhere near here you know I am not directing this to ya’ll or anyone else in particular.

exactly…if Shogun wasn’t fighting for the title everyone would be saying that the show is holding everything up

No doubt granted maybe shogun doesn’t deserve a title shot but I would rather him get one now rather than wait another f*cking year for the winner of rampage and evans.

This is true. It’s just the circumstances. If not Shogun then who? Exactly, no one. I thought Shogun looked pretty decent against Chuck. Of course we can’t really say anything about his cardio but he at least looked to be decent shape.

What did impress me was the changes to his standup. It seems that he had a real good think about his career in terms of longevity. Stylistically his standup seems to be moving away from the old Chute Boxe style which is a good thing. He doesn’t want to take too much damage and burn out.

Clever, well done sir.

shogun probably had a better reputation than anderson upon entering the ufc. but then he blew it by looking horrible, twice. anderson on the other hand put on what is probably to this day one of the most beautiful ass kicking displays ever n his ufc debut!

never the less, shogun’s got a title shot and now has even more motivation to win and shut anderson up.

ps if shogun loses he should drop down to 185lbs.

I agree with ya,but not for the dropping weight!Better match-up possibilities at LHW than MW IMO.

what the?, yes, shogun did have the same rep as silva coming to the ufc. the only difference was silva won his debut and got a title shot. rampage won his debut and got a title shot, and forrest won shoguns debut and got a title shot. had shogun won his debut he would have gotten a titleshot.

Thanks for the explanation that I already knew,Buttcrack.You’re absolutely right though!

jj ur dumb, anderson silva was in great shape and to come to the ufc looking like crap is so disrespect, u can’t come in and beat 2 old guys and look terrible while doing it, it does not make shogun worthy, he got it cause rampage is too busy ducking machida and getting ko’d by sugar..

where’d the miguel torres thread go?

that is correct Pat… had Shogun been injury-free he would have had his title shot atleast a year ago!

Even if you tie both Machida’s arms and legs and blindfolded him, David Heath will never beat him! A guy that can be rag dolled by a no namer in Tim Boetsch should never fight in the UFC again!

Haha twas a joke guys.

His jaw was bothering him buttcrack it was only March when he last fought and before that December then look at Machida were he didn’t fight for 8 months after he fought Tito. It’s very naive for you to even claim he is ducking Machida turning down the chance to coach on TUF would be a bad career move with the extra money he can make from the show and sponsors. Machida’s turn will come you will see.

yep