A wins a win

The main event at UFC 123 featured a fight between two of the best Light Heavyweights in the world, Quinton Jackson and Lyoto Machida.

Both men are former UFC Light Heavyweight champions and a win would vault one of these fighters right back into the title picture.

The fight was an extremely close one.  Machida is one of the hardest fighters to hit cleanly in MMA.  He leaps into range, fires a combination, and backs out of danger before his opponent has a chance to counterattack.  In the first round, Rampage was using good movement to keep Machida in front of him but had trouble landing any power shot.  The first round could be awarded to either fighter.  Machida landed a handful of hard leg kicks and avoided much of Jackson's punches but Rampage was constantly pressuring "The Dragon" and landed several strong uppercuts. 

The second round was definitely in Rampage's favor.  He did a better job at cutting the cage off, landed more strikes, and he scored a takedown.

The third round, however, was all Machida.  He stunned Rampage with a flurry of punches to force him back against the fence then scored a trip takedown.  From there he worked from half guard and was able to pass to mount.  With about a minute and a half remaining Machida spins for an armbar.  Rampage is able to get to his feet but "The Dragon" is still latched onto his arm.  Jackson then picks Machida up off the ground and tosses him away from him.  Machida is able to land on his feet and tries to score a clinch takedown against the fence as the fight ends.

An extremely close fight comes down to the scorecards.  Two judges see it for Jackson, 29-28, and one sees it for Machida, 29-28.  Rampage picks up the Split Decision.  Rampage admitted to Joe Rogan during the post-fight interview in the Octagon that he thought Machida had won the fight and offered to take an immediate rematch with "The Dragon."


Rampage was visually shocked to hear he had picked up the decision victory.

 I personally had Machida winning the fight, but I am a huge Rampage fan and I was glad to see him take the decision.  Machida's style of constantly backing away from any danger was his downfall in this fight.  If he would have been more aggressive, I'm positive the fight would have gone his way. 

A fight with Machida isn't a great way to showcase Rampage's skills, even though he showed a much better ability to cut the cage off then I'm used to seeing from him.  To show why I am such a huge Rampage fan I collected a few short highlight clips of him for you to enjoy.  Along with the nickname "Rampage,"  Quinton is also known as "Slampage" and you will soon see why.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbEU6X0OXkI