Machida Reflects on Controversial UFC 104 win
LOS ANGELES – Lyoto Machida was glassy-eyed and somber at the post-fight press conference for UFC 104. He had defended…
LOS ANGELES – Lyoto Machida was glassy-eyed and somber at the post-fight press conference for UFC 104.
He had defended his light heavyweight belt – the first time in over two years a 205-pound UFC champ had done so – but failed to deliver a performance that had brought him past accolades.
In fact, just about everyone thought he lost to Mauricio Shogun Rua, save for three California State Athletic Commission judges. When the judges made their call, boos echoed throughout the Staples Center.
Machida looked surprised at the decision and tried in vain to turn the crowd around with apologies. He and Rua were cordial, exchanging congratulations and a good fight.
Afterwards, Machida’s father Yoshizo and middleweight champion Anderson Silva lectured him on his mistakes backstage.
They came in and told me some of the things I was doing wrong, and it’s a learning experience, said Machida.
The champion declined to say whether he felt he had won the fight and said the decision was not his call.
Every time you go in there, you always want to try and make the fans happy, and it’s a little depressing when they don’t cheer for you, when they boo you, he said.
It was the first time in Machida’s UFC career that he’d lost a round, and the first time he’d emerged from a fight with the marks to prove it. The last time that happened was when he fought B.J. Penn as a heavyweight in March 2005. That, and a few dojo battles with his brother Chizo.