UFC 104 will take place on October 24 in Los Angeles, California. The main event will be Lyoto Machida (15-0) versus Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (18-3) for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. Shogun did nothing to deserve a title shot but instead was given the opportunity to fight for the belt since he was the only contender available to fight Machida.

Lyoto Machida

Machida has never lost a round in the UFC. His elusive defensive style and unorthodox karate stance are a handful for opponents. He rarely gets hit but is highly susceptible to being submitted on the ground as shown by Tito Ortiz. Even with a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu background, Ortiz had Machida in a triangle choke, luckily for Machida he was slippery enough to escape.

Early in his fights in the UFC, Machida was deemed to boring to watch but it certainly has changed with his KO victories over Thiago Silva and Rashard Evans. Against Evans, Machida picked his shots and avoided any strike attempts by Evans. Evans didn’t even try to take Machida to the ground which was a mistake. The key to beating Machida is fighting him very physical and imposing your strength against him.

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua

Shogun definitely has the skills to hang in the octagon with Machida but Rua has not been the same fighter since moving to the UFC from PRIDE. The reason why Rua was so effective in PRIDE compared to the UFC is certain rule differences. In PRIDE, Shogun utilized elbows and knees on downed opponents which is a big no-no in the UFC. He also stomped on his opponents in PRIDE. Shogun had to make big adjustments in his transition to the UFC.

Many UFC fans are hoping that the PRIDE version of Shogun returns in this bout against Machida. So far, Shogun has struggled in his matches in the UFC. He lost by rear naked choke hold to former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Forrest Griffin and looked unimpressive in his win over Mark Coleman. Shogun did KO former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Chuck Liddell but who doesn’t KO Liddell nowadays.

If the PRIDE version of Shogun shows up in UFC 104, then we will have an exciting and thrilling match but if UFC Shogun rears its ugly head in UFC 104 expect Machida to explode on Shogun. Shogun has a wide array of offensive weapons but his confidence has been fading bad. The win over Liddell was good for Shogun mentally.

Machida may lose a round to Shogun but it wouldn’t be enough to crown a new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion.