The light heavy weight belt hasn’t had a stable home since Chuck Liddell defended his title four times. Although Rampage Jackson who defeated Liddell for the belt was then able to defend his title against Dan Henderson, the belt has made its way from Jackson to Forrest Griffin, then to Rashad Evans and now is on the waist of the current champion Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida (15-0).

The awe inspiring Lyoto Machida has become an overnight legend after systematically destroying the previously undefeated champion Rashad Evans in two rounds. Machida’s road to success began back in 2003 in Japan and continued with victories over a then undefeated Rich Franklin, K-1 fighter Sam Greco and BJ Penn. His path to the belt sky rocketed once he started to collect big name scalps in the UFC such as Sokoudjou, Tito Ortiz and Thiago Silva.

Lyoto’s success lies in his orthodox style, his ability to avoid the strikes of his opponents and counter strike them from all angles. Not only does he have strong striking in his arsenal, his ground game and submission skills are of note, demonstrating that he definitely has the overall package. Take his fight with Tito Ortiz for example. Ortiz, known for his wrestling, take downs and his ground and pound skills unfortunately failed to deploy is strengths effectively. The Dragon has an uncanny ability to feel out his opponents distance, judge their timing and spot a flaw in their game before starting to lay out the punishment that will ultimately lead him to victory.

On the road back to recovery is Lyoto’s opponent Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (18-3). After suffering multiple knee injuries and loss of cardio fitness and conditioning, the former Pride FC Middle Weight Grand Prix Champion has most recently struggled to display his dominate form which earned him the consideration by MMA observers to be the number one light heavy weight in the world in 2007.

Make no mistakes, Shogun is just as a complete martial artists as Machida. He has fought against the best of the best and has consistently beaten his opposition in devastating fashion with his trade mark Chute Box striking and aggression. Some of his biggest scalps to date are Akihiro Gono, Quinton Jackson, little Nog, Alistair Overeem , Ricardo Arona, Mark Coleman and most recently Chuck Liddell. Rua is an excellent Brazilian Jujitsu black Belt, and a natural athlete- this he has inherited from his mother who was a track athlete and still competes in marathons to this day.

Ultimately the fighter that will win will be the one who has the best game plan and can actually stick to it as both Machida and Shogun’s strong striking techniques and ground game will both nullify each other. If Machida can make Shogun play his game by getting Shogun to be aggressive and attack Machida, then Machida will win the way he always win by counter striking and waiting for his opponent to make a mistake. If Shogun can stick to the game plan like he had against Liddell – which was to be patient, hold back on the aggression and wait for an opening and force his opponent to fight uncharacteristically by being the aggressor, Shogun can take Machida apart as The Dragon strays away from his game plan and into unchartered waters .

What are both fighters’ weaknesses? Everyone knows that Shogun’s cardio is questionable since his fight with Coleman and the quickly finishing fight with Liddell.

However, the million dollar question that everyone is asking is what is Lyoto Machida’s weakness? Nobody knows at the moment because he has remained undefeated so far. One flaw that can be noticed is that for the smallest amount of time Lyoto doesn’t protect his chin when going in for strikes.

Many observers and commentators have stated that “The Machida Era” has begun, but it’s very clear that they have forgotten that Shogun was on his way to the ultimate glory of being a champion before suffering those injuries. I wonder if everyone would write off the likes of Fedor Emelianenko or Anderson Silva if they endured the injuries Shogun has endured?

It only takes one punch to end an era and begin a dynasty, this could be a fight for the ages.

Sit Back, relax and enjoy all 41 minutes and 17 seconds of the count down to UFC 104: Machida vs. Shogun.

A glimpse into the life of Cain Velasquez as he trains for Ben Rothwell at UFC 104: Machida vs. Shogun on Saturday the 24th of October, 2009.

With the recent announcement that the UFC is going down under to Australia by Wanderlei Silva, the UFC has taken little time in signing a local fighter.

James Te Huna, a 27 year old Australian who trains at the Elite Fight Gym in the Sydney Suburb of Penrith is the latest addition to the UFC Light Heavy Weight shark tank.

James who recently won the Cage Fighting Championship light heavy weight title over Australian ex-UFC fighter Anthony Perosh will appear on the UFC Australia card in February but has no intended opponent named at this early stage.

Stay tuned as detail emerge.

Get inside UFC 104 When Lyoto The Dragon Machida defends his title against Mauricio Shogun Rua @ UFC 104: Machida vs. Shogun on Saturday, October 24th.



UFC 104: Machida vs. Shogun Full Card:

Main Card
Lyoto Machida (c) vs. Mauricio Rua (UFC LHW TITLE BOUT)
Cain Velasquez vs. Ben Rothwell
Gleison Tibau vs. Josh Neer
Joe Stevenson vs. Spencer Fisher
Anthony Johnson vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida
Spike TV card
Ryan Bader vs. Eric Schafer
Antoni Hardonk vs. Patrick Barry
Preliminary card
Yushin Okami vs. Chael Sonnen
Jorge Rivera vs. Rob Kimmons
Kyle Kingsbury vs. Razak Al-Hassan
Stefan Struve vs. Chase Gormley

The UFC’s middle weight division is close to losing two times Pride FC Champion Dan Henderson to Strikeforce as the long drawn out contract negotiation reach a stalemate.

Kevin Iole is reporting that Strikeforce “is on the verge” of signing Dan Henderson and has quoted The UFC president Dana White as saying he is “disappointed to lose Henderson” and that “he was confident the UFC would be able to recover.”

While most in the MMA universe would be disappointed that the Henderson, Marquardt, Belfort and Silva log jam won’t been played out in full, pleasure can be taken in the fact that Hendo who is 39 and in the twighlight years of his mma career will have great matchups if he signs with Strikeforce who are growing their stable with qaulity fighters.

(UPDATE)

The likelihood of Dan Henderson moving on from the UFC due to contracts disagreements with the UFC is at a all time high. Dana White, the ultimate fighting championship president gave a very frank and honest picture of the situation in an interview with MMA FIX.

Dana White:

We couldn’t come to terms with Dan Henderson… Business, nothing personal with Dan, I have a great relationship with him… but he was looking for an obscene amount of money. You never know what’s gonna happen, we’ll see what happens, but as of now, yeah, negotiations are done.

Watch Dana White Cheers On His Cousin At Tuff N Uff Fights on RawVegas.tv

Stay hooked to fightburger.com for MMA news with taste!

Wanderlei Silva has confimed through a youtube post that his next opponent will beYoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 111 on 21 Feburary 2010 in Sydney, Australia.

Fightburger was the first MMA news site to rumour this and now we are the first to break the news.



Stay tuned for further developments.

A glimpse into the life of Cain Velasquez as he trains for Ben Rothwell at UFC 104: Machida vs. Shogun on Saturday the 24th of October, 2009.

PART ONE:


PART TWO:

A recent bias and factually incorrect article on the UFC coming to Australia and about MMA in general which was published by “story book” The Sydney Morning Herald has caught the attention of Australian mixed martial arts poineer Elvis “The King of Rock n Rumble” Sinosic.


Most likely to the surprise of the The Sydney Morning Herald Elvis who has been mixed martial artist since 1997 was able to write a coherent and persuading article in reply to their article.

My name is Elvis Sinosic. I am Australia’s most well know Mixed Martial Artist (you would no doubt label me a cage fighter). I have been fighting in the sport of MMA since 1997. I read your recent article “Cage Rage coming here” and it read more like a fairy tale than a factual newspaper article. It starts with conjecture stating an opinion that is inaccurate and of someone so irrelevant that it is not sourced at all. First of all the sport is not and has not been referred to as human cockfighting for many years and then only by those who were uneducated to what MMA was. The sport does not promote any sort of “street fighting” as your article claims. If anything it says fighting is for the cage not for the streets.

He even refers to a move called “Pound and Ground”. He hasn’t even bothered to check his facts. When you read things like this you realize that the writer has not taken any effort to check his facts and information. The move is called “Ground and Pound”. It then mentions the absence of a blood rule. Where does he get his facts from? Friday night late night movies? The sport has doctors ringside. The sport allows the referee to stop the match to check for cuts and injuries. Making false claims only makes your paper look like a story book not a newspaper. It even mentions that you cannot throw in the towel. It does not bother to mention that nothing can be thrown into the octagon. It doesn’t then state that the corner can stop the fight by signaling the referee. They just cannot stop the fight by throwing in the towel, it must be done verbally. It then goes on to state that the sport of cage fighting started in 2007. Once again does the writer even bother to check his facts or was that just the first time he saw the sport advertised in his local TV guide? The sport of MMA has been in Australia since March 22nd 1997. The sport has been going on, and safely at that, for over 12years. The false and inaccurate claims and facts just reeks of unprofessionalism.

Then the writer degenerates even further attempting to compare it to fighting animals. Where does he come off? Fighting animals is illegal and unethical. I’m a fighter and was also at one time a volunteer for Sydney wildlife and I find the comparison disgusting. The animals are mistreated and have no choice in the matter. Fighters on the other do have a choice. They choose to fight. They are treated very well by the promoters who look after them and lets not forget that they are also paid for their efforts. Not only that but the sponsors look after their fighters well. When have you ever seen a sponsor at an animal fighting event? Then you have the fans who do look up the fighters. And if you think they are all thugs you are greatly mistaken. Watch the end of a match. You will see two great competitors who, regardless of the result, will congratulate each other in a mutual show of respect, something that is not seen in many less “barbaric” sports. The writers comparison’s are appalling.

I challenge your paper to write a factual article on the sport of MMA. I’ve seen other papers take the time and effort to do their research and write a fair and factual account of the sport. I offer up my services as well. I am a professional MMA fighter. I have been competing in the sport since it first started here in Australia in 1997. I was the first Australian to fight and win in the UFC. I was also the first Australian to get a World Title shot in the UFC. I have competed in MMA across the glove in countries such as the US, Canada, Japan, England and Sweden. Not only have I been involved in the sport as a fighter I have also been involved as corner man helping fighters during the matches. I have also been a commentator in different events such as the UFC, Warriors Realm and The CFC. I also run a martial arts school and teach students who are may become fighters in the future. I have a great understanding and passion for the sport. I hope that your paper decides to do the right thing and write a follow up article that is correctly researched and fair and balanced.

I look forward to hearing back form you.
Regards,
Elvis Sinosic
The King of Rock n Rumble
www.ElvisSinosic.com
www.myspace.com/ElvisSinosic
www.Facebook.com/Elvis.Sinosic
www.spma.net.au

Fight Burger applauds Sinosic for his actions and sincerely hope that he gets slot on the UFC Australia card in February 2010 because good ambassadors of the sport battling that level of closed minded bias deserve a reward.

Help Elvis by joining his facebook campaign to get him onto the UFC Australia card.

Take a look at the trailer for The Expendables featuring mixed martial arts legend Randy “The Natural” Couture. The basic plot of the film is a bunch of mercenaries are sent to South America on a mission to overthrow a dictator.

The film has an action movie buffs wet dream of a cast which include Sylvester Stallone, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Terry Crews, Mickey Rourke, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Dolph Lundgren and cameos from Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The movie is due for release August 2010.