"The Half-Guarded Truth"
By: Mike Coughlin
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"Shogun, Machida, and the impossible fight against death"
Ask any fighter and they'll tell you they respect their opponent. It's part of the post-fight script: beat up someone, make sure to tell everyone you respect their skills because everyone likes a gracious winner; get beat, obviously acknowledge that you respect someone who just kicked your ass and that you're not a sore loser. Like most things in life, respect is not a black or white concept. Respect is a spectrum: at one end there's total respect, and at the other end there's no respect at all. The overwhelming (perhaps all) majority of people fall somewhere between the poles. With all that said, and making all due allowances for absolutes never being (he writes ironically), Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida represent polar opposites on the respect spectrum.
At his best, Shogun shows no respect for anything an opponent can do. His career highlights are exhibitions in contempt. Squaring off against Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Shogun walked nose to nose with the American, planted his feet, and immediately fired off a series of punches. Against Ricardo Arona, Shogun rushed in, threw a 360 degree spin kick, and a scramble later tried to tap out the ADCC Champion grappler with an oma plata, one of the most notoriously difficult to finish submissions in the sport. And then there was this past May, when Rua found himself in the UFC's octagon looking at a living legend in Chuck Liddell. As he had during his best performances, Shogun cared little for what Liddell had to offer. He took down the impossible to take-down Liddell, attempted a leg-lock, threw kicks, knees, and finally landed a big punch that crumbled the former UFC LHW Champion - all in less than 5 minutes. Shogun's best fights aren't displays of sport, they're muggings.
Machida moves with respect. He doesn't come rushing towards his foe, instead he cautiously studies their every move before eventually deciding to attack. He appreciates that every opponent he faces has the potential to defeat him, and so he does not engage until he learns everything about them. His fights rarely end in the first round - in fact, they rarely end at all, that's how cautious he can be. The majority of his wins are by decision and during his UFC tenure he has finished only one person in the first round (and that win, against Thiago Silva, literally happened with one second remaining in the round). Despite being inside the cage as often as any fighter, Machida is rarely hit. If the point of fighting is to damage while not being damaged, Machida is truly the sport's best.
Shogun will fight without caution or care; Machida fights only with caution and care. Two different styles, both devastatingly effective. As such, both have difficult roads to walk on Saturday night. Machida must decide whether Shogun's poor performances in the past were truly the result of an injured knee. If Shogun was simply slowed by an injury now healed, then Machida is in far more danger than many realize. He will be taking on a man that beat the world's best, often at their own games, almost always in the first round. Machida will face an athletic, sudden, and vicious Shogun who has as much respect for Machida as a buzz-saw does for a tree.
Shogun Rua has the task of defeating the undefeated. Psychologically, an unbeaten fighter holds a unique edge: no one knows with absolute certainty how to beat them. Oh, you may have an idea or two, but there's a world of difference between having an idea and watching it play out successfully. There's a difference between believing and knowing. And then there is the notion of respect. Everyone respects Machida, it's almost universal. But can Shogun beat Machida if he respects Machida? Can a man who had uncanny success while showing no respect beat someone if he does show it? If you always win by running in a straight line, do you know how to zig-zag? However, can Shogun win if he doesn't? The one problem with being a buzz-saw? You may cut the tree down with ease but the tree always grows back. Man never beats nature, he simply contains it for brief periods of time.
We know Shogun is a man, the question remains as to whether Machida is as well. Because if he isn't, if he's more a force of nature than a man, then Shogun cannot win. Man fights nature; he does not defeat it. All men die. Nature always wins in the end. Will Machida?
Mike Coughlin is the host of Five Star Radio and the star of Five Star TV. He's bound and determined to never die.
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