Machida defense narrow success

LOS ANGELES — Lyoto Machida ran into the first real adversity of his Ultimate Fighting Championship career on Saturday night.

While the approximately 16,000 fans in attendance might not have agreed, he was able to overcome it and escape with the light heavyweight belt still around his waist.

All three judges awarded Machida a 48-47 decision in the main event of UFC 104 at Staples Center after enduring five rounds of punishing kicks from the feet of Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.

Most of the crowd booed the decision loudly and kept it going throughout Machida’s postfight interview in the cage.

The judges saw it the other way, though they weren’t unanimous on which three rounds Machida won. Two of them gave Machida each of the first three rounds and Rua the final two. The other judge awarded rounds two through four to Machida.

“There’s three judges, and all three had a unanimous decision that I won the fight. I’m not the one that makes that decision,” said Machida, who never had lost so much as a round in his seven previous victories in the organization.

The fight lacked many highlight-reel strikes, but both were effective in what they were able to land.

Machida timed many of Rua’s kicks and landed punches ahead of them, particularly early in the fight. The kicks that landed to Machida’s body and legs seemed to wear down the champion late.

He had a discolored welt in his midsection after the fight, and his legs were bruised.

“My corner was telling me I was winning every round. I felt like I won the fight, but a fight is a fight. What can you do?” Rua said. “Lyoto is a great fighter. I trained very hard in practice, like a thousand kicks a day because that was the game plan.”

In the co-main event, Cain Velasquez turned in the type of dominating performance that likely will get him a shot at the winner of the heavyweight title bout between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin next month.

Velasquez secured takedown after takedown of former International Fight League champion Ben Rothwell and landed shots each time he went to the ground.

The fight was stopped 58 seconds into the second round after Velasquez landed six straight left hands to Rothwell’s head against the cage.

The referee’s decision didn’t sit well with Rothwell, who was making his UFC debut. He hadn’t launched much of an offense up to that point, however, and Velasquez was in position to take him back to the ground if the fight had continued.

Former lightweight title challenger Joe Stevenson continued his climb back up the division with a second-round submission of Spencer Fisher.

Stevenson used his legs to pin back one of Fisher’s arms and then used his neck and one arm to pin the other. Stevenson then let his one free arm unleash a rash of unanswered elbows to a defenseless Fisher, causing him to tap out with his leg.

“My little sister and big sister used to do that to me when I was little and put makeup on me,” Stevenson said of where he learned the maneuver.

Anthony Johnson made quick work of Yoshiyuki Yoshida, taking 41 seconds to knock out the Japanese fighter with a huge right hand.

Gleison Tibau took down Josh Neer at will in a lightweight bout. Tibau didn’t do a lot of damage, but it was enough to earn the favor of all three judges.

Pat Barry scored an emotional knockout over Antoni Hardonk on the first fight of the Spike TV portion of the card.

Barry raised his arms triumphantly before the referee even stepped in to stop the fight. Then he dropped to his knees and began crying and still was weeping as he walked back to the dressing room.

“A lot was on the line. My career was on the line,” Barry said. “A lot of people have doubted me, and this fight meant a lot. It was a really big step up for me.”

Also, Ryan Bader returned from knee surgery to score a decision over Eric Schafer. Bader rocked Schafer badly in the first round but didn’t finish him. Schafer responded to have a competitive second round, but Bader’s standup proved too effective in the third.

On the undercard, Kyle Kingsbury and Chael Sonnen earned decision victories. Jorge Rivera knocked out Rob Kimmons in the third round, and Stefan Struve submitted Chase Gormley in the first round.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509.