There are a lot of things that bug me about Lyoto Machida.

He’s a striker who hasn’t knocked out a UFC opponent. He talks at length about this striking style that doesn’t finish. He fights off of his back foot. He throws combinations almost as rarely as he moves forwards. He gets credit as being the top striker at 205, when there are a half dozen guys who have finished more fights standing up than he has.

Still, while I’m open about the problems I have with the way that Machida fights, there’s one thing I won’t deny: he’s going to get a title shot.

He’s one of the only fighters in the division without a loss on his recent record, and the only one who’s one a substantial winning streak against the opponents that the UFC cares about.

The UFC has used him as a high profile hitman. They brought him in to prove that Sokoudjou wasn’t as destructive as everyone thought. They brought him in to end the UFC career of Tito Ortiz on a note that will make it much harder for the former Champ to get resigned in a major organization.

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Or is he really that good? I’m certainly assuming it’s the former as I was not impressed with the Brazilian once again during UFC 84. As Machida pulled off a 30-27 decision win over Tito Ortiz, I wondered if UFC judges were really listening to Mike Goldberg when he told us (once again) that each five minute round would by decided by effective striking, grappling, aggression, and octagon control by the judges.

For the record, I have nothing against Machida. Sure, he was boring at UFC 84, but I didn’t think BJ Penn was exciting as he jabbed his way through nearly three full rounds either. I’m also not a Tito Ortiz fan more than any MMA junkie. Ortiz has been around long enough that I’m aware of his abilities and I respect him as a ground and pound fighter.

It’s not that Machida is a bad fighter, he is just able to exploit the flaw in the judging system to win 8 out of 13 fights via decision. So more than 60% of his fights are left to the judges as he dances away from the fight and he continues to move on up in the UFC’s light heavyweight division. Two TKO’s in 2003, a guillotine in 2004, a rare technical knockout in 2005, and an arm triangle choke against Rameau Sokoudjou in 2007 make up his decisive wins as a fighter. The rest of his fights, the eight he didn’t end, were left to three judges to decide and only once did a split decision nearly cost him his undefeated status. That was in 2003, quite a while back if we are talking about current MMA standards, against an unknown Sam Greco.

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I won’t say that UFC 84 changed the entire sport, because that would be an outright lie, but the 205 pound division needs to be seriously rethought, and the UFC management has been neglecting restructuring it for a while. It’s clear that there are fighters that are ranked way to high in that division and other fighters who need to be reevaluated and reappraised.

The return of Wanderlei Silva to form may have been the most important thing that happened last night and, unfortunately, everyone simply sees it as a last hurrah for Silva, because after his loss to Liddell he seems almost unmarketable for title contention, and I think that’s the right judgement, but at the same time, there are guys that Wanderlei should be fighting, guys that he should step in with because they need to be tested as much as he needs to gain some more practice and credibility in the cage.

Questioning Wanderlei’s credibility as a fighter is like questioning Mirko CroCop’s ability to hit hard. It’s an unquestionable truth in the world of MMA, but the question is whether or not his return to the top tier is legitimate, or if it is just, as some seem to think, a last hurrah. It makes alot of sense to put him in and test him against top tier opponents like, say, Houston Alexander or Rameau Thierry Soukoudjou.

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I have been successfully wagering on MMA events since I was a full-time executive in the biggest offshore gaming company in the industry, encouraging other books to put up lines on MMA events. In those early days, the books took some bad beats for a couple of reasons:

1. There was not enough bettors to easily balance the line, and;

2. Virtually all of the bettors were sharps - fanatic MMA enthusiasts who knew the fighters and knew the game.

Remember, no matter what ANYONE tells you, sportsbooks want to attract an equal amount to each side of a line. Responsible professional sportsbooks do not take a position on an event, they set and adjust the line in an attempt to attract equal action to the favorite and the underdog. Achieving this guarantees them the theoretical hold percentage or profit regardless of the outcome. While perfectly balanced action is never achieved, the line is managed according to this principle.

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If the UFC and Dana White want the best guys who are quickly moving up through the ranks, they should have paid more attention to Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, a young and dangerous Judo and Muay Thai fighter. Why Sokoudjou? Well, any fighter who comes off of two knockout wins against Brazilian Top Team light-heavyweight fighters Ricardo Arona and Antonio Rogerio Noguiera, while up against 16-1 odds, should be given a chance to showcase more of their skills in the largest MMA Organization in the world.

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