Going into UFC 104 last October, there was little doubt in my mind that Lyoto Machida was gonna steamroll Shogun. He was 15-0 up to that point and a dominant 15-0 at that. Shogun on the other hand was once dominant, but now looked like injuries had taken their toll. In 2005, he won the Pride Middleweight Grand Prix and looked like future of the division. Shogunwas 12-1, not even 23 yet, and hadn’t taken much damage. Remember, this is when Chuck and Wanderlei were at the top of their game but getting older (in Wanderlei’s case it was more kilometerage than age). In Shogun’s next fight after winning the GP, he breaks his arm against Mark Coleman, ironically enough at Pride 31: Unbreakable. He recovered and strung together four more dominant wins in Pride before they were bought by the UFC. In his debut at UFC 76, he was expected to walk through Forrest Griffin and straight to a title shot, but Forrest had different plans thoroughly outclassing Rua and submitting him with seconds left in the fight. It came out after their match that Shogun injured his knee in training, fought anyway, and reinjured it in the fight. He had surgery and avenged his loss in Pride to Mark Coleman at UFC 93 but looked unimpressive. Coleman was 198 years old at the time (OK, he was 44 but that’s like 198 in fighter years) and hadn’t fought in over 2 years. Shogun looked pretty gassed at the end of the fight and didn’t look like the fighter he used to be. Next up was a fairly OK KO of Chuck Liddell last April in Montreal at UFC 97. On it’s own it was a spectacular knockout but in the context of Chuck losing three of his last four fights, getting knocked out in two of them, and taking a lot of damage in the one win, it was hard to say for anyone who doesn’t receive a paycheck from the UFC that Shogun was “back”. This brings us back to UFC 104 and Shogun showing that he was “back” standing toe to toe against the man many thought was unbeatable. Something interesting happened at the end of the fight. Not the absurd decision by all three judges that Machida won the fight, but an odd switch in popularity like a double turn in wrestling. Machida wasn’t just the favourite by gamblers going in, but he was gaining popularity with casual fans as someone who people just wanted to watch fight. Shogun, conversely, was seen as a washed-up fighter who still had enough name recognition to contend for a title but ultimately be a stepping stone, an notch on Machida’s belt. When the decision was read, there was understandable sympathy for Shogun losing a match he won but Machida got a lot of flack for the decision after the fight like he was one of the judges or something. Maybe it’s cause the judges aren’t visible and he is; maybe it’s cause he looked so happy after a win that wasn’t his; maybe it’s cause to this day he’s so adamant that he won a fight that he didn’t; maybe it’s cause people were drawn to what was his unbeatable aura and their jumping on another winning bandwagon; or maybe it’s a combination of everything but he’s not walking into the Bell Centre with the same popularity he did walking into the Staples Center and I don’t think he’ll be walking away with that belt.