At least, that probably should have been the title of it, instead of "Machida vs. Rua."

Contra the guys at Bloody Elbow, I think the Rua/Machida decision was a robbery.

The UFC is in serious trouble, if you ask me, for the following reason. The weight classes are dominated by super-athletic guys and are populated below by guys who are much, much less skilled and athletic.

No one can hold a candle to BJ Penn at lightweight if he decides to train before the fight. No one can hold a candle to GSP at welterweight. No one can hold a candle to Anderson Silva at middleweight, LHW, or probably HW either.

The level of athleticism and talent in the UFC simply hasn't caught up to that of the NBA or NFL and it's getting pretty sad to watch guys who can't seem to improve their skills year-after-year fight for the scraps after losing their title shots.

The last title defense I watched before Machida/Rua was BJ Penn vs. Kenny Florian. We heard all this talk about how great Florian's muay thai was. Well, I saw no combinations from him longer than about a "jab/cross." He showed up much smaller than BJ Penn despite several months to put on weight. He clearly feared BJ's stand-up power and the fight was over when Penn finally decided to get him on the ground. I guess UFC's announcers don't know what good muay thai actually is.

Before that, I saw Georges St. Pierre run a clinic on Thiago Alves, despite being much smaller than Alves. St. Pierre is now talking about putting on weight and going up a class.