Shogun reportedly gives the ok to fight Machida in October

Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson passing on a title shot there is a new report that Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua will fight Lyoto Machida in October. Currently the only UFC event rumored to be occurring in October is UFC 104 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. 

What a difference two months can make.

Back in March there were whispers that Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua was not the same fighter. That he couldn't recover from his knee surgeries and that perhaps his dominant Pride career had been aided by steroids. Then Shogun knocked out Chuck Liddell. Not a hard feat these days but Rua was back in the discussion as a legitimate top-ten light heavyweight. 

Rua's title shot might be as serendipitous as Lyoto Machida's title shot. Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson passed on the chance to fight the champion in favor of a stinit on TUF, Machida just defeated Rashad Evans while Forrest Griffin is preparing to face the middleweight champion Anderson Silva. The #2, #3 and #4 ranked light heavyweights in the UFC are all busy leaving Mauricio Rua, at #5, the only fighter to take on Machida. 

The Brazilian fighter's are currently blessed with excellent karma. 

There are some who are not pleased with the prospect of Shogun jumping the line. Ben Fowlkes of Cagepotato explains why, 

I gotta say, if that's the case it's a huge mistake. Here we have Machida, who has already been crowned a dominant champ without even defending the title once, and they're taking the obvious number one contender out of the running in order to drive up reality TV ratings while simultaneously making a very weak case for Rua.

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The UFC is essentially fabricating a number one contender here for the sheer sake of convenience. In other words, they're making the same mistake that boxing made over and over again -- a mistake that has helped drive that sport to the fringe of American consciousness. 

I guess the counter argument is how active would you like your champions to be?

In the case of the 205lbs. division we have a clear number one contender but he has passed on the opportunity to fight Machida. Now if you follow Fowlkes argument to its logical conclusion then it means that Machida should not fight until the clear number one contender is available. Personally, I disagree with this assessment. Better to have Machida fight Shogun then be put on the shelf for a 16-month layoff waiting for Rampage to materialize, which by the way, is not a guarantee.

Of course in following such a path one runs the risk of fabricating contenders a la Thales Leites. However the issue with that statement is that the UFC had a clear middleweight number one contender in Demian Maia, Yushin Okami or Nate Marquardt they just didn't want to pull the trigger on those fights for whatever reason. The Leites example would be more the equivalent if the UFC were giving Luiz Cane a title shot now. 

Really the UFC has no choice but to give Rua a title shot. There are no opponents currently available besides Rua. If the UFC were to give Machida a lengthy hiatus they run the risk of a reversion to old storylines about Machida or a squandering of Machida's new knockout personality.