“It’s always tough when you’re looking at what the judges are going to score and the thing is this; Rampage was going forward throughout this fight. He was doing a good job of cutting off the cage against Lyoto but I thought really that Lyoto was more effective in that first round. He obviously won the third round, the second round I definitely thought when to Rampage. The first round was very close so it looked like for me the judges were looking for forward movement.”
“When Rampage was going forward he was doing a good job of pressuring Lyoto Machida, but he wasn’t so effective with the strikes. The strikes he was landing were really on the arms of Lyoto Machida as he was going backwards. I really felt that Lyoto Machida’s leg kicks were doing more damage; they were landing cleaner than the punches of Rampage. I thought Machida won for sure. When I heard Rampage won, I was surprised.”
Franklin McNeil:
“I think Lyoto Machida’s style is starting to work against him. Moving backward and really trying to stay away is not appealing to the fans and obviously the judges are not looking for that.”