If I take off my Rampage fan t-shirt & look at the fight, I thought it was extremely close. 3rd round was definatly Machida's, but the first 2 rounds were close.
[NORAMPAGEFANT-SHIRT]In the first Machida landed several leg kicks, however he also came off worse when they came together & took a few punches, he was then pushed up against the cage & took an equal number (if not more) of elbows/punches/knees to the leg/body. + Rampage looked the more aggressive throughout the first. It was close, but in my opinion, unless your scoring it from the 2 being in a standing position alone.. then it was Rampage's round.. barely.
Second round was more or less a similar story, Machida landed some kicks, Rampage only really landed as they came together, then in the clinch Rampage continued to throw punches to the body & knees to the leg throughout.. even when Machida had him pressed against the cage Rampage was the one still consistantly landing short punches to the body. + He got a takedown, + He again looked the more aggressive & willing fighter.
Third round was Machida's, he caught Rampage with a flurry & as Rampage was coming back with his own he gave up double underhooks & got tripped. Then Machida pretty much moved to the mount.. which he then gave up very, very cheaply. He might have been able to keep Rampage on his back the rest of the round & done consistant damage if not finished the fight had he not tried to go for the 2 submissions.. particularly the armbar from the mount.
I thought the fight was very close, I don't really see this as a controversal decision at all.. just a very close one. I think a rematch would be in order considering it was so close, but I don't think it needs to be an immediate rematch.. particularly from Machida's point of view. If a rematch goes ahead his last 4 fights will have been against only 2 people.[/NORAMPAGEFANT-SHIRT]
Now that that is out of the way:
Ed Soares muttered the words "That's ****ing ********" to Rampage as he walked over to shake Machida's hand, he should know all about ******** decisions what with the Machida/Shogun 1 fight.