Who wins in most impressive fashion and earns title shot?

Toss up between Shogun or Machida but most likely Rua.

it's gotta be Shogun, but I think Vera comes in tryin' to wrassle fuck him. even tho Hendo couldnt do much with his greco against Shogun, Vera is a much bigger guy

Only way it is Vera is if this happens to Shogun.

Machida weighed in at 201 and even took a drink before stepping on the scale.

LOL Rashad said Machida was trying to steal his thunder by weighing in so light. Joking around about it.

Vera validated my pick even if he didn't pull off the win. Real good main even, very entertaining card.

Not sure who gets next at Bones. Both guys were pretty impressive in victory, Lyoto with the more dominant performance, but Rua just adds to his awesome slugfest resume. Machida vs Rua for next makes a lot of sense to me.

Maybe Lyoto moving down makes Rua the choice by default.

Can only hope the implications of Lyoto moving down to Andersons weight class means that Anderson will then go fight Bones.

Machida hands down.

Ali wrote:

Machida hands down.

lol well the question was suppose to be answered BEFORE the fight. It was a prediction question. Not a post fight question asking who was most impressive. You silly little cheater. No vote for you!

OU wrote:

Ali wrote:

Machida hands down.

lol well the question was suppose to be answered BEFORE the fight. It was a prediction question. Not a post fight question asking who was most impressive. You silly little cheater. No vote for you!

I voted before the fight, said it was a toss up between Machida and Rua.

That comment was post fight.

lol I guess I am out of the circle of trust now

Class.

http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Shogun-Rua-Respects-UFC-Decision-Says-Machida-Deserves-to-Fight-for-205Pound-Title-44685

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua won’t be next in line to challenge for the UFC light heavyweight championship, but he harbors no ill will toward UFC President Dana White, who announced shortly after UFC on Fox 4 that Lyoto Machida will face the winner of Jon Jones’ Sept. 1 title defense against Dan Henderson.

“I respect the decision,” said Rua (Pictured, file photo) at the Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “All four guys were ready to fight for the belt. Lyoto is a tough fighter and he deserves to be the contender right now. Let’s wait for my opportunity.”

Rua finished onetime prospect Brandon Vera in the evening’s headliner at Staples Center in Los Angeles, while Machida knocked out Ryan Bader in the show’s co-main event. The Rua-Vera scrap was initially announced as a No. 1 contender’s bout, but after a poor fan reaction to the decision, White amended his stance and stated that the light heavyweight who performed most impressively would receive the next crack at the gold.

Rua was made a heavy favorite by the bookmakers prior to tonight’s contest, but Vera acquitted himself well before meeting his end in the fourth round. Despite the general perception that Vera was overmatched, Rua said that he expected nothing less than an excellent effort from his opponent.

“[Tonight was] no surprise. I know Brandon Vera, and tonight he proved he has a [big] heart,” said Rua. “I trained hard for this fight.”

Predictably, Vera also expected much of himself. After debuting with the UFC in 2005 as a heavyweight and delivering several standout performances, “The Truth” suffered back-to-back losses and made the move to light heavyweight. However, he appeared unable to recapture the spark that propelled him to four finishes in his first four Octagon appearances.

“I wanted to put on a performance so that no one would ever talk bad about the UFC. I wanted Shogun to know how much I respected him by how hard I was fighting him. I wanted to prove everyone wrong. I’m not done, not by a long shot,” Vera said at the post-fight presser. “I knew I was doing work against one of the legends.”

Rua used his wrestling to take Vera down early in the first frame, passing guard before taking Vera’s back. Round two saw Rua slow significantly, a fact that did not go unnoticed by Vera, who traded more evenly with the former light heavyweight champion in a trend that would carry over into the next round before Rua scored again with a takedown. Rua then appeared to catch his second wind in the fourth frame and went to work, cracking Vera with a hard combination against the cage that ended the fight.

Though Vera’s night ended in defeat, the American remained proud of his performance.

“I’m not happy I lost, but I’m happy I fought the way I did. When the time comes, I would love to do that again with Shogun” said Vera. “For a long time, I started taking my job here in the UFC for granted. I kind of fell off the track and stopped training like I was fighting the best guys in the world. I figured that just by being Brandon Vera, people would be nervous and back off, but it’s not like that. This is the place of champions. It’s been a hard-knock lesson, but I’ve learned it. I had a great time fighting tonight, and I’m not going to stop training. This isn’t the end. I’m going to get that damn title shot, one way or another.”

As for Rua, the 30-year-old says he is also satisfied by his effort, though he vows to train even harder for his next bout, regardless of whom he faces.

“I [got tired] a little bit, but next fight, I will train harder,” said Rua. “Every fight, I fight with [all] my heart. Inside, I want to [earn] a knockout every time.”

Not sure if any of you got to see the post fight show on FUEL, they had interviews with everyone. They actually broke the news to Shogun and his manager that Dana had announced Machida as the next in line. They didn't know that he already made the decision but they had no problem with it. It was a pretty good post fight show, they had decent interviews with all the main card fighters. Funny little moment between Rashad and Phil Davis. Rashad Evans said that Phil didn't look good at all and is probably happy the fight ended and that he wasn't looking to use his wrestling. When that was brought up to Phil in the inteview he said "I bet I know who said that(he was right)". Phil said the fight just started and there was plenty of time to use wrestling. Which he is right, the fight was only 1:30 into the 1st round. Rashad's comments were bizarre IMO.