The light heavyweight title rematch between champion Lyoto Machida and challenger Mauricio "Shogun" Rua is set for May 1 in Montreal.Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports tweeted Wednesday that UFC President Dana White told him the Machida-Rua date.
The Machida-Rua rematch will be a big fight -- even bigger than their first fight in October, in which the heavy underdog Rua put up a surprisingly good fight against Machida and won the fight on the scorecards of most fans and media members, only to lose by unanimous decision on the scorecards of the only people who really matter, the three judges.
But it's disappointing for UFC fans that they'll have to wait until May to see the rematch. White announced the rematch immediately following the October 24 fight, and there was talk at first that it could happen as soon as January 2. Machida suffered an injury in the fight, however, and he will apparently need several months to recover.
The good news is that this wait will give the UFC's light heavyweight division some time to sort itself out. Winners of light heavyweight fights including Forrest Griffin vs. Tito Ortiz, Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva and Randy Couture vs. Mark Coleman will be able to fight each other in the spring and summer of 2010, and by the middle of the year a clear No. 1 contender should emerge for the Rua-Machida winner.
It's just too bad we'll have to wait that long.
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