Fighters often times talk about how well they know their opponents. That usually stems from sitting cageside at their fights and/or watching mountains of video footage of their past fights. But Lyoto Machida and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua have taken it to a whole new level for their UFC 104 showdown.The Ultimate Fighting Championship brought the main eventers and also Cain Velasquez and Ben Rothwell, who are meeting in a heavyweight bout, to Los Angeles on Tuesday to hold a press conference for media and fans to hype up the event.
Low and behold, with both flying in from Brazil, it was funny to find out that not only were Machida and Shogun on the same plane, but they actually sat next to one another the entire flight.
But in typical Brazilian fashion "it's no problem, my friend."
"To tell you the truth, Lyoto is a nice guy and we have been kind of friends for a while. We know each other for a while," said Shogun, who actually found a little humor in the situation.
"Even though we are friends, I got very surprised to see him on the plane and, actually, sitting next to me, side-by-side, on the whole flight from Brazil to here. It was a funny situation."
In this day and age of mixed martial artists arriving as highly regarded mainstream athletes, Shogun handled the situation with professionalism, having no problem sitting for several hours next to the man that he hopes to punch repeatedly in the face come Oct. 24 at The Staples Center.
"I think this doesn't interfere because we are both professionals and we're training hard. We all want the same goal, so we're gonna do our best."
8 comments:
these two guys show respect for each other in nothing but class unlike bj who has to dislike you to get motivated.
I wouldnt be surprised if one of their camps planned the seating arrangement in order to learn more about the other fighter. Ed Soares looks like the type of manager to pull of this kind of stunt. All in well, Machida will have the better game plan along with his excellent defensive skills and karate tactics, he will pull it off when its over. Machida is actually more controlled whereas Rua had the talent and raw skill but Machida can easily match that.
I wonder if they psychology got to know each other and analysed how the way each other thinks on that plane. Whole new ball game.
Xavier Baez, in representation of GamingAccess.com, took, around 14-15 pictures from this event.
It was an awesome press Conference, can't wait for the fight!
http://www.gamingaccess.com/index.php?news_id=21951
foreign fighters respect each other more times than not, unless there's an old grudge. the American fighters are the ones who usually "hate" their opponents for no reason other than show
I cant wait to see these two fight.
I have idolized both fighters for the last 4 years.
shogun is a very good opponent for lyoto but he does not have what it takes to get inside the head of this world class phenom named lyoto machida!!!!!
dana whites wife has been sucking mad cocks while he is gone > I heard this from an industry insider.
Support of the Lou Zhu, Lou Zhu worked hard
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ugg classic cardy
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