Talk about having gained the respect of MMA fans.  At the time of writing this post more than 12,500 people have voted in UFC Fantasy and an overwhelming 87% majority are pinning Lyoto Machida to defeat Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua in the Light Heavyweight title fight at UFC 104.

I've been watching UFC since it began and I can't recall ever seeing such an overwhelming vote in favor of any fighter.  But, sadly for Rua, I have to agree.  I just don't see anything other than blind luck helping him defeat the Dragon.  To my mind, the first guy to beat Machida can only be a fighter who understands range and timing better than he, and I'm afraid Rua has never demonstrated that level of skill.  The alternative is to be lucky.

Honestly, I'm not sure anyone in the UFC other than Anderson Silva possesses the necessary range and timing to potentially take Machida's crown and, if it came down to a fight between the two, I'm putting my money on Machida.

Silva is a gun, make no mistake, but his fight against Patrick Cote showed me that when faced with someone who can knock him out he's a lot less confident to engage than Machida.  Machida's fight against Thiago Silva showed that he's very confident in his defence skills against a knock out artist.  With the fact that Silva's defence is more movement based whilst Machida's is a combination of movement, blocking and, most of all, the fact that his stance naturally keeps his head out of range, I think style vs style Machida has the edge.

In any case, that fight is a while off if it ever happens. Until and if it does, we've got the Machida vs Rua fight and back on that subject, there is one thing Rua has over Machida - he's got an action figure.

Sure, Machida's action figure days are on their way (early next year to be imprecise), but for now only Rua's is on the market.  Maybe the idea is to buy your Rua action figure now whilst those raised arms can still mean something.  Check it below.

UFC 104 takes place at the Staples Center in California on October 24.

See larger image Machida-Do Karate for Mixed Martial Arts (Boxed Set) (DVD) Director: Erich Krauss Starring: Lyoto Machida Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) List Price: $107.95 USD New From: $99.95 In Stock Used from: $99.94 In Stock Release date April 7, 2009.