Shogun spoke on his strategy on a conference all the other day and Sherdog transcribed what he said:
Rua, who was lauded for his calculated attacks against Machida, said he’s been planning and drilling alternative strategies but doesn’t forget that he’s facing an unorthodox striker.
"Many people think that taking the fight to the ground and working the ground with Machida would be a good way to win the fight, but that’s a very hard thing to (do) because Lyoto is a very good player on the ground and he’s trained a lot of sumo and wrestling, so he has a very good base," said Rua. "Sometimes it’s very hard to get him down to the ground.
"When you prepare (for) a fight, you have to focus on the worst situation you can go through in a fight," he continued. "Fighting Machida, the toughest situation you can find is fighting him standing up."
I've often thought about this since the first fight. I thought Shogun fought a very intelligent fight with a perfect gameplan in regards to the standing portion. My thoughts are it would be very difficult to replicate that performance, coupled with the fact that Machida will obviously make some adjustments to the leg/body kicks that Rua implemented so effectively. I too think that Shogun would enjoy some success on the ground if he was able to get Machida there. He tried to take Machida down a couple of times, but Machida defended well and was able to keep the fight standing.
So now the question is will Rua be able to implement his gameplan based on the adjustments that Machida will make in this fight?
HT: Sherdog
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