On Saturday, October 24, 2009 the UFC will return to the state of California with UFC 104 - Machida vs. Shogun. This will be the first UFC event hosted in the Golden State since UFC 76 took place in Anaheim, just over 2 years ago. The main event of UFC 104 will feature the undefeated light-heavyweight champion Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida in his first title defense, since winning the belt from Rashad Evans at UFC 98 in May. He will look to defend his title against the former PRIDE Grand Prix winner Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. Machida has amassed a perfect 15-0 record, since making his pro MMA debut in 2003. His unorthodox and elusive striking style is heavily influenced by his father Yoshizo Machida, who is a Shotokan Karate master. Since making his UFC debut in early 2007, Machida has won all 7 of his bouts for the promotion. Those victories include wins over former PRIDE stars Kazuhiro Nakamura and Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, as well as a win over former UFC champion Tito Ortiz. However, Machida's game went to the next level at the start of this year. Once criticized for not finishing fights, Machida made short work of the two men he has faced in 2009. His newly found punching power has stopped his last two opponents Thiago Silva and Evans via KO. Silva and Evans were also both undefeated fighters before fighting Machida.

Machida's opponent is a fellow Brazilian MMA superstar in Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. Shogun took the MMA world by storm after making his pro debut in late 2002. After going 12-1 in PRIDE (16-2 overall), which included winning the aforementioned 2005 PRIDE Middleweight (205 lbs) Grand Prix, Shogun was widely considered the number one 205 lbs. fighter in the world. After Zuffa acquired PRIDE in March 2007 and merged most of its roster into the UFC, Shogun made his highly anticipated UFC debut in September 2007. Much to his dismay, Forrest Griffin was not ready to welcome him to his new home and submitted Shogun via Rear Naked Choke in the third round at UFC 76. After dropping that bout, Shogun had multiple knee surgeries and would not return to action until January of this year at UFC 93. In this bout, he would avenge a controversial loss against Mark Coleman from PRIDE 31 by stopping him via TKO in the third round. He would again draw criticism for his lackluster performance against Coleman, which many feel was linked to his time off and rehabilitation from knee surgery. Shogun would silence those critics 3 months later at UFC 97, where he came into the fight in better shape than his last two outings and KO'd former division kingpin Chuck Liddell in the first round with a devastating left hook followed by hammer fists. The win elevated Shogun back into the Top 10 rankings for the light-heavyweight division and earned him this title shot against Machida.

The co-main event on Saturday night will also have a lot at stake. It will feature a hotly contested heavyweight bout between the wrestling based juggernaut Cain Velasquez and the former IFL star Ben Rothwell. Velasquez is fresh off of his upset win over Cheick Kongo in June. Velasquez, who was an All-American wrestler at Arizona State, knocked off Kongo in a bout many expected would propel Kongo into a title fight. The younger and less experienced Velasquez dodged a bullet early in the fight when Kongo landed some hard shots to rebound and dominate the rest of the bout on the ground with his superior wrestling and takedown ability. Even though he won a Unanimous Decision and brought his record to 6-0, the win did not sit well with Velasquez, as it was the first time in his career he did not win via TKO.

Velasquez now finds himself facing a 36-fight MMA veteran who has been fighting since January 2001. Rothwell is a longtime member of Miletich Fighting Systems in Davenport, Iowa, where he is a student of Pat Miletich. He has amassed a substantial 30-6 record over his career, which includes two wins over TUF 8 star Krzysztof Soszynski in the IFL, a controversial Split Decision win over TUF 10 star Roy Nelson in the IFL, and a Unanimous Decision win over former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez in the IFL. Those four wins were part of nine consecutive wins Rothwell earned while fighting for the IFL from April 2006 to September 2007. These wins also gained Rothwell some notoriety and a fan base, which earned him a big contract from Affliction when they had their debut event in July 2008. Rothwell was KO'd by Andrei Arlovski in that debut Affliction event and then rebounded by picking up a win against Chris Guillen 5 months later at Adrenaline MMA 2. Rothwell was set to face Chase Gormley at the third Affliction event in August of this year, but that event was canceled and the promotion folded. Rothwell was signed by the UFC soon after and is set to make his long-awaited UFC debut on Saturday night. The main card of UFC 104 will air live on PPV at 7 p.m. PST / 10 p.m. EST. Prior to the main event on PPV, two preliminary bouts will air live on Spike starting at 6 p.m. PST / 9 p.m. EST. The two bouts that will air on Spike are Ryan Bader vs. Eric Schafer and Antoni Hardonk vs. Pat Barry.


Main Card:

-Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (Light-Heavyweight Title Bout)

-Cain Velasquez vs. Ben Rothwell (Heavyweight Bout)

-Josh Neer vs. Gleison Tibau (Lightweight Bout)

-Joe Stevenson vs. Spencer Fisher (Lightweight Bout)

-Anthony Johnson vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida (Welterweight Bout)


Preliminary Card:

-Ryan Bader vs. Eric Schafer (Light-Heavyweight Bout)

-Antoni Hardonk vs. Pat Barry (Heavyweight Bout)

-Yushin Okami vs. Chael Sonnen (Middleweight Bout)

-Jorge Rivera vs. Rob Kimmons (Middleweight Bout)

-Kyle Kingsberry vs. Razak Al-Hassan (Light-Heavyweight Bout)

-Stefan Struve vs. Chase Gormley (Heavyweight Bout)