 UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida (15-0) is now confirmed to have his first title defense against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (18-3). According to a report on MMAjunkie.com, agreements were recently signed for the championship fight. Machida is coming off of his light heavyweight title victory over Rashad Evans at UFC 98 last month, while “Shogun” is coming off of a first round TKO over Chuck Liddell at UFC 97: Redemption.
We had reported earlier about Rua being the first challenger for Machida after top contender Quinton "Rampage" Jackson bowed out of the fight to coach season ten of The Ultimate Fighter opposite Rashad Evans. The winner of the fight is likely to face the winner of the Rampage - Evans fight.
We had earlier reported that the Machida - Rua was likely for UFC 103, however the fight has been confirmed for UFC 104 on October 24th from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The event marks the return of the UFC to Los Angeles for the first time since UFC 60: Hughes vs. Gracie in May 2006.
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