'Rampage' is tired of hearing 'you have to beat the champ'

[Clark Kent]

10-26-2009 10:30 AM:

Lyoto Machida backers have uttered the phrase countless times since the outcry began over the close decision at UFC 104 on Saturday night. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua won in the minds of many but fell short on the judges' scorecards 48-47. Since then, "to be the champ, you gotta to beat the champ" has be written 43 million times. Quinton Jackson, who was the UFC light heavyweight champ when he lost a close decision to Forrest Griffin back at UFC 86, is sick of the defense of Machida's performance:

"I felt like I beat him that night and I have the judges to thank for that costing me my belt," Jackson told MMABay. "I watched the fights at the weekend and heard someone say, ‘To win the title you gotta BEAT the champ’. Well that didn’t happen when I fought Forrest."

​

The judges took away Jackson's belt favoring Griffin 49-46, 48-46 and 48-46.

It is a dumb saying. There is no rule stating that you have to destroy the champ to take his belt. That fight was every bit as tight and difficult to score as Saturday night's.



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