The following news is not "good news" for loyal (and disgruntled) fight fans.
Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida has just announced that he will not be fighting Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at their anticipated rematch set for Jan. 2, 2010.
Machida will require surgery to repair an injured hand, which was sustained during his fight with Rua at UFC 104 (source: mmanews.com).
Injuries and illnesses are a part of any sport—contact sports especially.
When I read the news of Machida’s surgery, the very first thing that came to my mind was that the fans and press are going to have an absolute field day bashing Machida and calling him every name in the book—not unlike what they have been doing already for the past couple of weeks.
Love him or hate him, these are tough times for Lyoto Machida. My heart goes out to a man who has always tried his absolute best for the sake of his family honour and his fans. Then again, Machida is a professional athlete.
I stress the word professional because he is the consummate class act that all fight fans crave. His “professionalism” no doubt comes with a very thick skin and I am confident that Machida will return stronger (both physically and emotionally) than ever.
Let’s stretch our imaginations for a moment and assume that Machida is going to be criticized for this. This level of disloyalty and fickleness by the “fans” is nothing new in professional sports.
To quote one of my other articles: “[Fans] get to observe and criticize others for having the talent and courage to attempt things in their life that [they] couldn’t possibly imagine.”
It has been said that Machida is a great fighter, but highly overrated.
Well, who’s fault is that?!
Machida has been built up to "Superman" status by the media and fans. This is not something that he has done for himself. It sickens me how people love to build an athlete up just so that they can cheer his or her demise on the way down.
Machida-bashing is nothing new, but it's still very disappointing.
See you in the New Year when you jump back on the bandwagon! Don’t worry, it will happen.
James Ryan
http://www.mrjamesryan.com
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