The most impressive thing for me was that Vera was still throwing hard shots in the later stages of the fight. I think what this fight shows for Vera, is that he does have the potential to fight in the top of the division. He still needs to work on a lot of things though, to be able to win and stay at the top of the division.
I did find Shogun's win over Vera to be more impressive then Machida's win though. Getting a finish in the "championship" rounds after a war like that shows tenacity, and an ability to carry your power with you for the whole fight. Thats not something many fighters can do. However, having said that, Im not disappointed that Lyoto is getting the shot, as I think his overall performance was far superior. He looked on point, completely shut down anything bader had, and put the fight away as soon as he had an opening. To be honest, it didnt even look like Lyoto really worked up a sweat.
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