It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Quinton Rampage Jackson. However, I'll be the second to admit (the first being Rampage, himself) that this fight was too close to call and Lyoto Machida may have been robbed of a victory at UFC 123.

The first round was somewhat uneventful, the 2nd round saw a bit more action. Despite Machida stunning Jackson at one point with a clean shot on the button and getting him in the full mount position on the ground, Rampage was more aggressive in both rounds pursuing his opponent. The third round it was pretty split. Honestly you could give this fight to either fighter and there would still be plenty of room for debate.

This controversial decision has sparked debate about the way judges are instructed to score fights. The problem (as some view it), is that the fight has to be scored round by round. Which means, in this case, that even though most would agree that Machida won the 2nd round by nearly knocking his opponent out and then dominating him on the ground, Rampage still won the other two rounds in the opinions of 2/3 of the judges. Despite Machida's actions in the 2nd round being arguably more explosive and the closest thing to a knockout/submission happening during the fight, he still lost the other two rounds, resulting in Jackson taking the fight.

After the final bell sounded, Rampage and Machida embraced, and Jackson raised Machida's arm to suggest that he was the victor. During the post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, Rampage expressed his shock at the decision going his way. So shocked, in fact, that he is open to an immediate rematch.

"Even though I don't want to, I think an immediate rematch would be the fair thing", Rampage stated after the fight.

A classy gesture of sportsmanship from a world-class fighter. Hopefully the rematch will happen sooner rather than later. It promises to be an exciting one, since both fighters now have something to prove. Machida, of course, will be looking to score a definitive, indisputable victory. Meanwhile, Jackson will probably looking to silence any whispers about his new found movie star status influencing the votes of the UFC judges! In case you've been living under a rock, Jackson stars in the new blockbuster A-Team movie.