The Machida vs. Ortiz bout at UFC 84 has been more talked about than Oprah at a Beauty Salon. Now, it is in the not too distant past, emotions have cooled to the point where nobody is in danger of being seen on Cops, and we can all look at this thing without cussing as we mash our fingers into our keyboards...yeah right!

Very few are indifferent when it comes to Ortiz, he is either loved or hated. Machida though hasn't exactly been a beacon for controversy. Sure, his fight style has previously been questioned by a few of the self-appointed MMA experts, but after his bout with Ortiz, those "experts" grew exponentially.

Is this fair? He won the fight in convincing fashion, but many fans are frustrated, even furious. The most ridiculous compare him to Kalib Starnes, who did not attempt to engage Nathan Quarry at UFC 83. A few others are upset because he did not try to finish, and was content with simply out pointing Ortiz in route to a decision. And finally, there are some that just can't stomach his style. They call it boring, unworthy of gracing the Octagon.

Of course these are opinions; we're all entitled to them. Therefore, there are no Jedi mind tricks here, no effort to change minds, but to offer a certain perspective and then supply a few of those other things...facts.

What we witnessed in the UFC 84 bout was a complete fighter who executed a game plan to near perfection. Machida did not want to give Ortiz the opportunity to take the fight to the ground because Ortiz is bigger, stronger, and his prowess for beating people up on the canvas is well documented. So Machida moved, picked his spots, fired punches and kicks when he saw openings, worked to stay on his feet, and thoroughly frustrated Ortiz. No running whatsoever.

Many suggested that Machida did not look to end the fight, and while this may be true, he still attempted to engage when it made sense to do so. The opportunity to finish did not present itself, so he remained disciplined until late in round three when he landed the knee. Once Ortiz dropped, Machida pounced, worked to finish, and was almost submitted for his troubles. As a matter of fact his efforts to stop the fight at that moment might've been the only time he strayed from his plan and it almost cost him.

As for Machida being boring, again it is a matter of opinion. At the risk of making MMA fans stomachs more noxious than, well than...listening to gossip about Oprah at a beauty salon, Machida's style is akin to practitioners of high level Olympic style Tae kwon do (but he knows what to do on the ground). He does his best to hit the other guy without getting hit. He creates angles, uses feints, and offers an array of strikes. Some have a problem with this, others don't. Some say it is fun to watch because it requires great skill, like Barry Sanders slipping and sliding to evade tacklers. Others say it conjures up memories of the back-pedaling antics at UFC 83.

Now enough of the opinion regarding Machida's style, let's look at those facts. According to Fightmetric.com, in round one, Machida was 2 of 5 with head power shots, Ortiz was 0 of 13. Machida was 3 of 4 with body power shots while Ortiz did not attempt any. Machida landed 3 of 8 leg power shots, while Ortiz was 0 of 2. Overall for the round Machida connected on 23 of 34 strikes while Ortiz was 0 of 18.

Round two was more of the same: Machida was 5 of 6 with head power shots, Ortiz was 0 of 11. Machida was 1 of 1 with body power shots, Ortiz was 2 of 3. Machida connected on 3 of 3 leg power shots and Ortiz did not attempt any. In round two, Machida landed on 17 of 20 strikes while Ortiz was 6 of 19.

Round three was a much better round for Ortiz, that is, until the knockdown. Machida was 5 of 12 with head power shots while Ortiz was 2 of 5. Machida was 1 of 1 in body power shots while Ortiz was 9 of 9. Machida did not attempt any leg power shots while Ortiz was 2 of 2. Overall for round three Machida landed 27 of 37 strikes with most of them being jabs. Ortiz was 33 of 39 with 18 of 20 coming from head jab shots.

Thanks to the third round knockdown and subsequent attempt to finish by Machida, he landed quite a few more ground strikes as well, 26 of 33 to Ortiz's 16 of 16.

Due to Machida's continuous movement, it is easy to conclude that he didn't want to engage Ortiz a great deal, but the numbers seem to disagree. For the entire fight Machida was 67 of 91 for a connection percentage of 73.6. Ortiz was 39 of 76 for a connection percentage of 51.3.

When we dig a little deeper thought, things become insane. Through the first two rounds Ortiz was only able to hit Machida six times, while Lyoto landed 40 times. Almost half of Tito's punches came on the ground late and none of them were power shots. Speaking of power shots, Machida was 23 of 40 overall while Ortiz was 15 of 45!

As can be seen by the numbers above, Machida did what he needed to do to win convincingly. He threw more shots and almost as many power shots as Ortiz did. Tito was game and fought his hardest, but had a difficult time hitting Machida. While Machida may not be exactly what the sport of mixed martial arts was built on, it should not be held against "The Dragon." You can tell that to the girls at the beauty salon!