Chael Sonnen shocked a lot of people with his performance. He dominated Anderson Silva for almost 5 rounds. However, in MMA, it all comes down to the win. Chael got over confident and found himself trapped in a triangle choke he couldn't ground and pound his way out of. So he tapped out losing the fight.
Silva did not perform as many of us expected, but he won as I had expected he would. He had me on the edge of my seat saying to myself "what the hell are you doing". I almost thought he was gonna lose this fight.
However, just like any good fighter, you never surrender. You push through until you have no more. You look for your opportunity and you take it. Although he didn't fight as well as he should have, he found his moment and tapped Chael out.
That's the BJJ game. You could be tied up the entire fight and just when everyone things your down and out, you slap on that choke to win the fight.
I think this fight will humble Silva a little more, but it does show the world what a warrior he is. He was dominated for over 23 minutes before he choked out Chael.
You could say a lot of things, but can you roll for 23 minutes full tilt with someon pounding on your face and body? Better yet, could you take a beating for 23 minutes without surrendering? Could you take a beating for 23 minutes and win the fight with a strategic choke. I bet many of us out there couldn't. We'll most of us couldn't.
I personally know somewhat what this feels like. No more than a week ago I was working on some grappling with a good friend. We rolled around for about 30 minutes. Although it wasn't as intense as this fight, I know how winded and tired I was. Now if my buddy was pounding on my head, I'm not sure I could have lasted more than 10 minutes. Although outsized, I know what it's like to be pushed around for a long period of time. I have a great deal of respect for anyone who can hang in there for five 5 minute rounds and pull off a choke out win.
Say what you want, but The Spider is still the champ!!!
I had a chance to check out this event at the Buffalo Wild "Wangs" in Stamford and oh, what an event it was. Roy vs. Junior was got us off our feet immediately, followed by Hughes surprise submission and it was hootin' and hollerin' all night long. But nothing could have prepared us for the main event. There's no doubt in my mind that Chael put his money where his mouth was. He put on an exciting match. taking the fight to Anderson worked for this guy, and it drew the blueprint of how to beat him, if you can pull off the finish. However, I agree with you, its the finish that counts. Anderson showed why he is the champ by hanging in there and being patient. It was close though, and his patience almost wasn't enough. I was most surprised by just how many time Chael was able to tag Silva on their feet and knock him back, and we were practically toasting to a new champion in the middle of the 5th. I think Anderson is going to have a lot to think about when he gets back to training to prevent being manhandled that way ever again. That fight represented the best aspect of this sport: "Anything can happen". Too bad Chael went down the same way he often does, with a sub after dominance. if it was me, I'd be beating myself up for a long long time after that lost. Hopefully he's got the mental toughness to rebound and go for the rematch.
ReplyDeleteJon I agree with you. This is what Silva needed to humble him. He needed someone to truly test his skills. He wasn't quite prepared for the stand up. He knew it would go to the ground, I just don't think he prepared to get tagged and then brought to the ground.
ReplyDeleteSilva is a strong, strong fighter with an Iron Chin! He took a beating for a long time. Silva is gonna have to work on his game if he wants to keep that belt. He did well in weathering the storm and working the submission to keep his belt.
That's not going to always be the case. You can be patient and work the Jiu Jitsu game from your back but not always will the opportunity present it self for you to take the submission.
It helped that you could see Sonnen was gassing out in the last round. He was hammering down and Silva set him up for the submission. If you watch the video on Youtube, you can see why and how the fight ended the way it did.
Chael was on top trying to throw those hammer fists. He was tired from banging. I think that after 4 straight rounds of bringing it hard, he was running low on steam. Silva worked the guard and pushed him back. When Chale moved forward, Silva popped his right hip and set his left leg across the bag of Chael's neck. If you watch close, you'll see Silva control the arm, reach up and hook his foot and ankle under his knee. Once you hook that ankle, the choke is in. Silva pulled his head in to tighten the choke. Sonnen did the right thing by falling back, but Silva just tightened up. He stretched out his arm and dug the choke in. Had Sonnen not tapped, you could see he was gonna go to sleep. He had his arm in the air, he was prepared to tap. He knew at that point that he wasn't ground and pounding his way out of that choke.
Silva was definitely tested and Sonnen brought what he said he was going to. It just wasn't enough. If you can tag someone like Silva as many times as he did and bring him to the mat, you deserve respect, but it's all in the finish baby. Sonnen tagged him repeatedly, but if you check the two of them at the end of the fight, the elbows from Silva from the guard did more facial damage than Sonnens shots.
Great fight. I think both fighters will rethink the way they fight after this one. I expected a choke just from watching Chael's previous fights. He's lost almost all of his losses via triangle or arm bar. He's gotta work on that if he wants the belt.
He says he doesn't subscribe to Jiu Jitsu, but that's how he's losing his fights. He's a tough kid, and he bangs, but you have to have the whole package.
UFC 117 wasn't Silva's day to lose the belt nor was it Sonnens day to take it. Dana white is gonna look for a rematch, marketing wise, its going to be a big money maker for him. How he's going to play up the rematch I'm not sure. Silva will get another fight before the rematch.
Silva will be humbled by this fight. I think that is what he needs. He needs to understand that he is the best, but you can't sleep on anyone. Look at Fedor....small mistakes lose fights.
I have a new respect for Chael's fighting skills, but I still think he's a loud mouth. Just shut up and put up. He's got the game, just fight, keep the talking to minimum and prove your worth. I think Dana White had a lot to do with the Chael trash talking. It's good for marketing. It brings in the haters and the fans. Drives up the viewers and brings him in more money in ticket sales and PPV sales.
And I'm out!!!!
When the fifth round started and Silva clapped his hands then encouraged the crowd to get loud I knew "it ain't over till it's over"
ReplyDeletethis is why champ fights are 5 rounds. if it were three then Silva couldn't prove exactly why he's champ
as Shane said there is a special talent and endurance with persevering through adversatiy. he can take a lickin' and keep on tickin'
Hat's of to Chael. Good job. Yes he talked a lot. he had several reason too. Hype the fight, promotion, a degree of convincing himself he can win, etc bottom line he did something very few people actually do. He followed up the talk. he did what he said he would and nothing less. or at least he tried. Nothing upsets me like when a fight says the are gonna bring it from bell to bell and they come out circle for the entire fight (I'm looking at you Houston Alexander)
Chael should regret referring to the Nog brother Jui Jitz as cracker Jacks. that's why Silva looked to submit. to prove your talk wrong. it took time, he got derailed and beat up but at the end Silva got the sub.
Silva, really, you block punches with your face, with hands down you just eat jabs clean to the head. if it works then good for you
Chael sonnen did some talking, but which is fine. Like you said, he had to hype the fight, talke himself into believing that he could win the fight, and I'm sure that Dana White had him talking too.
ReplyDeleteSonnen backed up most of the talk, but not all of it. Some things he said just weren't called for. There was no need to refer to Rich Franklin as a "math teacher". Yes, he was a math teacher, not in the sens that Sonnen used the remark. Besides, what's wrong with a math teacher, I'm sure Sonnen needed a math teacher.
Talking about the Nog brothers like they mean nothing and a black belt under there tutaliage is noting, is just crap. The Nog boys have been in the game for a long time and deserver their props.
He also said that he was going to punch a hole through Silva's head. I saw him punching and connecting, but if you look at his face after the fight, it looked to me like he got the worst of the exchange. Silva's elbows from the bottomm banged up Sonnnen's face. Silva, even afer taking shot after shot to the face, came out of the fight pretty much unblemished.
Sonnen brought is best game, but it was't enough to beat the spider. I firmly believe that Silva knew that Sonnen was going to come out hard and fast and work the standup looking ot shoot and take him down. I think he planned on working from his back. If he saw how Sonnen lost almost all of his fights, he knew that the way to get to this kid was to submit him via arm bar or triangle choke.
I believe he knew he was going to win this fight via submission and he had to wait for his time. It took him almost five rounds and quite a bit of a beating until he got his opening, but he setup the triangle and took the win. A lot of people say he was lucky, but watch the video on Youtube. You'll see Silva set Sonnen up for the triangle. You can watch him pop his hip, swing the leg, lock the foot and ankle under the knee and pull down on Sonnen's head.
Sonnen was dead in the water after taht. He sat back trying to work out of it, but Silva just sunk it in deeper. You can see Sonnen lift his arm ready to tap about 20-30 seconds before he taps. There is no debating, he was ready to tap and he tapped.
I'm pretty confident that if Silva continues to fight and defend his title, he's going to fight a bit differently than he has. This fight is going to humble him. I'm glad he won, and glad that he won the way he did. It's goin to make him a better fight.