Sonnen and Silva Put On One for the Ages

There have been plenty of hype-filled fights in the UFC’s short history, yet many of the actual fights failed to live up to that hype. In recent history, a great example is the fight between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans, where any pre-fight vitriol (real or imagined) was quickly replaced with good old-fashioned strategy on the part of Evans. Rampage, of course, was too busy defending takedowns and struggling with his own cardio to keep his pre-fight oath to scramble Evans’ brains.

Then, there was Silva vs. Sonnen. This one had everything possible going against it. The pre-fight hype was so epic that it seemed like the fight would have to be one of the best of all-time in order to live up to it. Meanwhile, Silva hasn’t had a title defense that left the fans even close to satisfied since March of 2008 against Dan Henderson. Even the talk from Sonnen in the days leading up to the fight cast some doubt on the proceedings, as he admitted to being sick the week before the bout. No one knew what to expect.

Then, Sonnen and Silva simply put on one of the best five-round fights in the history of mixed martial arts.

For 23 minutes, Sonnen stifled, frustrated, controlled and punished Silva. Everyone seemed to expect that Sonnen would win at least one round with his best-in-the-division wrestling and blue collar work ethic. Very few thought that Sonnen would tag Silva early in the first round with a punch that would rock the pound-for-pound top fighter in the world, and even fewer would have thought that Sonnen would spend 19 minutes in Silva’s guard without ever getting in serious trouble from submission attempts by Silva.

Instead, Sonnen kept so busy throughout the first four rounds that Silva never seemed to have an opportunity to look for a submission. Though Silva is a black belt in jiu-jitsu, as Joe Rogan likes to point out, not all black belts are equal, and Silva tends to defend himself first and look for submissions when his opponent slows the pace. Other than a brief look into a kimura in the early rounds and a couple of other quick looks, Silva never seemed to be thinking submission throughout the fight.

Instead, Silva began showing what has been uncharacteristic aggressiveness in the standup portions of the bout, particularly in the middle rounds, when he realized that he was in a real fight. By the fourth round, Silva was even chasing Sonnen at times, and he caught Sonnen with a tight elbow that rocked him, which was one of his few highlights from the fight. However, pouncing on the opportunity to take top position was a mistake, as even a momentarily-rattled Sonnen was able to quickly get his wits about him and powerfully sweep Silva to put him right on his back again.

What many have surprisingly not pointed out in all of the talk about the finish of the fight was the strike that led up to it, and that I believe caused the submission to become available. From his back, Silva craftily targeted Sonnen’s large cut near his left eye with a right hand that immediately caused Sonnen to put his head down in Silva’s stomach, protecting his cut with his left hand. He did not posture back up or continue to throw strikes, which gave Silva the break he needed to bring his legs up, seize and maintain wrist control, and begin working for a triangle choke.

Of course, everybody saw what happened next: Silva working for a triangle as Sonnen sat back in an effort to release the pressure, and Silva changing to an arm bar as a result that caused Sonnen to tap- just once, but definitively nonetheless- bringing a shocking end to a 23-minute war.

We all seemed to expect that this fight would be a test of Sonnen’s heart: that he would bring the fight to Anderson, but take his share of lumps in the process while stealing a round or two and doing his best to win at any cost. Instead, we saw Silva respond to the biggest test of his UFC career and show a level of heart that not everyone realized he had in him. Silva said after the fight that during the first four rounds, he was thinking of his family and how much he wanted to see them. I may be alone, but that makes me think that there were times that Sonnen made Silva want to be anywhere but in that cage.

Many will use the fight as ammunition in the ongoing fanboy wars to say that Silva is not near what we expected him to be. To do so is fair enough, as Silva has clear weaknesses when it comes to takedown defense, but you must also credit Silva for having much more heart than most would have expected. One of the great things about a fight like this is that it provides us with plenty to think and talk about as we move forward: How did Sonnen manage to be so competitive in the standup against Silva? Can Silva shore up his takedown defense, and can Sonnen do the same for his famously porous submission defense? Furthermore, could someone like Georges St. Pierre or Jake Shields succeed with a similar strategy against Silva?

Sonnen, for all his pre-fight faults, was careful to never say that Silva wasn’t a great fighter, and many times he said he wasn’t sure whether he would win, but that he would make it a fight. Therefore, he hasn’t backed off of his pre-fight comments, and has given Silva post-fight respect without letting the flames die down too much for an eventual rematch. That rematch, which according to Dana White may or may not come before an Anderson Silva fight with Vitor Belfort, will be even more anticipated than this one was, now that we can reasonably assume that the in-cage product will equal or surpass the pre-fight hype.

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Tags: Anderson Silva, Chael Sonnen, UFC, UFC 117