UFC 117: Chael Sonnen grinds his way into near upset of Anderson Silva

(Image from content.usatoday.com)

Jon Fitch again shows why he is the most boring top-level MMA fighter

Chael Sonnen fights as well as he (trash) talks and gave Anderson Silva more of a beating than he underwent in all of his past 11 UFC bouts.

For most of four rounds and a half Sonnen grounded and pounded Silva and was a minute and 50 seconds away from winning the UFC middleweight belt when his tired body was unable to escape from a triangle choke.

Sonnen’s right hand tapped once on Silva’s left leg but when Silva let go, Sonnen feigned (or perhaps it was oxygen depletion that caused his confusion) not to have submitted.

Sonnen didn’t pretend to be something else. He came in to the Octagon with the reputation of a damn fine wrestler and that’s what he did. He did surprise Silva with some crisp punching, hitting Silva in the very first round with straight lefts that buckled the Brazilian.

Then the takedowns and pounding on the ground ensued. Except when Silva tapped out Sonnen in the fifth round, Sonnen’s Greco-Roman wrestling proved better than Silva’s Nogueira Brothers Jiujitsu.

While controlling Silva on the ground, Sonnen peppered him with punches, hammer blows, elbows, forearms, even some palms and slaps that you could almost see Silva’s round bald head start to get dented and his brain cells fall into place preventing another clownish behavior like in the Thales Leites and Demian Maia fights.

Sonnen is not really a powerful striker. If he had, say, fellow Team Quest Dan Henderson’s force, the fight would not have reached the fifth round and Sonnen would have been the new UFC middleweight king. But such is the way of should, would, and could have beens -- it’s pure speculation.

But the dominance with which Sonnen displayed was pure reality. It is proof that to beat a superb striker like Silva, it takes a superb wrestler. Maia’s world-class jiujitsu could not touch Silva. For jujitsu technique to be applied, one has to get hold of an opponent and preferably take the fight to the ground.

As capable a grappler Silva is, he favors standup battles. But Sonnen did not grant Silva that luxury. He took Silva to the ground every chance he got. It was Sonnen’s misfortune that he was too tired and got careless in the final minutes of the fight and got caught in a triangle choke. If Sonnen wants to win a rematch with Silva and grab the title, he better learn some (or a lot of) defense against submissions.

That is if Vitor Belfort doesn’t beat Silva first. Belfort is like Silva’s mirror image -– they are both Brazilian Jiujitsu black belts who prefer to strike. Belfort has the edge on Silva in the speed department, they are quite even power-wise, but Silva has the savvy advantage. Silva has shown that he can withstand a pounding. Belfort’s chin is still relatively untested. But that is what will make it fun, strikers who will be testing each other out as to who will last.

As both Silva and Sonnen tapped gloves before the fight started, it was no surprise that they hugged and shook hands after the fight despite all the jibes Sonnen heaped on Silva. Silva had to show his respect to Sonnen, battered as he was. This was probably the only time that Silva knelt in the Octagon and sincerely felt like showing respect to an opponent and the crowd. Right after ducking a bullet in the form of a 185.5-pound American-bred wrestler, Silva knelt before Sonnen and laid his belt on the ground.

The Brazilian striking specialist said in the post-fight interview that he doesn’t bear grudges but he wouldn’t have said it if he had lost. It’s easier to be magnanimous in victory. If he had lost, he would probably would have cursed Sonnen in Portuguese and let his manager Ed Soares do the translating.

BORING. Jon Fitch is right now the most boring fighter in the UFC. To start with, he doesn’t have much skills. Then all he does is try to take down his opponents and keep them there. He has submitted opponents before. The easy ones. Against an opponent with good defense, all he can do is sneak in a few ineffective punches before the referee starts to get as bored as the audience and stands up both fighters. Fitch’s win over Thiago Alves was a waste of 15 minutes better spent watching Arianny Celeste walk back to her chair outside the Octagon. What Joe Rogan said of Fitch’s fighting style that he fights ugly but it’s beautiful to watch doesn’t make sense. Boring is never beautiful, Joseph.

Semi-retired or should-be-retired Matt Hughes, on the other hand, is still worth the pay-per-view fee. At 36 years of age and past his prime, Hughes proved he is still relevant in the welterweight division by choking out BJJ third-degree black belt Ricardo Almeida in 3:15 of the very first round. That earned Hughes Submission of the Night honors and a cool $60,000 extra. But this should not put ideas in Hughes’ head that he can still get back his title. Georges St. Pierre still sits comfortably on the welterweight throne and the pretenders to that throne are guys named Josh Koscheck, Diego Sanchez, Mike Swick, Marcus Davis, Dan Hardy, and the aforementioned Fitch and Alves, who could make Hughes feel his age.

UFC 117 has one of the best cards this year even though the battle of giants -– Junior dos Santos and Roy Nelson –- didn’t produce a knockout despite all the leather thrown. There’s still five months left before the year ends but Silva vs. Sonnen will be hard to top.