The summer of 2010 was a special time for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Brock Lesnar fell to Shane Carwin, Jon Jones blasted onto the scene, Rich Franklin punched the final hole in the career of Chuck Liddell and it was all capped off with Anderson Silva defending his UFC middleweight crown for the seventh time.
Chael Sonnen stood backstage at the Oracle Center in Oakland, California moments before he would enter a pro-Spider crowd that all wanted him to pay for all the provoking words he threw at Silva, his friends and his country. With a deep breath he walked out in front of the partisan crowd with country music singer Daryle Singletary’s “Too Much Fun” blasting through the speakers. The Oregon native walked straight towards the eight-sided cage with a sense of determination enveloped in his eyes like never before.
Sonnen talked a lot of trash leading up to his first taste of UFC middleweight gold and to the surprise of many he backed up every word, coming tantalizingly close to being the first man to dethrone Silva since he won the 185-pound title in 2006.
The number one contender took the fight straight to Silva like nobody else, dominating the seemingly unbeatable champion in all facets of the game for four straight rounds before being stopped by a triangle armbar in the final frame as Silva narrowly snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
Since their unforgettable encounter both men have stepped up to the plate and had their hands raised twice each.
Silva’s aura of invincibility had faded after Sonnen took control of him for over 20 minutes but he bounced back in devastating, highlight reel fashion when he front kicked Vitor Belfort at UFC 126 and avenged the last setback on his record when he dominated Japanese sensation Yushin Okami.
Sonnen’s road back to the top of the title-contenders’ ladder hasn’t been an easy one either. First he submitted hard-hitting ex-Marine Brian Stann before narrowly getting past the United Kingdom’s poster boy for MMA, Michael Bisping, on FOX.
While both have stepped up their game over the past two years, adding more tools to their bag of tricks, fundamentally this fight is the same as ever pitting Silva’s one-of-a-kind, unorthodox counter-striking against Sonnen’s top-heavy power-wrestling game.
When they met for the first time, Sonnen was able to find success landing significant, hard offense in the boxing department on Silva. Under the tutelage of Clayton Hires, Sonnen’s striking has shown great improvements but he isn’t looking to turn this into a kickboxing match.
Silva has been studying hand-to-hand combat since his early teens. The 37-year-old holds black belts in Taekwondo, Judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and has been known for his diverse, high-level striking and his ability to avoid getting hit by his opponents.
With his long and flexible frame, Silva has the ability to avoid punishment by moving his body with his feet still planted flat on the ground, as we saw against former middleweight kingpin Rich “Ace” Franklin.
The often forgotten factor in breaking down this fight is that both men look to utilize the clinch game to varying results – Sonnen looks to pressure his opponents against the cage with the clinch, aiming to trip them and take control on the mat.
Silva on the other hand likes to punish his opponents in the clinch. Rich Franklin knows all too well about the damage that can be inflicted from powerful knees to the torso and face if “The Spider” is given a moment to load up his strikes.
This is an area that Sonnen can look to pursue with extreme caution. The self-proclaimed gangster from the streets of West Linn, Oregon will need constant activity. Silva, with his long frame, can put Chael to sleep in moments if given half an opportunity.
Although Sonnen talks down upon all of the accomplishments of the consensus pound-for-pound king, he is not stupid and he will look to implement his wrestling game from the opening second.
Unfortunately for Silva, this might be the only crack in his armor — The only other opponent to give the three-division fighter issues was former Olympic wrestler Dan Henderson.
Sonnen has been regularly hitting the wrestling mats since he was 9 years old, specializing in Greco-Roman wrestling. He competed through high school and university, capping his career off as an NCAA Division I All-American and being an alternate on the United States Olympic freestyle wrestling squad in 1996.
Sonnen has world-class wrestling abilities and as soon as the opening siren sounds he will bite down on his mouthpiece and start fishing for legs, pressuring the champion and hunting to put the UFC king on the floor where he can inflict damage.
Most of the last fight was spent with Sonnen using his phenomenal top control to effectively ground-and-pound. This time, if he gets lazy while in a dominant position, victory could slip through his fingers, again.
Silva won the last fight with a triangle armbar from the bottom. This wasn’t because of some high-level jiu-jitsu. It was because Sonnen had a momentary lapse in concentration as he looked to ride the wave of success for the final few minutes.
Don’t get me wrong though, Silva is a real threat wherever he is on the mat. Holding a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt under the Nogueira brothers, he has an active guard and a natural instinct to sense the tiniest openings to finish his opponent.
Sonnen has brought multiple-time world jiu-jitsu champ Vinny Magalhaes to choke him from pillar to post as he prepares to meet X-Gym’s top star – Not to mention his prior tussles with noted world-class grapplers Demian Maia and Paulo Filho.
The last time we saw Sonnen, against Michael Bisping in the co-feature of the UFC’s second offering on FOX, he faded as the fight went on, mainly due to the Brit’s ability to consistently get back on his feet.
Cardiovascular fitness has never been a real problem for the number one contender, but he has never completed 25 full minutes inside a fighting circle. The closest he came was against Silva in their first meeting at UFC 117.
Silva has been booked to go five rounds on ten occasions but only needed every minute on the clock three times. However, he has an added layer of confidence as he has been the feature attraction for practically his entire UFC career.
One thing that needs to be addressed is whether or not Silva will enter the Octagon in Las Vegas fighting with too much passion and emotion after his challenger belittled everything he believes in. While he was cool, calm and collected at the UFC 148 pre-fight press conference it was a different story on the media conference call.
With the assistance of his translator and manager Ed Soares, Silva stated:
“What I’m going to do inside the Octagon is something that’s going to change the image of the sport. I’m going to make sure every one of his teeth are broken, his arms are broken, his legs are broken.” He continued, “He’s not going to be able to walk out of the Octagon by himself. I can guarantee that.”
With these statements, I think it’s safe to say that Sonnen has gotten under his skin. While other Brazilians, most prominently the axe-wielding, former Pride king Wanderlei Silva have spoken out, Anderson has kept mostly quiet on the issue until recently.
For Anderson, the rumor mill is stirring with stories of a potential retirement in the not-too-distant future. This fight is his opportunity to make a real statement. If he’s able to lure his prey into his web and crush him like a bug, he’ll silence the only man to really trouble him inside the UFC.
Whether or not either man chooses to hang up his gloves when this fight is over, both men have a chance at redemption. The only question that remains: Who will leave with the UFC’s top prize at 185 pounds?
