Anderson Silva has been talked about as one of, if not the
best UFC fighter to ever live. He dominates to the point where he has toyed
around with his last few opponents in the ring before beating them. He was so
dominant at the middleweight class that they tried moving him up to have more
competition. While most of my information comes from listening to the
announcers during the fight, I think it’s safe to say that this guy is really,
really good.
Enter Chael Sonnen. I’ve talked about the need for sports to
have a villain, and Sonnen is the most perfect villain I’ve seen in a long
time. He’s just the best at being the worst; everything about him is designed
to get under your skin and throw you off your game – his name is Chael for crying out loud.
In 2010, Sonnen fought Silva, and thoroughly beat him for 23
straight minutes. He landed 300 more punches than Silva did, and Silva would
have surely lost if not for a last second submission that made Sonnen tap out.
Since then, Sonnen has been talking a nonstop stream of trash towards Silva and
anyone that would listen, insulting Silva’s family and culture and everything
else. Silva, normally a composed fighter, was rattled. He got angry, whispering
“I’m going to kill you” in Sonnen’s ear during one of their pre-fight meetings.
This isn’t something Silva does. Ever.
Part of the tension going into this fight, and one of the
reasons it is one of the biggest fights of the year, is because Sonnen has a
real matchup advantage against Silva. They’re two completely different
fighters; Sonnen wants to take you down on the mat, wrestle with you, and beat
you on the ground. Silva is one of the best standing up fighters, throwing
punches and kicks and looking for quick submission takedowns. The fight is a
battle between the two styles; if Sonnen get’s Silva on the mat, he’ll probably
win. If Silva keeps the match standing up, it’s likely he’ll retain the title
for the 1000th time. The first fight had to have scared Silva.
Sonnen took him down and kept him down and beat the crap out of him. Silva got
really, really lucky with that last minute submission.
Carlos, a guy I watched the fight with and [sometimes
contributor to this blog] was worried. “Silva is going to come out angry and
swinging, and Sonnen is going to bring him down right away. He can’t come out
angry.” He did. Right out the gate –and after refusing to tap gloves in the
middle- Silva charged Sonnen, swinging. He hit the mat about three seconds
later, and Sonnen spent the rest of the first round pummeling him. Carlos was
visibly upset. It was everything Sonnen had worked for. All that trash talk,
all those insults paid off and he absolutely dominated that first round.
Silva didn’t look shaken during the break, despite taking
all those punches. He started out better the second round, staying standing,
trading more punches and getting a few pieces of Sonnen. And then it was over.
Sonnen went for a wild spinning backfist, which Silva neatly ducked under.
Completely off balance, Sonnen tumbled over himself and fell to the ground. And
then you just knew. Silva, in one of the most badass approaches I’ve ever seen,
calmly watched Sonnen fall, and took two slow steps towards him, raising up and
just staring at Sonnen. Oh boy, you did
it now. My turn. Then he pounced, and then it was over.
Honestly, it was amazing and disappointing. That’s the scary
thing about Silva; you need to beat him all 25 minutes to win. If you give him
an opening, he can take you out. It looked like the fight was going to be long
and epic, and then it wasn’t. The ending interviews were absolutely worth it,
as a grinning Silva walked with the mic over to Sonnen, put his arm around him
and invited him to a BBQ at Silva’s house. Like it was nothing. Like there was
no way they could be real enemies, when Silva never saw him as a threat.
I can’t say much after that, aside from I really want to see
(another) rematch.
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