UFC 117: Sonnen vs. Silva

So anyone else watching the fight tonight? It's a pretty stacked card on paper, and the main event should be interesting. Chael Sonnen has been talking some serious trash against Silva, who had the very controversial outing the last time he fought. Anyone else guessing that Silva just quietly and ruthlessly destroys Sonnen tonight? I'm guessing a 2nd round TKO/stoppage.
 

Bodhisattva

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I'm going to have to miss this one. My wife's tenure at the hospital ended this morning as she goes back to school at the end of the month. So, I'm taking her out to dinner tonight. (Maybe I can convince her to go to a sports bar...... Probably not.;))

Anyway, I think Silva is pretty much unbeatable at this point. His biggest foe is his periodic lack of interest.
 

TideFaninSoFla

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I'll be watching. I don't have anything against Nelson, but I hope dos Santos destroys him. I trained briefly at ATT in Coconut Creek where Thiago Alves trains. That dude is a BEAST.
 

RTR13

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Am I the only one pulling for Chael Sonnen tonight?

EDIT: OHHHH, HE WAS SO FREAKING CLOSE. I'm seriously frustrated right now. :(
 
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Or that Silva wanted to make it somewhat exciting after Dana threatened to cut him if he did the same crap that he did against Maia.
I have a feeling that Silva probably didn't go into that fight thinking: "Gee, I'm going to let him get me on my back, land blows all fight, win all 4 rounds, the bulk of the 5th, and then try to shoot in for the submission with 2 minutes to go."
 

REBELZED

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Dec 6, 2006
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Sonnen was scoring all kinds of points, but he wasn't doing any real damage. He wobbled Silva one good time on his feet, but that was about it. He didn't really land any hard shots on the ground and most of them didn't even really connect.

Silva seemed to pick and choose his shots and like usual he was super accurate and it showed on Sonnen's face after the fight. Sonnen was busted up and Silva barely had a scratch.

Silva definitely looked rusty and/or apathetic at times though. Who knows whether the rib injury was real and/or whether it had an effect on his performance. I'll give Sonnen credit that he came out and was very aggressive and kept pushing. But I think that Silva may have been waiting for the opportunity that he knew was coming and he took it when it came up.

Silva was never in any real danger of getting stopped and he was purposefully absorbing a lot of shots. I'm not sure that he didn't want the match to go like it did after Dana lamblasted him over the last fight. Not saying it was rigged or anything, but the match was definitely more exciting for viewers than Silva's last fight. Maybe Silva wanted people to think he was on the ropes so that nobody considered him an unbeatable phenom and as a result the expectations of him were lowered some?
 
Sonnen was scoring all kinds of points, but he wasn't doing any real damage. He wobbled Silva one good time on his feet, but that was about it. He didn't really land any hard shots on the ground and most of them didn't even really connect.

Silva seemed to pick and choose his shots and like usual he was super accurate and it showed on Sonnen's face after the fight. Sonnen was busted up and Silva barely had a scratch.

Silva definitely looked rusty and/or apathetic at times though. Who knows whether the rib injury was real and/or whether it had an effect on his performance. I'll give Sonnen credit that he came out and was very aggressive and kept pushing. But I think that Silva may have been waiting for the opportunity that he knew was coming and he took it when it came up.

Silva was never in any real danger of getting stopped and he was purposefully absorbing a lot of shots. I'm not sure that he didn't want the match to go like it did after Dana lamblasted him over the last fight. Not saying it was rigged or anything, but the match was definitely more exciting for viewers than Silva's last fight. Maybe Silva wanted people to think he was on the ropes so that nobody considered him an unbeatable phenom and as a result the expectations of him were lowered some?
I see what you're saying, and in the fight game, anything is possible. You're right about most of Sonnen's ground shots not doing a lot of damage vs. the one elbow from Silva that gave Sonnen the sick looking cut over the eye, but still... even if Anderson was going that approach... he played with fire by letting it go to 2 minutes left. He was showing very little effort or success in trying to get Sonnen off of him when it went to the mat.

Even by being taken to the limit, no one is going to doubt Silva is still one of the most dangerous fighters in the world. As many have speculated, both men have guaranteed the rematch to do monster business whenever it happens.
 

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