Chael Sonnen has done a good job running his mouth, but now, his mouth may not be able to support his fighting career.
After losing to Anderson Silva in an underwhelming performance back at UFC 148, Sonnen was stopped in 4:33 against UFC light heavyweight champion, Jon Jones, on Saturday night at UFC 159.
Sonnen didn’t really deserve a title fight in the first place. He hadn’t fought at 205 pounds in the UFC in over six years, yet somehow got an immediate title fight with Jones.
Sonnen can sell a fight, but even his promos are outdated and tiresome. If you really want to know where Chael Sonnen gets his material, watch tapes of pro wrestling from the 90s.
I will give credit to Sonnen for being one of the best at 185 pounds, but he had no business competing against Jones on Saturday night, and with an unimpressive loss in the first round, he finds himself without any direction for his career.
A rematch with Silva isn’t in the cards and he certainly isn’t going to talk his way into a rematch with Jones after failing to put forth much offense on Saturday night.
Sonnen should do what he does best and that is sell fights, but not for himself, for the UFC. He should stick to being a broadcaster and realize that he had a successful career, despite not winning a title.
In case you have been under a rock today, UFC 151 has been cancelled.
The short story is Dan Henderson injured his knee and couldn’t fight next Saturday, prompting the UFC to offer Jon Jones a replacement opponent of Chael Sonnen. Jones, after speaking with his team, declined to take the fight on such short notice.
So, the UFC, instead of finding a new main event, or just running with the card they setup sans the main event, decided to just axe the event altogether.
In the process, they completely threw the light heavyweight champion under the bus.
Normally, I am on Dana White’s side of things. He is a hot head, no doubt, but he usually tells it like it is.
However, blaming Jones for the canceling of an event is simply a convenient way to take the blame off of himself and the UFC.
First off, canceling an entire UFC event is a big deal. It impacts the fighters, the venue, the host city and those that would be working the event.
Many fighters rely on a small paycheck from fighting on the under card simply to make ends meet. Due to the UFC’s venom spewed at Jones, many of those fighters are now taking their anger and frustration out on the champion as well.
But, let’s all take a deep breath and take into consideration two things:
Not that many needed convincing, but Anderson Silva is the best fighter in the world.
There was a little bit of doubt in the minds of some due to Silva’s performance against Chael Sonnen at UFC 117, but on Saturday at UFC 148, Silva removed all doubt.
Silva stopped Sonnen at 1:55 into the second round with a barrage of strikes that Sonnen couldn’t respond to, as he defended his UFC Middleweight Championship for the 10th time.
Sonnen won the first round, as he took Silva down quickly and held him down for five minutes, but Silva showed great takedown defense in the second and used his pinpoint accuracy with his striking to end the fight.
With Sonnen past him for good, there really is no viable challengers left to Silva. Sonnen seemed to have the best style to beat Silva, and the champ still ran through him.
Silva is now 15-0 in his UFC career and just adding to his legacy as the greatest UFC fighter of all time. Perhaps a change in weight class is in order to challenge him, or perhaps he should just retire on top of the world.
In the co-main event, Tito Ortiz saw his career come to an end in a unanimous decision loss to Forrest Griffin.
Ortiz (16-11-1) a former UFC champion and now Hall of Famer, seemed to tire early in the fight, which opened the door for Griffin to pepper him with strikes. Ortiz landed a few big punches and a few takedowns, but Griffin had a 3/1 edge on total strikes and was the more active fighter.
Ortiz is going out at the right time, as he clearly is not among the best in the division and this performance proves it. For knowing it was his last bout, he didn’t have much of a spirited effort to win. For a man of his stature and his talk about being the people’s champion, he sure didn’t go out on his sword.
Griffin didn’t look at that great either, but he was definitely looking to finish the fight at the end.
It has been a while since I have posted on here, but I am back with weekly looks at MMA, mainly the UFC.
So, here is a look at what we learned this week.
- Nate Diaz may be an unsolvable problem for 155 pounders – Nate Diaz looked more than impressive against Jim Miller in the UFC on FOX 3 main event on Saturday. Miller had the kind of style that I expected to give Diaz some trouble, but he ran right through him. Diaz’ long reach has really been a problem for his opponents and he seems to be a vastly improved fighter since moving back from welterweight to lightweight. Miller was one of the top fighters in the division and Diaz made him look like a first timer. Diaz could legitimately become the UFC champion as I don’t know that a Benson Henderson or Frankie Edgar will be able to outwork him or deal with his jabs.
- Where does Josh Koscheck go from here? – Certainly it would be hard to say that Josh Koscheck was dominated by Johny Hendricks and you could maybe make the argument that he beat Hendricks on Saturday. Regardless, Koscheck certainly didn’t dominate Hendricks either. Koscheck seems to have become a fighter that refuses to go back to his roots when needed. He is one of the top wrestlers, and perhaps most explosive wrestler, in the 170 pound division. Koscheck is relying on his big swings and limited striking to try and win fights, even when it is clear he is not winning. Koscheck has only been out-wrestled one time in his career, and that was by Georges St. Pierre. In a fight like Saturday’s, I would have liked to see him take Hendricks down and work his ground striking as opposed to hoping for a knockout punch. Now Koscheck is lost in the welterweight division and not capable, in my mind, to make a run at middleweight. He needs to reinvent himself if he hopes to ever win UFC gold.
- Where would Alan Belcher be if he never got injures? – Belcher had about as good of a performance as Diaz, as he stopped Rousimar Palhares in the first round with some vicious ground and pound. Belcher was on a nice run in the UFC prior to an eye injury that nearly ended his career and sidelined him for over a year. Since his return, Belcher has first round finishes of Jason MacDonald and Palhares and he has won four straight overall. The middleweight division has quickly become very competitive with the addition of Hector Lombard. With Chael Sonnen, Brian Stann, Mark Munoz, and Michael Bisping all in the mix, Belcher should be right there with them.
The middleweight division had a big fight this past weekend but the result wasn’t too surprising.
Anderson Silva maintained his top spot in my top 10 middleweight rankings with his win on Saturday and it seems he has only one man that can truly pose a threat to his championship.
Here is a look at the top 10 in the 185-pound division in my eyes.
1. Anderson Silva (31-4) – Silva made Yushin Okami look like an amateur last Saturday and he has cemented himself as the best middleweight in UFC history. Next up for Silva will likely be a rematch of some kind, with either Chael Sonnen or Dan Henderson.
2. Chael Sonnen (25-11-1) – Sonnen hasn’t competed since pushing Silva to the limit last fall, but he is scheduled to face Brian Stann at UFC 136 in early October. Sonnen appears to be the lone hope to dethrone Silva someday, but the champion still managed to submit Sonnen despite an injured rib and 20 minutes of pummeling.
3. Vitor Belfort (20-9) – Belfort showed his explosive ability in his quick knockout of Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 133. He still may have the fastest hands in the division, but he missed his opportunity when he faced Silva back in February. A few more wins for Belfort may get him another crack at the title.
4. Yushin Okami (26-6) – Okami also had his chance, but couldn’t find a way to make his fight with Silva a grappling one. He seemed to passive and allowed Silva to get comfortable on his feet, and that is always a losing combination. Okami has to go back to the drawing board, and will likely need a long winning streak to get another title fight.
5. Michael Bisping (21-3) – Bisping is going to face off with Mayhem Miller later this year for a chance to propel himself into title contention. Bisping is still looking for a marquee win in his career and he hasn’t been terribly impressive since his TKO win over Denis Kang back at UFC 105 in 2009. Bisping needs an emphatic victory over Miller to really be considered a title contender.
6. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (14-2) – The Strikeforce Middleweight Champion is set to return to action next week against Luke Rockhold, who is good competition in the Strikeforce organization, but not a great opponent on the world stage. Someday, with Strikeforce slowly merging into the UFC, I would expect Souza to compete in the elite organization someday.
7. Brian Stann (11-3) – Stann faces his toughest test to date when he squares off with Chael Sonnen at UFC 136. Stann has established himself as a feared striker in the division with respectable grappling skills. In this fight, he will need to have tremendous takedown defense to keep the relentless Sonnen from getting top position.
8. Mark Munoz (11-2) – Munoz will take on Chris Leben at UFC 138 in the highest-profile fight of his career. Munoz is a grinder that has some big punching power without the technique. His strength is his wrestling, but he will mix it up with anyone. He should probably stick to the wrestling in his bout with Leben.
9. Chris Leben (22-7) – Leben breaks into my top 10 list after his impressive KO of Wanderlei Silva at UFC 132. Leben clearly has the striking power to beat anyone on this list, but lacks the grappling skills and pure boxing technique to really become a top 5 contender. His bout with Munoz will test how far his grappling has come and show if he is ready to make a serious run at the title.
10. Alan Belcher (16-6) – Alan Belcher will make his return to action in a couple weeks after an eye injury sidelined him for more than a year. Belcher was on his way to becoming a title contender before getting hurt. When he returns on Sept. 17, he will face off with Jason MacDonald, another UFC veteran. The long layoff will be something Belcher has to overcome, but a win over the submission specialist will be a nice start for his return.
His numerous jabs, insults, and stereotypical comments about the host country of UFC 134 have apparently done a little more damage than he anticipated.
According to MMAJunkie.com, Sonnen will no longer be attending UFC 134 due to Brazil’s growing hatred for the former No. 1 contender in the UFC middleweight division. He was originally supposed to corner Yushin Okami in his title fight with Anderson Silva.
Sonnen said a major sponsor of Okami’s requested he not attend the pay-per-view event, which takes place Saturday at Rio’s HSBC Arena.
A source with knowledge of the situation told MMAJunkie.com that Praetorian, a Brazil-based MMA brand, threatened to pull the Japanese fighter’s sponsorship if Sonnen attended.
“There’s a line of people that want to kick his ass,” the source said.
And that could be the least of problems for the expert trash-talker. Sonnen said friends in the country forwarded him a local-media report in which a police chief threatened to arrest him on sight if he showed. The official cited a law that makes disparaging the national identity a crime.
“You don’t have freedom of speech in Brazil; put it like that,” Sonnen told MMAjunkie.com after a workout at Team Quest Tualatin.
It probably is for the best. I didn’t see Sonnen leaving Brazil without incident after his rants as of late.
Did the UFC bite off more than it can chew with scheduling a live event on FOX in November?
The premiere MMA organization wants to put on the two best fights possible for its premiere on the broadcast network on Nov. 12, but reports from Tatame have the UFC setting up a possible rematch between Anderson Silva and Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion, Dan Henderson.
Problem is, Silva is fighting Yushin Okami this Saturday at UFC 134.
Anderson Silva will put his belt on the line this Saturday, but the organization is already thinking on his next title defense. According to sources close to the situation, the middleweight champion is in talks with the UFC to fight Dan Henderson at UFC’s first show on FOX, scheduled to November 12, in California.
Anderson, who already defeated the former Pride champion in his long UFC career, tapping him in a rear-naked choke at UFC 82, fights the highly underdog Yushin Okami this Saturday, at UFC Rio, while Henderson waits to define his future with the end of his contract with Strikeforce.
Sources also indicated that if Henderson didn’t agree to move down to middleweight months after a heavyweight showdown against Fedor Emelianenko, Chael Sonnen is the option to replace him against Silva.
Sonnen is set to fight Brian Stann at UFC 136, and if Henderson doesn’t take this fight, he’d be taken out to fight Anderson. Stann, on the other hand, would potentially fight Vitor Belfort.
While Silva is the clear favorite to win this Saturday, we have seen in the past that it is never smart to schedule a match before another one is completed.
A while back I posted an interesting interview where Ariel Helwani interviewed Chael Sonnen upon his return back into the UFC.
The original video was funny enough as Sonnen dropped insult after insult on the likes of Wanderlei Silva, Anderson Silva, and anyone associated with Team Blackhouse.
Well, someone took the time to take that interview and provided animated background to it. It definitely adds a little punch to it. Here it is for your viewing pleasure.
Admit it, it was worth the seven minutes of your life.
The main event of Saturday’s UFC 134 is a middleweight championship contest with Anderson Silva defending his title against Yushin Okami.
Okami is actually the last man to beat Silva, as he won by DQ over “The Spider” back in 2006 as part of Rumble on the Rock. Silva threw an illegal upkick that forced Okami to stop fighting.
Here is a look at both fighters, more than five years since their last meeting.
Anderson Silva (30-4) – Widely considered the best single fighter in the world in any weight class, Silva is the most lethal striker in all of MMA. Both of his hands and feet have one-strike KO power and he also has a jiu-jitsu black belt under the Nogeuira brothers. Silva is on a 14-fight win streak and is coming off an impressive KO of Vitor Belfort at UFC 126. Silva seems unbeatable, but his one weakness appears to be wrestling, where Okami is at his strongest.
Yushin Okami (26-5) – “Thunder” has had a long road to a title fight, as this is his 12th fight in the octagon. Since a tough decision loss to Chael Sonnen, Okami has won three straight, including decision wins over Nate Marquardt and Mark Munoz. Like Sonnen, Okami is a grinder that fights a very ugly style. He likes to clinch and grapple, using his strength to keep his opponent from going on the attack. If Okami can get the fight to the ground, he can win. If the fight remains on the feet, I don’t see him coming out on the winning end.
Who Will Win – It’s hard to see any scenario where Silva doesn’t win, but Okami does have the style that has given Silva the most problems. Sonnen, Dan Henderson, and Travis Lutter were all able to score takedowns on Silva. Sonnen has some very strong wrestling skills, but he isn’t an aggressive fighter. He must be aggressive early and not allow Silva to find his flow. Eventually, I see Silva getting a KO in the second round against Okami, as Silva is just too fast for Okami to get his hands on.
Chael Sonnen is free to fight, and it looks like he wants to fight everyone, especially anyone from Brazil.
Sonnen sat down with MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani prior to UFC 132 and he was in classic form. The full 19-minute interview is below.
Sonnen throws bombs at nearly everyone from Brazil, especially Anderson Silva and Wanderlei Silva. Despite his attacks toward Team Blackhouse, it appears that Sonnen will make his return to the UFC against rising middleweight, Brian Stann.
I don’t know that Sonnen will be able to insult an American hero and make people laugh, but we will have to wait and see.
Chael Sonnen has done a good job running his mouth, but now, his mouth may not be able to support his fighting career.
In case you have been under a rock today, 
Not that many needed convincing, but Anderson Silva is the best fighter in the world.
The middleweight division had a big fight this past weekend but the result wasn’t too surprising.
