I need to preface this editorial with the following: I am not the My Take Radio MMA writer nor do I profess to be any kind of expert on the sport. I know just enough about what is legal and not legal in the cage. The reason for this article is that whenever Rich, Andrea and I watch an event together, they comment on the fact that I have insightful things to say about the fights. Regardless of what I say, I don’t try to take anything away from these fighters; I know I could not do what they do and I only speak in reference to what one man (or woman) did to the other.
Silva vs. Sonnen was a fantastic match and both men performed well. Silva said after the fight that a rib injury almost kept him out of the fight and if that is true then his performance was beyond what we could expect. That said, let’s face facts, the champion was put through his paces, he was humbled before he got down on his knees and praised Sonnen and if I were him, I would be somewhat embarrassed.
Chael Sonnen talked enormous amounts of trash about Silva before the fight and he made good on a lot of what he said. Beating a man is beating a man, no matter how you look at it but when you get disrespectful all you do is infuriate your opponent and maybe that was Sonnen’s downfall. Silva spent the majority of the 5 rounds on the mat on his back and was doing little more than preventing knockout level ground poundings. The one or two times that Silva took Sonnen to the mat and had him on his back, Sonnen was not having it and quickly reversed. Along with taking almost the entire fight away from the champion, Sonnen took a page out of Muhammad Ali in striking Silva in utterly disrespectful ways. Sonnen believed there was no way in hell Silva was leaving the cage with his belt. Underestimation was his downfall and I think it let him get sloppy in that last round. Silva would explode into the start of every round and then quickly wind up on his back which eliminated his momentum. His only real floor offense being opening Sonnen’s eyebrow and stealing the fight with the triangle choke.
I still have to congratulate both of these men. Both of them have champion caliber skill in the cage and a rematch must occur between the two. In the post-fight interview, Sonnen said the following:
“Fighting Anderson Silva is a lot like eating Chinese food and 20 minutes after I do it, I am gonna want to do it again.”
Fantastic words from a man who in my eyes and those of many, deserves the belt after last night. To Anderson Silva, I am not saying you do not deserve the belt, but if and when there is a rematch, I hope to see that much more from you and if you cannot do that, screw the ref, you should personally be handing Sonnen the belt.
