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UFC 148: Chael Sonnen Will Hand Anderson Silva First Loss in 6 Years

Chael Sonnen will beat Anderson Silva in a battle at UFC 148 to hand Silva his first loss since 2006. The Oregonian wrestler is the only one to give the Brazilian Muay Thai specialist a run for his money in the past six years.When they first fought, it…

When they first fought, it looked like Sonnen had Silva’s number and was going to win the fight had it gone the distance. However, the Spider wound up winning with a triangle arm bar just minutes before the fifth and final round ended to steal the victory.

Since then Sonnen has had much better submission defense in his fights versus Michael Bisping and Brian Stann. Expect the Sonnen’s Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to be much better as well. He has been working on it much more and could very possibly submit his competition in the rematch on July 7.

There are questions about Sonnen’s doping history, but he has been permitted to fight despite undergoing testosterone replacement.

Silva has since shown no signs of declining, and the overall matchup has been excellent between the two fighters. They are both great wrestlers and submission artists, but Silva has more power in the striking game and could end up using that to draw the fight out.

However, once Sonnen gets “Spider” on his back, expect the fight to take a slower pace. There is a tendency for both fighters to utilize the guard while on their back, and as a wrestler, Sonnen won’t like being on his back. It’s ingrained into wrestlers that when the shoulders are on the mat, a loss is imminent.

So expect the self-proclaimed People’s Champ to try and turn any time he is on the mat on his back into a standing position. He will utilize the commanding position to dominate the fight and should win through judging at the very least because of an improved Brazilian Jiu Jitsu technique that has been noticed by his teammate Vinny Magalhães:

“Chael makes fun of a lot of things,” Magalhães said during a recent interview. “But he picks stuff up really fast. And the stuff that we worked on, I can guarantee you if he has the chance to use it in the fight, he will do it. If it’s a submission, if it’s a guard pass, whatever, I guarantee you he can do it. If he gets the chance, he can catch Anderson with something.”

Due to this, Sonnen will be using his top notch all-around game to win the fight against Silva. Whether it’s by a submission, knockout or even judges, Sonnen has the advantage in this fight and should give Silva a loss on July 7.

Both men will be complementary to each others styles and should look exceptional in their second battle. By the end of this fight, the only thing people will be clamoring for is a third fight. But the rubber match should have Sonnen heading into it with the belt instead of Silva.

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Silva vs. Franklin: Wanderlei Silva Must Retire After UFC 147 Loss

Wanderlei “the Axe Murderer” Silva should retire after he lost in embarrassing fashion to Rich Franklin at UFC 147. Silva lost to Franklin by a wide margin of 49-46 on all three cards at last night’s event and looked like a shell of his former self aga…

Silva was once a great fighter, starting his career off at an excellent 31-5-1 and winning multiple titles. However, since 2006, the Brazilian legend hasn’t been the same. He’s gone 3-7 since ’06. While his three wins were against Keith Jardine, Michael Bisping and Cung Le, he has lost by KO in four of the seven matches and by embarrassing unanimous decisions in the other three.

The UFC 147 match with Franklin is telling of Silva’s career as a whole. He came out strong and competitive early on and had a flash of greatness toward the middle of the fight. However, as the fight wore on, Silva started to get less and less effective. By the end of the fight, Silva was looking for that one big shot and knockout blow. Unfortunately for Silva, it never came.

There is also the question of who fights Silva next? and that is where the entire problem for Dana White begins. Should Silva fight Vitor Belfort for his last hurrah? Should he take on a younger fighter like Alexander Gustafsson to help him achieve success, much like a WWE wrestler would? Personally, I think it makes sense to see Silva go out with a bang and get a title shot.

After losing seven of his last 10 fights, he isn’t worthy of a title shot and should have one last hurrah against the younger Gustafsson after he finally gets his match with Belfort. White isn’t as creative in his cards, though, and will likely have Silva fight until he just says he can’t take any more of it.

Silva has given the UFC name someone to be proud of in his career, but at this point, he is just wasting White’s time and money as a headliner. He’s 35 years old and in the prime of his life and should be spending it with family instead of getting dominated by a middleweight. His best bet is to hang up the gloves and turn himself into the best trainer the UFC has seen.

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8 Reasons the UFC Will Always Be Better Than Boxing

Boxing has issues, lots of them, and the UFC is going to the forefront as the premier combat sport.There are multiple reasons why the UFC is better and will always hold the advantage over boxing.Boxing’s main issues are that as a sport, there’s just to…

Boxing has issues, lots of them, and the UFC is going to the forefront as the premier combat sport.

There are multiple reasons why the UFC is better and will always hold the advantage over boxing.

Boxing’s main issues are that as a sport, there’s just too much bureaucracy in the sport, and it needs a complete restructure to even be close to what the UFC is.

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