In perhaps the biggest grudge match in UFC history, Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen are set to do battle on Saturday night to determine the undisputed middleweight champion.
Despite losing to Silva at UFC 117, Sonnen has paraded around with a replica UFC title strapped firmly to his shoulder.
People have made the mistake in calling the Oregon native “crazy” and “delusional,” but Sonnen knows exactly what he’s doing.
For four-and-a-half rounds, he dominated Silva in every aspect of fighting. The champ was able to rally late in the fifth round with a dramatic submission to retain his title, but Sonnen’s confidence draws from everything that happened up until that point.
Sonnen truly believes he is the UFC champion and a far superior fighter, despite Silva’s Michael Jordan-esque aura.
This belief has led to trash talking unlike anything ever seen in the sport. If there was ever an invisible line never to be crossed, Sonnen has stepped and spat all over it. The top middleweight contender has thrown verbal jabs at Silva’s wife, teammates and the entire country of Brazil.
After two years of silence, Silva finally lashed back at the UFC 148 media call, promising to “change the image of the sport” and “break all of Sonnen’s teeth and limbs.”
Alas, the time for talking has come to an end. Who has the edge heading into Saturday night’s highly anticipated rematch?
It’s fairly obvious that Sonnen has an edge, at least from a mental standpoint.
Many fans have applauded Silva for finally standing up to Sonnen after years of silence, but in the wise words of UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre, “Sonnen got what he wanted.”
Silva’s success has come from his cerebral approach to every fight. Mentally, he is on an entirely different playing field than any of his opponents. If he comes out overaggressive against Sonnen, he will only open himself up to easier takedowns from the world class wrestler.
Like the first fight, takedowns will be key in the rematch. The pressure will be on Sonnen to sift through Silva’s otherworldly striking and get the fight to the mat. This is where some doubt creeps in for Sonnen fans.
If Sonnen had any chance at all to defeat Silva, it would’ve been the first fight. Silva’s striking precision is superhero-like. Sonnen hasn’t proven in the past to be a strong finisher, with 16 of his 27 wins coming by decision.
It’s a tall task to ask any man to go 25 minutes against arguably the most accurate striker in MMA history without eating a good shot.
Luckily, Sonnen has a solid chin and good enough recovery to survive if things get dicey. It wasn’t like Silva didn’t land any significant punches in the first fight.
Silva is arguably the greatest fighter in MMA history, but his takedown defense is average at best. People tend to point to Sonnen being popped for steroids or Silva’s rib injury as reasoning behind the long amount of time the champ spent on his back in the first bout.
With Silva, the writing has been on the wall in regards to his takedown defense for years.
Sonnen, Dan Henderson and Yushin Okami are the only world class wrestlers Silva has faced in the UFC. Out of the three, Sonnen is the only one that never deviated from his wrestling.
Henderson took Silva down relatively easily and dominated the first round of their championship bout. In the second round, he decided he wanted to stand and exchange with the Brazilian, which led to wobbly legs and a second round submission loss.
Okami, on the other hand, threw his game plan out the window completely, and instead, he challenged Silva to a kickboxing match, which quickly ended in a second round TKO loss.
Sonnen stuck with his bread and butter and found success against the champ.
Travis Lutter is a name people tend to forget. He is a highly respected Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, but his wrestling is mediocre at best. In his UFC 67 bout with Silva, he was able to take the champ down three times without much effort.
Why wouldn’t Sonnen be able to do the same again?
Silva’s BJJ is incredibly underrated, which means takedowns alone won’t win Sonnen this fight. It’s rare that one bout can induce so much hype, but the actual fight won’t live up to the bill. Sonnen will secure takedowns at will and follow a more cautious approach.
It’ll be an agonizing 25 minutes for anti-Sonnen fans as the self-proclaimed “Oregon Gangster” finishes what he started and pulls out a lackluster unanimous decision.
Grab some popcorn.
The aftermath is sure to be dramatic.
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