Chael Sonnen‘s dream rematch against UFC Champion Anderson Silva has met a recently-announced pre-condition at UFC on Fox 2 that will be held next year: a fight versus Mark Muñoz that will decide who is the real numero uno middleweight contender.
A match whose outcome will bring the victor closest to possibly snatching the UFC belt from MMA‘s pound-for-pound king—something that Sonnen almost pulled off in UFC 117.
Sonnen, based on comments from various MMA online forums, appears to be the favorite over Muñoz. This is mainly because, statistically, The Unnatural has proven to be the better wrestler and the more effective takedown artist inside the Octagon compared to The Filipino Wrecking Machine.
His relentless style and boundless energy—natural or otherwise—are also impressive. Factor in his “near-win” against Silva and subsequent trouncing of Brian Stann, and it becomes clearer why most will place their bets on Sonnen.
Still, eveybody knows that, just like Sonnen, Muñoz is first and foremost a first-class wrestler. Sonnen’s advantage in takedown percentage notwithstanding, it remains to be seen who of the former top amateur collegiate and Olympic-style wrestlers is the better wrestler in MMA.
Some may say that Chris Leben successfully took down Muñoz, proof that the latter is inferior to Sonnen in the rassling department. But let’s not forget that Demian Maia also did the same to Sonnen, before immediately sinking the game-winning triangle choke afterward. (Well, this is MMA. And as a side note, who is the better wrestler between Leben and Maia?)
Sonnen may carry more submission-hold wins in his fight record—the most recent being his arm triangle choke win over Stann—but Muñoz survived and beat world submission-grappling champion Maia, who in turn submitted Sonnen.
In short, Sonnen’s grappling is not a discernible threat against Muñoz.
When it comes to stand-up striking, they appear to be equally skilled, but Muñoz without a doubt unloads the heavier hands. And it’s a no-brainer who has the more lethal ground-and-pound game.
Sonnen’s chances of getting that dream rematch lies in being able to deliver to Muñoz what he dished out against The Spider: effective takedowns, ground control and non-stop ground-and-pound…until the final bell rings.
It’s unlikely that Muñoz will eventually slap a triangle armbar from his back, but it’s also unlikely that the Filipino-American will be knocked unconscious by Sonnen’s punches (if we can call them that). So for Sonnen, it must be ground-and-paw en route to a decision win in their fight expected to happen on January 28, 2012.
Otherwise, if Muñoz keeps the fight on their feet, or worse, takes down Sonnen as often as he needs to rain down his devastating power bombs, then the dream rematch will have to wait a little longer—if not for eternity.
Or he might end up calling for a rematch versus Muñoz to be crowned, finally, as “the new UFC Middleweight Champion!”
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