On this day in MMA, Chael Sonnen and Anderson Silva had one of the most exciting title matches in UFC history. In the main event of UFC 117. August 7, 2010, live from Oakland, California, a future UFC Hall of Fame fight would go down in the history books.
UFC 117 – August 7, 2010
Chael Sonnen was not quite yet known as a smooth-talking trash-talker at this time. This title fight, the leadup, is what put him on the map as someone that fans need to listen to. The US-born Sonnen was a standout wrestler and a good WEC middleweight champion. After a small win streak in the UFC’s middleweight division, he earned a crack at ‘The Spider.’
Making a case for being an all-time great MMA fighter ‘The Spider’ Anderson Silva was looking untouchable at this time. With an incredible Round 1 KO in 2006, he earned the UFC middleweight title, smashing the nose of then-champion Rich Franklin. The Brazil-born Silva would defend his title in six bouts, winning a total of ten UFC fights leading up to UFC 117, eight by way of knockout.
Anderson Silva was among the greats at the top of the pound-for-pound list, competing with names such as Georges St-Pierre, Fedor Emelianenko, Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, BJ Penn, and Jose Aldo.
West Linn Oregon’s Sonnen knew it was going to be a long and painful night for him at UFC 117. Speaking ahead of time to the media, he said:
“He’s very sharp in that, he’s so skinny and long. His elbows are sharp. His knees are sharp. His fists are sharp. And he’s going to hurt – he’s going to hurt me really bad on August 7th. But I’m confident that I can deal with the pain, walk through it, go to the hospital that night and leave with the championship belt anyway.”
The trash talk from Sonnen would become iconic. He delivered unforgettable lines such as:
“He’s got a black belt under the Nogueiras. I think a black belt under the Nogueiras is saying, like, ‘I got a free toy in my Happy Meal.’ I don’t really understand what the big deal is. One of ’em’s a punching bag, and the other one I just ignore; he’s really irrelevant.”
This was the first meeting of what would become an incredible rivalry that would escalate and define both men’s MMA careers.
Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen
Anderson Silva had no issue dispatching wrestlers before. He stopped two-division PRIDE FC champion Dan Henderson and made it look easy. World champion Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu grapplers such as Thales Leites, Travis Lutter, and Demian Maia, could scarcely touch ‘The Spider.’ So why would UFC 117 be any different? This was the question leading into the middleweight title fight.
Then, shockingly, Chael Sonnen took Anderson Silva down and kept him down. From there, he attacked with punches. Next, Sonnen did it again, and again. Something that no one had been able to do before against the untouchable Brazilian champion. Sonnen had earned nearly 20 minutes of control time in total.
It wasn’t just the wrestling; Sonnen was out-striking Anderson Silva on the feet as well. With an overhand he made the champion stumble – the first time it happened in the UFC. With a flip, Sonnen easily dodged the same knockout counter Silva had stopped James Irvin in a higher weight class with. Sonnen didn’t fall for any of Silva’s tricks and made him pay for it every single time.
Leading into the fifth and final round it was a simple fight to judge. Sonnen had dominated in all four rounds, even capturing some of them 10-8. Again, in the fifth round, Sonnen took him down and landed punches. Overall, the US-born challenger was out-landing the champion 3-1 thus far in the fight. This was the worst beating of Anderson Silva’s career.
But Anderson Silva had the grit that befits a champion. Despite losing all the prior rounds and getting our-struck, ‘The Spider’ was determined to win. With a triangle choke, Silva forced the tap from Sonnen and retained his UFC middleweight title with a come-from-behind shocking victory. One of the greatest comebacks in the history of the sport.
On the submission, Sonnen would reflect years later:
“I did lose track of the rounds. I didn’t really know where I was and he hadn’t hit me that many times, but every time [Anderson Silva] hit me, it affected me. So between all of the chaos that goes on, (I) lost track of the rounds and it was a choke – it wasn’t an armbar – that made me tap. I didn’t really know where I was. … It’s one of these things that, when you start to go out, even if it’s for half a second, it could be five minutes.”
But at the time, Sonnen made headlines with his classic line:
“That was a misunderstanding of the rules and the way I thought it worked was that if you tapped, you lost that round. So I thought what they would do is they would go to a judges’ decision and they go 4 rounds to 1 and we go home and I be the new champion. And if anyone had explained to me that it stopped the bout in its entirety, I wouldn’t have tapped.”
UFC 117
Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen would rematch years later in a blockbuster title fight, with Silva defending his title by TKO. They two also met in an exhibition boxing match.
Also featured on UFC 117 was a top-ranked welterweight matchup with Jon Fitch defeating Thiago Alves. Popular fighter Clay Guida earned a TKO win over future champion Rafael dos Anjos. UFC legend Matt Hughes would earn his final career victory by defeating Ricardo Almeida via submission. And a surging Junior dos Santos would continue his attack on the UFC heavyweight division by defeating TUF winner and IFL Champion Roy Nelson. UFC 117 was certainly one to remember.