At UFC 148, Anderson Silva may have gotten the victory over Chael Sonnen, but he failed to do a couple things in the process.
In interviews preceding the fight, Silva was quoted as promising to “break all of his teeth, his arms, and his legs” and also vowed to “change the sport of MMA.”
He made all these claims, but we got the same old Anderson Silva: pulling victory from the grasp of defeat.
I might be nitpicking at the performance of the champion, but based on the claims he made and the fact that he spent more than 70 percent of the time on his back, he didn’t set out to what he really wanted to do.
He wanted to defeat Sonnen, sure, but he was in hot water for a bit as Sonnen wasn’t afraid of Silva dropping his fists.
He pushed the pace like he usually does and dominated the champion once again. Sonnen set out for what he wanted to do from the start of the fight, but once he missed that spinning back fist, he was in an extremely vulnerable position, curled on the ground against the fence.
The claims must have been in the back of Silva’s mind, as he started to destroy Sonnen’s face with a multitude of punches.
It would seem Silva came in fighting with emotion, something he never does and he had to take a round to settle.
If Silva wanted to prolong Sonnen’s agony, he would’ve reverted back to his days fighting Demian Maia, but there was no way Sonnen would let Silva breathe for a second.
Still, these guys going to war was something everyone was looking forward to and with all the hype and even hearing Silva trash-talk and make all these claims before the bout, you knew in the end Silva would show the same respect he does with all the other fighters.
Do you think Silva backed up his promises? Send your comments below.
Mark Pare is a featured columnist. You can follow him on Twitter, and don’t forget to check out his sportswriter page.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com