Brian Stann is slated to throw down with Chael Sonnen at UFC 136, and in spite of Sonnen’s wrestling pedigree, I’m picking Stann to come out on top.
Stann (11-3), a former Marine, can continue his ascent in the middleweight division if he can take care of business in several days time.
His reward if he were to defeat Sonnen (25-11-1) would either be a title eliminator bout with Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort or the even bigger reward, would be to challenge Anderson “The Spider” Silva for his middleweight title.
Much has been made of Sonnen’s wrestling skill set, and those plaudits are rightly justified—he’s an accomplished NCAA Division I grappler.
No one can forget the championship matchup Sonnen had with Silva—for four and a half rounds, Sonnen gave Silva all he could handle and then some.
However, as is the case with Sonnen, his submission defense is more or less non-existent—he was minutes away from championship glory when Silva locked in a triangle choke, and he was forced to tap out.
The primary reason why Sonnen had the advantage over Silva was due to his wrestling ability and not a lot else.
Sonnen, I presume, will attempt to employ the same strategy against Stann when they meet.
It’s Stann’s job to avoid Sonnen’s take down attempts and keep the fight standing. If Stann can do that, then he has every chance of winning the fight.
Of Stann’s 11 victories, eight have come by way of KO/TKO, three by decision and one via submission.
The last person to feel the steel of Stann’s fists was none other than the once thought of iron-chinned Chris “The Crippler” Leben. Stann put an end to that, finishing off Leben via TKO.
If there were any doubts about Stann’s punching prowess, those questions were answered emphatically at UFC 125.
The next opponent to fall at the hands of Stann was Jorge Santiago—TKO punches.
Now if the inevitable were to happen and Stann found himself on the canvas, the fight wouldn’t be dead and buried, not in a long shot.
Stann, a pupil at Greg Jackson’s gym, isn’t oblivious to submission fighting—this was evident when he submitted Mike Massenzio on his middleweight debut at UFC Live: Jones vs. Matyushenko via triangle choke.
In actuality, Stann has a reasonable arsenal to bring to the Octagon this weekend.
Against the seasoned grappler Sonnen, I take Stann to win via KO/TKO.
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