UFC on FOX 2 was a night that has likely created two future pay-per-view main events. One bout will feature Jon Jones and Rashad Evans, but the more highly anticipated contest has to be the expected upcoming rematch between UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and No. 1 contender Chael Sonnen.
Sonnen and Silva battled it out in the UFC 117 main event with Sonnen dominating the majority of the fight, only to have Silva slap on a triangle with only moments remaining in the fifth round, securing an impressive, come-from-behind submission victory in a bout that looked like he was surely going to lose.
Since his return to the Octagon following a suspension, Sonnen has been borderline obsessed with getting the rematch against Anderson Silva and after victories over fellow top contenders Brian Stann and now Michael Bisping, he is now set to get that rematch.
But it didn’t happen that easily. In fact, Sonnen himself wasn’t even convinced that the judges were going to award him the win over Michael Bisping.
“If I would’ve lost that fight, I wouldn’t be complaining,” Sonnen told MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani on a post-fight interview.
The unanimous judges’ decision which saw two judges score the bout 29-28 and one judge score the bout 30-27 for Sonnen was met with much controversy online from fans who believed that Bisping may have been robbed.
“He hit me so hard in the first round that I didn’t fully understand what we were doing,” Sonnen added. “My body still doesn’t feel right.”
But regardless of how it was done, according to UFC president Dana White, Sonnen is now penciled in for a rematch with Silva in June. The bout will apparently take place in Silva’s home country of Brazil which has recently exploded as a venue for the UFC.
“I’d rather it wasn’t in Brazil. I prefer to fight in Las Vegas, every time,” he said. “But I won’t pass up that chance.”
Though he is still not completely convinced that the fight will take place due to supposed hesitation from the Silva camp, Sonnen is taking his boss at face value in this instance.
“Dana’s a man of his word and either way, I will be getting a title shot,” Sonnen said. “We have a major opportunity to break every record in the history of MMA and to have this fight looked at for generations to come.”
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