Chael Sonnen’s opponent may have changed, but his mission still remains: A rematch with Anderson Silva will happen now if he can get past Michael “The Count” Bisping.
Sonnen may have lucked out with Bisping replacing Mark Munoz, as far as the stand up game goes.
Munoz isn’t as technical of a striker as Bisping, but Munoz has crazy knockout power in his hands. Bisping doesn’t have the power, which will give Sonnen more opportunities to get the fight to the ground.
It’s no secret that Sonnen will win this fight by taking Bisping to the mat. It’s what Sonnen does once the fight reaches that point that will determine if Sonnen walks out of Chicago with a title shot.
Sonnen has had issues with people submitting him off their backs, and although Bisping is confident he can exploit that weakness, Bisping is no Demian Maia or Jeremy Horn.
We saw in Sonnen’s fight with Brian Stann that he is capable of using his own jiu-jitsu to finish a fight. This could provide a nice wrinkle in his game that will give Bisping something else to think about.
Until the Stann fight, everyone knew what a fight with Sonnen would look like. He was going to take his opponent down and simply out-work them from the top. Constant punches were a trademark of Sonnen’s wrestling game.
But now that we’ve seen Sonnen not only show the ability, but the willingness to take a submission, he has more avenues to success than a three-round decision.
I’m not saying Sonnen is a submission specialist for pulling off a fairly basic move, but it’s nice to see him evolve his game beyond simply takedowns and punches from his opponents’ guard.
That will be key for a Sonnen victory against Bisping. Most people will agree that Sonnen will get Bisping to the mat. He will just have to avoid the silly mistakes he’s made in the past and pass his opponents’ guard.
Fighting a smart fight on the ground will not only give Sonnen a win, but also set up the popular Silva-Sonnen II fight.
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