Tag: Chael Sonnen

“Anderson Silva, you absolutely suck!”

Over the last two years, you’d be hard pressed to find a more polarizing figure in the sport of mixed martial arts than Chael Sonnen.  The middleweight is either loved or hated by fans throughout the globe for his myriad of over-the-top comments.

His brash, in-your-face attitude is reminiscent of the heel role portrayed in the for-entertainment world of professional wrestling. 

Whether or not you agree with his approach to selling fights, it’s hard to deny that it works. The question is, should fighters be rewarded for selling fights?  Or for how they perform inside the cage?

When Sonnen entered his UFC 117 title fight with Anderson Silva, only dedicated fans knew much about the decorated wrestler who twice challenged for the WEC championship.  Yet his antics quickly turned the fight into something everyone wanted to see.

For the first 23 minutes of the fight, it looked like Sonnen was about to become the new champion.  In the last minutes of the bout, the resilient champion proved why he has never tasted defeat inside the Octagon, handing Sonnen a devastating submission loss. 

The last-minute swing in momentum was a perfect example of what can happen in MMA.  There’s no reward for winning the majority of a fight if you can’t finish what you start.

Having witnessed the fight in person, Sonnen’s performance in the cage that night should not be discounted.  He made Silva uncomfortable from the opening bell and dictated the pace of the fight, but in the end, Silva still walked out of the arena with the belt. 

Much like 7 of the 11 men that have defeated Sonnen, Silva found the chink in his armor: submission defense.

In the wake of the event, there were numerous calls for an immediate rematch, even though there was no controversy about who was victorious that night. 

Before a second bout could come to fruition, it was revealed that Sonnen had tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone, and was suspended for an entire year by the California State Athletic Commission.

With his suspension over, Sonnen returned to action at UFC 136 and dominated former-Marine Brian Stann.  The second round submission win was followed by a post-fight rant calling out the champion, including the quote above.

Over the course of Sonnen’s suspension, Silva dispatched Vitor Belfort and Yushin Okami, leaving the number one contender spot up for grabs.  A number of fighters could make their case for a title shot, including Sonnen, Mark Munoz and Dan Henderson.

So why should Sonnen be the next in line, just one fight after losing to Silva?

Simply put, he shouldn’t be.

It should be what is done in the cage that earns fights, not what is done with a microphone.  Sonnen’s work inside the cage does not give him an edge over Munoz or Henderson. 

Over his last 10 fights, Sonnen is 7-3, but he was submitted in all three of his losses and has only finished one opponent.  Also, his suspension should not be ignored, as he tested positive for what every athletic commission considers an illegal competitive advantage.

In contrast, over the same 10-fight span, Munoz is 8-2 (8-1 since moving to middleweight) and has finished four of his opponents.

Henderson, meanwhile, is 7-3 competing at both middleweight and light heavyweight, but all three of his losses were in title fights (including a loss to Silva in 2008). 

Both Munoz and Henderson are riding four-fight win streaks, and neither has the baggage of a lengthy suspension in their rear-view mirror.

Ultimately, the UFC is a business.  Based on what has happened inside the cage, Sonnen is not the fighter most deserving of a title shot, but the man knows how to sell a fight.  The promotion would be lucky to get half the buys of a pay-per-view headlined by Silva-Munoz as they would from Silva-Sonnen II. 

At the end of the day, UFC brass has made it clear that talking the talk is just as important as walking the walk.  For the sake of the fans, I hope their decision turns out to be the right one, because on paper…it’s not.

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