Chael Sonnen is back.In a dominant performance against Brian Stann at UFC 136, it looked as if someone forgot to tell Sonnen that he was supposed to be rusty after a 14 month layoff.Utilizing his superior grappling, Sonnen brought Stann to the ground w…
Chael Sonnen is back.
In a dominant performance against Brian Stann at UFC 136, it looked as if someone forgot to tell Sonnen that he was supposed to be rusty after a 14 month layoff.
Utilizing his superior grappling, Sonnen brought Stann to the ground with relative ease and transitioned past Stann’s guard seemingly at will. After controlling his way to a 10-9 first round, Sonnen worked Stann into a head and arm triangle choke, easily passed to side control, and forced Stann to tap at minute 3:51 of round two.
Though he’s typically seen as a hard-nosed grinder, having earned more than half of his victories by decision, Sonnen very much looked the part of finisher last night. He stayed active on top of Stann and tallied his fourth career submission win.
Though many fighters would allow their dismantling of a game opponent to speak for itself, Sonnen wasted no time getting back to his old ways.
After being understandably subdued in the pre-fight lead up to UFC 136—Stann, an American war hero and all-around great guy, is near impossible to trash talk—Sonnen went on the offensive in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan. Ignoring Rogan’s opening question, Sonnen took control of the mic and called out middleweight champion, Anderson Silva:
Anderson Silva, you absolutely suck. I’m calling you out, Silva, but we’re upping the stakes. I beat you, you leave the division. You beat me, I’ll leave the UFC forever.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Sonnen use his wise-cracking mouth to his advantage. Following a three fight win streak, Sonnen went on a trash talking campaign to position himself for his first title shot against Silva in August 2010. After his loss to Silva, and subsequent suspension for high testosterone levels, Sonnen directed barbs at the entire country of Brazil, keeping himself relevant in the MMA universe, and ultimately positioning himself for a return to the Octagon in a title elimination fight.
Though there are those that criticize Sonnen’s over-the-top style of promotion, it apparently works. When asked by MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani (at the 7:35 mark) if a rematch with Sonnen would be next for the middleweight champion, Dana White responded simply, “Uhh, yeah I’d be pretty stupid not to do it.”
While nothing is official yet, it seems likely that Sonnen is en route to another title shot against Silva, proving yet again that despite all of his tools in the cage, Sonnen’s number one asset is his wise-cracking mouth.
UFC 136 last night lived up to the pre-fight hype that it would be one of the best, if not the best card of the year. With even more stacked cards like UFC 139, 140, and the UFC on Fox debut all now less than two months away, last night was as deliciou…
UFC 136 last night lived up to the pre-fight hype that it would be one of the best, if not the best card of the year. With even more stacked cards like UFC 139, 140, and the UFC on Fox debut all now less than two months away, last night was as delicious of an appetizer as there is to the main courses coming up.
Here is one more look back at the pay-per-view fights, and what’s next for the fighters.
On Saturday, fans were treated to a stacked card. Two championship fights were featured, in which José Aldo retained his belt by besting Kenny Florian by unanimous decision, and Frankie Edgar rid himself of Gray Maynard with a fourth …
On Saturday, fans were treated to a stacked card. Two championship fights were featured, in which José Aldo retained his belt by besting Kenny Florian by unanimous decision, and Frankie Edgar rid himself of Gray Maynard with a fourth round technical knockout.
The two bouts were largely standup affairs, and showed off the striking abilities of the two champions. How do Aldo and Edgar’s striking compare with the striking of other champions? Read to find out!
Pound-for-pound rankings are things that change wildly after every event. This is no truer than after UFC 136, where UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar took a tremendous leap up the rankings.But is this deserved? Does Edgar truly deserve to be rank…
Pound-for-pound rankings are things that change wildly after every event. This is no truer than after UFC 136, where UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar took a tremendous leap up the rankings.
But is this deserved? Does Edgar truly deserve to be ranked higher than the other champions?
It’s not a question that can be answered easily; an entire slideshow needs to be dedicated to figuring out “The Answer” and how he matches up against each of the other six UFC champions.
HOUSTON — The doubters are falling by the wayside, and the believers continue flocking the Frankie Edgar war wagon.
After Saturday night’s rousing comeback win over Gray Maynard at UFC 136, Edgar received superlatives from all onlookers, but received no greater praise than that coming from UFC president Dana White, who voiced a belief that Edgar has vaulted past welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre as the No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, trailing only Anderson Silva.
“if you really look at what pound-for-pound means, you cannot deny that Frankie Edgar is No. 2,” White said. “The guy weighs 145 pounds and he’s beating guys at 155 pounds. He beat a guy who had him out of it. A guy who many believed had his number. He knocked him out tonight. I’m telling you man, I’ve never seen any s— like that in my life.”
White said he jumped out of his chair at Edgar’s comeback, which saw him rally from a horrific start, during which he was nearly KO’d.
“It’s an honor,” Edgar said. “Anytime you’re boss thinks you’re doing work and excelling in the same light as those guys, it’s a big honor. But the reality is, it’s opinion based. That’s his opinion. Your opinion might be different. But for me, I still got to go in there and fight.”
Still, White made mention several times of his belief that Edgar should move down to featherweight, where he would almost certainly receive an automatic title shot.
“Did you see the size difference between those two tonight?” White said. “I’ve been telling him for a long time he should fight at 145. I’m not his dad or trainer. That’s his decision. He’s a grown man and knows what he’s doing.”
When later asked to elaborate on his opinion, White said it wasn’t a question of performance but long-term health. White said he believed Edgar could have a longer career at a lower weight class because he would not be facing bigger, more powerful strikers.
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“I don’t think the guys who don’t fight out their weight class and fight a weight class above them and take damage can have longevity that other fighters have,” he said. “When you fight with guys your own size, you don’t take the punishment that you take when you fight bigger guys. The weight classes are there for a reason.”
He also said Edgar would set his own course.
Before this fight, Edgar said he was sick of talking about Maynard, but he’s got to be downright exhausted of this weight topic. He’s been in the UFC for over four years, fought 10 times as a lightweight, and only lost once. He’s the division’s champion, beat BJ Penn twice and just knocked out Gray Maynard, and it still comes up.
“Here I am. I’m the champion,” he said. “It’s definitely a nice option to be able to go down and possibly fight at 145 in the future, but I’m comfortable right now. I could talk some ideas over with Dana and Lorenzo [Fertitta] and see what they think, but I’m comfortable at 155. I’m the champion. I don’t see any reason to go anywhere.”
HOUSTON — The doubters are falling by the wayside, and the believers continue flocking the Frankie Edgar war wagon.
After Saturday night’s rousing comeback win over Gray Maynard at UFC 136, Edgar received superlatives from all onlookers, but received no greater praise than that coming from UFC president Dana White, who voiced a belief that Edgar has vaulted past welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre as the No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, trailing only Anderson Silva.
“if you really look at what pound-for-pound means, you cannot deny that Frankie Edgar is No. 2,” White said. “The guy weighs 145 pounds and he’s beating guys at 155 pounds. He beat a guy who had him out of it. A guy who many believed had his number. He knocked him out tonight. I’m telling you man, I’ve never seen any s— like that in my life.”
White said he jumped out of his chair at Edgar’s comeback, which saw him rally from a horrific start, during which he was nearly KO’d.
“It’s an honor,” Edgar said. “Anytime you’re boss thinks you’re doing work and excelling in the same light as those guys, it’s a big honor. But the reality is, it’s opinion based. That’s his opinion. Your opinion might be different. But for me, I still got to go in there and fight.”
Still, White made mention several times of his belief that Edgar should move down to featherweight, where he would almost certainly receive an automatic title shot.
“Did you see the size difference between those two tonight?” White said. “I’ve been telling him for a long time he should fight at 145. I’m not his dad or trainer. That’s his decision. He’s a grown man and knows what he’s doing.”
When later asked to elaborate on his opinion, White said it wasn’t a question of performance but long-term health. White said he believed Edgar could have a longer career at a lower weight class because he would not be facing bigger, more powerful strikers.
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“I don’t think the guys who don’t fight out their weight class and fight a weight class above them and take damage can have longevity that other fighters have,” he said. “When you fight with guys your own size, you don’t take the punishment that you take when you fight bigger guys. The weight classes are there for a reason.”
He also said Edgar would set his own course.
Before this fight, Edgar said he was sick of talking about Maynard, but he’s got to be downright exhausted of this weight topic. He’s been in the UFC for over four years, fought 10 times as a lightweight, and only lost once. He’s the division’s champion, beat BJ Penn twice and just knocked out Gray Maynard, and it still comes up.
“Here I am. I’m the champion,” he said. “It’s definitely a nice option to be able to go down and possibly fight at 145 in the future, but I’m comfortable right now. I could talk some ideas over with Dana and Lorenzo [Fertitta] and see what they think, but I’m comfortable at 155. I’m the champion. I don’t see any reason to go anywhere.”
Chael Sonnen is back.
HOUSTON — The doubters are falling by the wayside, and the believers continue flocking the