Through the 19-year history of the UFC, fans have been witness to some heated rivalries that have excited and intrigued us until their violent conclusion. Despite intense feuds between the likes of Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock or Rampage Jackson and Wan…
Through the 19-year history of the UFC, fans have been witness to some heated rivalries that have excited and intrigued us until their violent conclusion. Despite intense feuds between the likes of Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock or Rampage Jackson and Wanderlei Silva, there is one that stands head-and-shoulders above the rest: Anderson Silva vs Chael Sonnen.
Although Silva has been regarded as the top fighter in the world for some time now, until his first battle with Sonnen, it was hard to keep the champion motivated for fights. Never was that more evident than his UFC 112 “fight” against Demian Maia, in which the champion intentionally avoided contact for most of the final two rounds.
When challenger Chael Sonnen decided to use his legendary mouth to defame, defile and degrade “The Spider” and his homeland of Brazil, it was clear that Silva had found something more than just another opponent. He had found an enemy.
The legendary first fight saw Sonnen outstrike Silva at a ratio of 5:1, however the champion would pull off the greatest come-from-behind victory in MMA history by securing a combination triangle choke/armbar to score a tapout in the final stanza.
Who could have predicted that Sonnen would fare so well against the dominant champion? After all, the Oregonian badass had put together a paltry 4-3 record in the UFC prior to challenging for the belt.
So what happened to make the rivalry so intense the second time around? There are some theories, but I attribute the problem to one incident. Sonnen’s penchant for verbal jabs may have gone a tiny bit too far in October, when he decided to direct his attention to another member of the Silva household.
You tell Anderson Silva I’m coming over and I’m kicking down his backdoor and patting his little lady on the ass and I’m telling her to make me a steak, medium-rare just how I like it.
Perhaps he was inspired by his loudmouth challenger. Maybe he is tired of losing the war of the words. I’m not sure. But when Silva finally decided to speak out, his ultra-violent threats were shocking to say the least.
Chael is a criminal. He’s been convicted of crimes. He doesn’t deserve to be in the Octagon. When the time is right, I’m going to knock all of his teeth out. I am going to make him eat these words he has said about me and about the UFC. This is the end of the jokes, no more talking.
What I’m going to do inside the Octagon is something that’s going to change the image of the sport. I’m going to beat his ass like he’s never been beaten before. I’m going to make sure that every one of his teeth are broken, his arms are broken, his legs will be broken. He’s not going to be able to walk out of the octagon by himself.
I’m going to beat him maybe the way his parents should have beat him to teach him some manners… I’m going to beat him up like he’s never been beat before. He can say whatever he wants, but I’m not playing any more.
It’s not often that you find two men with so much mutual disdain, who can challenge each other on both the verbal and physical battlefields. However, that seems to be the magical paradigm that these middleweights have stumbled upon.
The heat of battle can make men do some crazy things. How crazy will things get when the greatest rivalry in MMA history comes to a head tomorrow night at UFC 148? Don’t miss out on the most anticipated battle that the sport has ever seen.
Unlike my colleagues Jeremy Botter and Jonathan Snowden, I’m not a veteran of the UFC travel circuit. I’m basically that wide-eyed kid that still can’t believe it’s Hanukkah morning when he wakes up and sees all the presents that Hanukkah Harry has lef…
Unlike my colleagues Jeremy Botter and Jonathan Snowden, I’m not a veteran of the UFC travel circuit. I’m basically that wide-eyed kid that still can’t believe it’s Hanukkah morning when he wakes up and sees all the presents that Hanukkah Harry has left under the Hanukkah bush.
Sure, I’ve been able to “fake it till I make it” but I still get excited whenever I get that email from the UFC Press staff saying, “Your Credential is Confirmed.”
After covering several events for Bleacher Report since I joined the staff in April, I figured that I had seen it all during fight week. I’ve sat around with various media in the Church Street Boxing Gym waiting for Nate Diaz to show up an hour and a half late. I figured that was as ridiculous as it could get but yesterday’s Open Workouts were on a whole different level.
The UFC has deemed the week prior to their 4th of July weekend show International Fight Week. It will be an annual festival of sorts to attract fans from all over the world for fun in the Las Vegas sun.
The pre-fight press conference and open workouts were held at XS at the Encore hotel. XS is a night club with a gigantic pool in the middle. Needless to say, a heavyset gentleman like myself was sweating by the time we took our seats.
The entire event was open to the public and the Brazilian fans showed up in droves to get a chance to support the “Campeão.”
There isn’t a word to describe the atmosphere as the fighters worked out besides insanity. While attempting to speak with the fighters, the fans were deafening. When Chael Sonnen hit the mat to get his workout in, the fans erupted with boos.
I thought it couldn’t get any louder. I was so wrong.
When Anderson finally hit the mats, he was followed by an entourage of training partners and friends, all clad in jiu jitsu gis.
The session began with Anderson and a partner doing a karate demo. Satisfied by his performance, he and Rafael Cavalcante took turns demonstrating muay thai techniques.
Then things took a turn from the wild to the surreal as Brazilian soccer legend Ronaldo donned gloves to spar with with the “Spider.” By this point the Brazilian fans were hooting and hollering as two of the most famous athletes in their country squared off.
Think that’s as trippy as it could get? Not a chance.
Steven Seagal then decided to put on a small akido demo with Cavalcante. It ended with the star of “Under Siege” slapping the absolute hell out of the former Strikeforce champion several times in the face.
With the workouts done, Anderson was swarmed. Actually swarmed wouldn’t even describe the scene. Night club security was called in to to attempt to keep fans away from the champ. Attempt is the key word and they failed miserably.
With that, the workouts came to an end. And I was left with one of the most memorable experiences ever.
Just when we thought the Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen rivalry couldn’t get any more bizarre, it seems that we have all forgotten about the insanity that Silva’s “sensei,” Steven Seagal, brings to the table.In an interview with MMA Fighting’s Ariel H…
Just when we thought the Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen rivalry couldn’t get any more bizarre, it seems that we have all forgotten about the insanity that Silva’s “sensei,” Steven Seagal, brings to the table.
In an interview with MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani, Seagal revealed that he has been working extensively with the current UFC middleweight champion on a variety of techniques in preparation for his fight on Saturday against Sonnen.
Though the action movie star and seventh-degree Aikido black belt wouldn’t divulge information on exactly what the new moves were, he did give a small hint.
“Stuff that we thought was maybe illegal, that’s not illegal,” Seagal told Helwani.
Without knowing more about what the Silva camp thought was illegal, it’s very difficult to speculate on exactly what the moves could be.
“It turns out to not be illegal,” he clarified.
The only information Seagal let fans know is that the techniques he taught Silva are, as one would expect from an Aikido expert, to be utilized on the feet.
“Everything I’m teaching him is standup and how to not go on the ground,” Seagal said.
Despite accompanying Silva and other members of Black House MMA to the cage in the past, Seagal said that he will not be cornering the champion during Saturday’s fight. He did note, however, that he will have communication to the corner through Silva’s manager Ed Soares and that he will continue to work with Silva up until the fight.
“I just got done training him and I’m going to keep training him until he walks in the ring,” Seagal said.
After crediting himself with “inventing” the front face kick that knocked out Vitor Belfort at UFC 126, Seagal has been seen increasingly more often at UFC events, leading some to believe that perhaps there is something to all this crazy talk.
Cung Le was on Joe Silva’s radar years before he finally made the jump to the UFC. The former Strikeforce middleweight champion was dazzling fans with flashy kicks that left opponents either sleeping or broken.When he finally made his way to the UFC, h…
Cung Le was on Joe Silva’s radar years before he finally made the jump to the UFC. The former Strikeforce middleweight champion was dazzling fans with flashy kicks that left opponents either sleeping or broken.
When he finally made his way to the UFC, he was splitting his time between training and an incredibly busy movie schedule. That time away from the gym caused Le to lose a bit of a step which is what he believes was the reason for the loss to Wanderlei Silva.
Even after that loss, his heart is still in fighting.
“I never look ahead. I’m one of those guys, I’m in the moment. Every day I wake up is a blessing,” Le told Bleacher Report at the UFC 148 open workouts. “I have this day, and I’m going to live in this day. I can’t look toward tomorrow because tomorrow’s not promised.”
Ever the emotional fighter, Le wears his heart on his sleeve. He’s been competing in combat sports for most of his life and a win over Patrick Coté will be the biggest of his career.
“If I cry…Im going to try not to. That’s how big it would be.”
Though he’s a man with a fighter’s heart, he’s not just competing for the sake of competition. For him, a win isn’t just a win. He always goes out to impress fans with his San Shou style.
“I don’t need to impress, but I don’t know how to just win. I strike like lightning and I follow by thunder. May the storm hit hard. That’s me. Go big or go home, baby.”
Le closed with some words directed at his opponent Patrick Coté. The French-Canadian carries himself with a fighter’s swagger, confident that he will put Le away with his heavy hands. Le sees that confidence as his biggest advantage against Coté.
“I enjoy fighting. That’s why I’m doing it,” Le said. “But I’m not here just because I enjoy fighting. I’m here to win, and I expect to win this fight against Patrick Cote. He’s a very confident guy, almost cocky. And that’s good. But you get overconfident, you might end up with a shinbone to your head, or to your arm like Frank Shamrock. So watch out.”
(This time around, the UFC’s marketing department is looking to drive home the notion that sex sells once and for all.)
By Dan “Get off Me” George
In the immortal words of Bruce Buffer, “It’s Time!”
On the eve of perhaps the most anticipated UFC rematch in history, I hope to bring my fellow CP readers some insight on how to save your kneecaps from the bookies and perhaps even make a buck or two by trying to follow my logic with regards to potential winners and losers for UFC 148.
For the sake of brevity, I’d like to focus on the dogs. The real money is made betting on the underdogs, and besides, there is nothing more exciting than watching a guy like Alan Belcher twist and turn his way out of certain demise en route to cashing out at three times the amount you originally placed on him (Ed note: Way to rub it in, Dan).
All of our betting odds for this week’s enabler come courtesy of BestFightOdds, so let’s get it on!
I like Roller here, the price is fair and I do not see Alessio being able to do much but play defense in this fight. Look for Roller to pull out a decision while Alessio finds himself on the bottom or defending takedowns for the majority of the contest, not unlike his most recent decision loss to Mark Bocek at UFC 145. Simple.
This line has moved in favor of Fukuda slightly over the past 24hrs, showing that the public likes Fukuda more and more as the small underdog. I like Philippou if for nothing more than his performance against Court McGee, a fighter similar to Fukuda who likes to move forward and press the action. Philippou has ever-improving takedown defense and better striking than Fukuda, specifically with his hands, and I like him to stop Fukuda’s takedowns and make him pay with his fists.
(This time around, the UFC’s marketing department is looking to drive home the notion that sex sells once and for all.)
By Dan “Get off Me” George
In the immortal words of Bruce Buffer, “It’s Time!”
On the eve of perhaps the most anticipated UFC rematch in history, I hope to bring my fellow CP readers some insight on how to save your kneecaps from the bookies and perhaps even make a buck or two by trying to follow my logic with regards to potential winners and losers for UFC 148.
For the sake of brevity, I’d like to focus on the dogs. The real money is made betting on the underdogs, and besides, there is nothing more exciting than watching a guy like Alan Belcher twist and turn his way out of certain demise en route to cashing out at three times the amount you originally placed on him (Ed note: Way to rub it in, Dan).
All of our betting odds for this week’s enabler come courtesy of BestFightOdds, so let’s get it on!
I like Roller here, the price is fair and I do not see Alessio being able to do much but play defense in this fight. Look for Roller to pull out a decision while Alessio finds himself on the bottom or defending takedowns for the majority of the contest, not unlike his most recent decision loss to Mark Bocek at UFC 145. Simple.
This line has moved in favor of Fukuda slightly over the past 24hrs, showing that the public likes Fukuda more and more as the small underdog. I like Philippou if for nothing more than his performance against Court McGee, a fighter similar to Fukuda who likes to move forward and press the action. Philippou has ever-improving takedown defense and better striking than Fukuda, specifically with his hands, and I like him to stop Fukuda’s takedowns and make him pay with his fists.
Not with a ten foot pole, thank you very much. There is no way in hell would I touch Guillard at 30 cents on my dollar, and Camoes (or anyone, really) definitely has the ability to sub Melvin, especially given his propensity to throw as many flying knees as humanely possible against the grapplers he faces. If anything, I would look at the prop on the fight not going the distance, because I cannot see this fight being decided by the judges.
I like “The Eagle” for this one. He’s undefeated, relentless with his forward pressure and wrestling, and is not afraid to swing for the fences in the meantime. Tibau is in -200 territory and often relies on his ground game to get him to a decision win. I think the Khabib uses his Judo, Sambo, and size advantage to keep Tibau against the fence, maybe finishing Tibau later in the fight or winning on the score cards.
My heart wants Menjivar, but Easton has this propensity to win closely contested fights on the cards. It is basically a pick’em, and gun to my head, I am leaning towards Easton. Ivan has always had trouble with wrestlers throughout his career, and may simply be outgunned when forced to deal with the ridiculous speed and power of Easton.
Is there a prop for a fight ending via signature guillotine submission? How this fight even came to fruition is beyond me, but I still don’t like -500 and up territory even in a parlay. How many people got burned by Boetsch or Varner recently by putting -500 and up fighters in parlays? I think Mendes wins, but again, the prop Mendes wins by TKO, Sub or DQ is the way to go to make something off this fight.
I have a hard time picking 40 year-olds to win in the UFC not named Randy Couture. Nothing against Cung, but he is a small middleweight and Cote has the skill set to not be bullied by Le like he was against Tom Lawlor and the chin to withstand most of Le’s offense. Cote also has underrated striking, but I believe this fight will be more of Cote closing the distance on Le and trying to get the fight on the ground, where he can safely earn a decision win to ensure he sticks around for at least another fight.
Kim is built like a 185er, so Maia should not feel too out of place dropping to 170 here. Kim also fights like many of Maia’s past opponents, which would lead me to believe that Kim will spend the majority of this fight inside Maia’s guard. This fight is similar to Sass/Volkmann, where I thought Volkmann would end up winning a 30-27 snoozer across the board. Little did I know that Sass had other plans. In the spirit of great submissions, I like Maia to catch Kim, who despite appearances, is not as strong as the Munoz’s, Weidman’s, Herman’s, and Sonnen’s that Maia has faced before. Maia may be strong enough to control Kim from the bottom and finish the “Stun Gun” as a small underdog.
Ortiz at +250 territory is quite compelling. Forrest is a new father and something tells me this fight means a lot to him, unlike what we saw in his rematch with Shogun Rua, in which Forrest looked like he was running late for his return flight home. This will be Ortiz’s first and last fight as a UFC Hall of Famer, and he’s been talking like he’s ready to fight to the death, so look for him to try and find Griffin’s off button in the early going. As the two settle in, however, I expect Forrest to find his range and pick Ortiz apart like he did in the their second meeting. The odds should be closer by fight time, though not something to put in a parlay for my liking.
And here we are at last. I like Silva to win via keeping the fight standing and using the clinch effectively like he did against Yushin Okami when the distance is closed. I do not see Silva using many kicks at all, perhaps only when Chael is moving backwards (which Chael does not often do), and instead opting to box with Sonnen while using his footwork and hips (think matador vs bull) to keep Sonnen from getting this fight to the ground. We all know Sonnen’s gameplan by this point; his only chance here is if he can get this fight to the ground. Therefore, I will be looking at the prop Sonnen wins by decision, which should be near the +350 range, and is definitely hedge worthy, as the only way I see Sonnen winning is via 5rd decision.
On Saturday night, the co-main event of UFC 148 will feature a battle of former light heavyweight champions, as Tito Ortiz will square off against The Ultimate Fighter 1 winner, Forrest Griffin.Tito and Forrest have met twice before, with the two split…
On Saturday night, the co-main event of UFC 148 will feature a battle of former light heavyweight champions, as Tito Ortiz will square off against The Ultimate Fighter 1 winner, Forrest Griffin.
Tito and Forrest have met twice before, with the two splitting a pair of split decisions. Ortiz took home the win at UFC 59, and Forrest at UFC 106.
Tito has announced that this will be his final fight and that he will retire, win or lose. Good news for Tito, though—it’s going to be a win.
Tito will have an incredible amount of emotion backing him for this fight. The last time he had this much riding on a single bout, he was fighting Ryan Bader with the risk of being cut if he lost.
In case you don’t remember, he submitted Bader in the first round, salvaging his career.
Tito is 1-6-1 in his last eight fights, but if you look more closely at it, it isn’t quite as bad as it seems. Tito was fighting Top 10 light heavyweights and was staying competitive.
He wasn’t being completely outclassed; he wasn’t being totally dominated. He had a chance to win in every fight.
Meanwhile, Forrest’s last fight saw him get demolished by Mauricio Rua, as he lost by first-round knockout.
Prior to that, Griffin earned a unanimous decision over Rich Franklin, in which he used his superior size to dictate where the fight took place. He was able to control Franklin because of that. Then the fight before that was the second fight with Ortiz.
Tito’s last fight against Griffin was a split decision. If one judge scored one round differently, Tito would have won the fight. That’s how close it was.
This time, Tito will come out with his hand raised and will become the first UFC Hall of Famer to finish his career with a victory.
Tim McTiernan is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. For the latest news on everything MMA, follow him on Twitter @TimMcTiernan.
Through the 19-year history of the UFC, fans have been witness to some heated rivalries that have excited and intrigued us until their violent conclusion. Despite intense feuds between the likes of Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock or Rampage Jackson and Wanderlei Silva, there is one that stands head-and-shoulders above the rest: Anderson Silva vs Chael Sonnen.