“This isn’t going to be a war. This is going to be a one-sided pounding and I’m swinging the hammer.” Chael Sonnen (24-11-1) spoke these words and many others in the weeks leading up to a bout he built almost single handedly into a super fight with pound for pound kingpin “The Spider” Anderson Silva (27-4). For these words, he was almost universally mocked across the MMA blogosphere. Those same MMA bloggers and pundits were struck completely speechless on August 7, 2010 at UFC 117 when Sonnen made good on his promises. In this edition of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, we examine the fallout from UFC 117: Silva vs. Sonnen from the 12 lbs of gold that so narrowly evaded Chael Sonnen to what may be the last hoorah for “Pitbull” Thiago Alves (16-7) in the welterweight division. Who were the real winners of UFC 117 and who did more damage to their careers than the most one-sided of losses and what lies in store for the men who entered the Octagon in Oakland, California last Saturday night?
The Good:
Chael Sonnen: After a stream of trash talk and promises that most thought was so improbable that it was more a work of delusional comedy than legitimate threats, Chael Sonnen stepped into the cage intent on making good on his promise to put “The Spider” “on his back and beat a hole in his face.” For 23.5 minutes he did just that. Even though he was a victim of a Brazilian tap (a submission fighting term for when a referee stops a contest after only one tap as opposed to the customary three) Chael clearly dominated the entire fight before getting caught in a late fifth round triangle choke, setting a Compustrike.com record for the most strikes landed in a MMA fight and out landing Silva 289-29. The more detailed Fightmetric.com report showed that Sonnen “significantly” out struck Silva in every category including in the standing exchanges where Silva is considered almost a god. Even more impressive from Chael was how he handled the loss. He made absolutely no excuses for losing, saying that he came in second to a better man that night. When Sonnen could have easily complained that he hadn’t tapped or spewed the tired excuse, “I deserve the belt! I’m better I just got caught” he instead doubled the respect he had fought so hard to earn by taking his loss like a man.
Anderson Silva: Anderson straddled the line between the Good and the Bad after UFC 117. On the good side, he showed that intangible quality every true champion has bad proving baseball great Yogi Berra correct, “It ain’t over till it’s over.” He also emerged with his title reign intact. On the bad side, however, he was thoroughly dominated for four and a half rounds, a fact which may cost him his place as number one on the pound for pound rankings or far worse, his aura of invincibility that defeats the majority of his opponents before they even make it to the Octagon. In addition, he made several excuses for his performance at the post fight-press conference, using the classic “Well it’s not an excuse but…” format for everything from a rib injury to missing his family. In the end, Anderson comes out to the good because we know he won and we know he displayed the qualities of a true champ and it has yet to be determined what impact the drumming he took on August 7 has had on his intimidation factor.
Jon Fitch (22-3): Jon Fitch came into this fight having already defeated Alves once. Still, many experts agreed that Alves had evolved where as Jon Fitch had not, giving Thiago the edge. Then Alves came in overweight. Fitch took the fight anyway (along with 20% of Thiago’s purse) and completely dominated the larger fighter. He used his elite level wrestling to control Alves throughout the entire three round affair in route to a unanimous decision win that may set Fitch as the next man to get a rematch against welterweight grandmaster “Rush” George St. Pierre (20-2).
“The Carpenter” Clay Guida (27-11): Guida has struggled his entire career against fighters with the higher level Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu necessary to disrupt his wrestler base. Rafael dos Anjos (15-4) was supposed to be Guida’s worst nightmare, but a hard right in the first round changed all that as Clay broke the lightweight up and comers jaw. No one realized what had happened at first but it was obvious that dos Anjos wasn’t fighting up to his abilities and in the third round, Guida put a shoulder to his chin against the cage and elicited a three beat symphony from the crippled Brazilian. The bout showed a fair amount of growth on the part of Clay Guida as well as the development of punching power that has never been evident in his striking before. The only thing Guida did wrong August 7 was go on a Tito Ortiz-esque post fight sponsorship thanking spree.
“Cigano” Junior dos Santos (12-1): Junior answered several important questions against “Big Country” Roy Nelson (15-5) at UFC 117. Junior was favored to win due mainly to his devastating power and superior technical boxing, but Nelson was the first real test dos Santos would face in the form of an elite ground fighter with the chin to get past his power. Santos passed the test with flying colors. He fought three hard rounds, proving for the first time that he could make it from the first bell to the last, and proved so efficient at stopping “Big Country’s” take downs that the ace grappler abandoned the mat all together and began swinging for the fences. “Cigano” has proved that he can handle a solid ground threat as well as go the distance, both very important traits against Brock Lesnar (5-1) or Cain Velasquez (8-0).
Matt Hughes (43-7): This bout against “Cacharrao” Ricardo Almeida (12-4) was designed to give a solid welterweight prospect a big name in his win column from which to launch his bid for title contention. Instead, it showed the world that an old junk yard dog still has a dangerous bite. Everyone said Hughes should retire after his miserable performance against Renzo Gracie (13-7-1) and several years of lackluster outings but just like that old junkyard dog, Hughes just can’t stay out of the fight and he showed the crowd in Oakland why he shouldn’t have to. Hughes showed tremendous strength when he choked the Renzo Gracie black belt Almeida unconscious with a basic front headlock. August 7, 2010, Hughes won submission of the night with possibly the first front headlock submission in history and the respect he and every other yesterday’s champ deserves from the new fans.
The Bad:
Rafael dos Anjos: Anjos, by bad luck or simple miscalculation, took a big shot from a man that has absolutely no stand-up skills and his jaw was broken. He toughed it out for two rounds, doing what he could to combat the wrestling of Clay Guida, but had to know he was watching his aspirations of joining the lightweight elite slip away as Guida controlled him throughout the fight. In the end, Guida drove his shoulder into Anjos’ already injured jaw, forcing him to tap or sustain serious damage.
Roy Nelson: Roy Nelson is a clear winner for the iron jaw award. He sustained a three round beating from Junior dos Santos and kept coming back for more. Unfortunately he also showed serious holes in his game that may very well keep him out of the UFC heavyweight title hunt for the foreseeable future. He struggled valiantly to force the takedown in the second, but in the end he showed a lack of ability to adapt. His staple outside trip from the clinch failed so he shot a double. When that failed he had nothing else, spending the remainder of the fight covering up and lobbing big overhand rights toward Santos in a vain search for a game winning grand slam. “Big Country” is great, but if he can’t learn to adapt then there is no way he will be able to compete with the Carwins, Lesnars, Velasquezs, and Mirs of the UFC heavyweight division.
The Ugly:
Ricardo Almeida: “Cacharrao” was supposed to be the next big thing in the welterweight division. He came down from middleweight where he had been successful and steam rolled “Immortal” Matt Brown (11-9) and it was clear that the UFC was looking to groom him as a challenger for GSP who had destroyed all of the top welterweight talent up unto this point. They need a big name win to justify Almeida as a top welterweight and that big name was the aging and recently lackluster Matt Hughes. It’s always bad when you lose a fight you’re supposed to win, its worse when its supposed to be your revenge against the man who trounced your teacher, and it’s the absolute worst when you’re a BJJ black belt renown for his submission abilities and you get put to sleep with a simple front headlock. When Almeida wakes up, he’ll have a long hard road back to the top.
Thiago Alves: There are very few things that can make things worse for Thiago Alves at this point. For the third time in recent memory, he missed weight. He looked drawn out and haggard and fought in a likewise fashion. First he has brain surgery, then he fails to make weight, then Jon Fitch beats him like a child for a second time, and now Dana White has gone on record saying that he plans on pressuring Alves to fight as a middleweight from here on out. Thiago was once listed as the number four pound for pound fighter in the world and that’s not what the fans got on August 7. The only bright sides for “Pitbull” at this point are that he made it a full three rounds against Fitch as apposed to getting choked out in the second; the other is that he hasn’t received a greater penalty than a fine against his purse for repeatedly missing weight.
