Aug 07 2010
UFC 117 Play By Play – Chael Sonnen Vs. Anderson Silva
We’re just a couple hours away to see if Chael Sonnen can back up his amazing trash talking. But there are other fights on the show which will make or break this card.
I’m predicting Anderson Silva via 2nd round TKO, Jon Fitch via decision, Junior Dos Santos via 2nd round TKO, Matt Hughes via decision, and Rafael Dos Anjos by decision.
I thought they would’ve opened the show with Clay Guida vs. Rafael Dos Santos, but no, we get to see the big dudes first.
1. Roy Nelson vs. Junior Dos Santos
Nelson came out to Weird Al Yankovic’s Fat yet again. And Junior Dos Santos comes out to Gonna Fly Now.
They started out throwing big blows and though it didn’t seem like anything landed, Big Country lost his balance and tried to grab a leg. He shot in and pushed Dos Santos against the cage, but couldn’t get a takedown. Dos Santos landed a huge uppercut and just started teeing off with uppercuts on Nelson. Nelson just tried to cover up and did a pretty good job. Those shots should’ve put him away. He got caught with another huge uppercut and went down, but Dos Santos wasn’t able to finish him. He gave him a huge beating. Has to be a 10-8 round.
Nelson is hanging in there, but Dos Santos is still landing the better shots, especially to the body. Nelson started to go for takedowns later in the round and nearly got one. The cage saved Dos Santos. There’s a cut under Dos Santos right eye, but I’m not sure if it was a punch or a knocking of the heads. Big Country looks exhausted, but Dos Santos does look a bit tired too. The ending of the second round was pretty sloppy.
If Nelson had any energy, he might’ve had a shot here. Dos Santos continued to throw punches and even got a takedown. He was throwing leg kicks too to mix it up. At no point in the round did you think Nelson was in control, but there was always that thought that he could land a big right hand. But he as simply too tired.
Has to be 30-26 Dos Santos.
Winner: Junior Dos Santos by decision
The scores were 30-26, 30-27, and 30-27. How anyone doesn’t score that first round 10-8 kind of boggles me.
2. Ricardo Almeida vs. Matt Hughes
Matt Hughes looked so uncomfortable early on with the striking. For a guy who has been in MMA for so long, it’s near criminal that his stand-up is so bad. And just as I write that, Hughes throws a quick left hook off his front foot and puts Almeida down. He followed it up with what looked like a front face lock and Almeida went to sleep.
Winner: Matt Hughes by 1st round submission
3. Rafael Dos Anjos vs. Clay Guida
Good, competitive first round. Guida landed a head kick that Dos Anjos shoot off. Dos Anjos’ stand up is much improved and very tight. Guida shot in for a takedown that he couldn’t get, but he pushed Dos Anjos up against the cage and worked for it for over 30 seconds. Dos Anjos actually got a takedown near the end of the round, which might’ve won him the round.
It’s a very competitive fight, but neither guy really has an edge. Guida finally got a take down with about two minutes left. Guida worked very hard from the top, but Dos Anjos worked tremendously hard from the bottom. The takedown probably swings the round to Guida too. I have it one to one.
Guida got a huge takedown and was working from the top again. All of a sudden Dos Anjos tapped out after Guida pushed his head up against the cage. Looks like Dos Anjos is hurt.
Winner: Clay Guida by way of 3rd round submission
4. Stefan Struve vs. Christian Morecraft
Morecraft got on top of Struve and Struve did the curly shuffle until Morecraft made him stop. Struve went for a triangle from the bottom, didn’t get it, but ended up on top. Morecraft ended up on top and was giving Struve some huge shots. Struve was giving up his face in order to try to put on a triangle. Morecraft had a standing guillotine and Struve feel backwards. I thought he was out. It looked like he tried to tap. Morecraft just ended up pounding Struve’s face more. Struve is in bad bad shape. That’s a 10-8 round.
Either Struve was playing possum or he landed one of the best comeback shots in a long time. It started when Struve took advantage of the fist tap to start the round and threw a leg kick. Morecraft started to stalk him and he was reaching towards Struve and caught three straight shots right to the jaw and went down. He fell awkwardly with his left arm behind him and Struve nailed him with something like 10 punches in a row on the ground. Game over.
Winner: Stefan Struve by way of 2nd round decision
5. Thiago Alves vs. Jon Fitch
Total Jon Fitch round. He got two takedowns and controlled the round. When Alves was on top, he let Fitch up. Nothing else really happened.
Another total Jon Fitch round. Even though he’s the local guy, after all the action thus far, they’re not about to cheer him fighting like Jon Fitch. Fitch took him down and just held him there. It wasn’t until later in the round that Alves found the energy to switch out of it and get on top, but he let Fitch up again. He landed a few shots, but he didn’t win the round.
Even though the weight cut looked to drain him throughout the first two rounds, he seems to have good energy to start the final round. But he swung and missed and Fitch got around him and bear hugged him and was able to get him down. He body locked him and held him there until Alves switched positions with him and was on top. But there wasn’t enough time left. It was a Jon Fitch fight.
Winner: Jon Fitch by way of unanimous decision
6. Chael Sonnen vs. Anderson Silva
Oakland is rooting for Silva.
Sonnen landed a big shot and rocked Silva. Silva decided to not block Sonnen’s shots and kept his hands down and took more shots from Sonnen. And then Sonnen took him down. Silva’s eyes look glossy. Sonnen is owning him. It’s shocking to see Silva on his back like this. He kept trapping Silva’s right arm and landing big right hands. This is very reminiscent of Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin. It looks like Silva is going to survive the round, but Sonnen owned him.
We’re going to see what Silva is made of here. Silva had a bit of urgency in his step, but Sonnen took him down again. Silva is using a bear hug on the ground to stop Sonnen from advancing in his guard. Silva should be better off his back than he is, but maybe Sonnen is just too strong for him. Sonnen is still landing huge shots from the top. Silva looks to be trying to set up a submission from the bottom, but is having zero luck with it. Silva went for a kimura late in the round, but didn’t get it. Sonnen is up 2 rounds to 0, and that first round could’ve been scored 10-8.
Silva started the round with a reverse kick and then Sonnen shot in and took him down again. Had Silva just leaned against the cage, he would’ve stood him up, but his legs just went out from under him. Sonnen stayed on top of him for the entire round. Silva body locked him, and mostly kept him in his guard after that, but Sonnen was hitting him with the kind of punches that just annoy the fighter on the bottom.
Silva came out inspired and started landing some wild shots. But Sonnen landed a big shot too. Silva stifled a takedown and ended up on top, but Sonnen get out from under and was back on top. Silva has no answer at all for getting out from under Sonnen. Silva is doing a lot better job fighting from the bottom, but is still taking most of the punishment. Sonnen is cut over his eye from an elbow. Sonnen is up four rounds to nothing.
Sonnen got Silva down, but this time with a shot to his head. Silva looks like he’s a beaten fighter and he doesn’t have as much fire from the bottom. This is brutal. He had Sonnen in a triangle and then switched to an arm bar. It looked like Sonnen tapped from the triangle. The referee wasn’t so sure and didn’t break it up, but the replays show that Sonnen did tap. Amazing.
Sonnen deserves a rematch more than Rocky did against Apollo Creed.
Winner: Anderson Silva by way of 5th round submission
We’ve learned it time and time again. Styles make fights. Sonnen brought it to Anderson Silva like never before, but he did what he usually does. He made a mistake and he paid for it. You have to feel badly for Sonnen, but he’s going to get a rematch and he’ll be able to promote another fight with Anderson Silva.
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I can breathe easier now. I was really pulling for JDS.
You’re breathing easy. Roy’s breathing very hard.
Struve was done. His comeback was the most remarkable one I’ve ever seen.
That was pretty amazing. He said he puked before the fight and wasn’t feeling well.
Sonnen Baby! by Silva u lose p4p
Oh well. He had it. He made one mistake.
Man Silva does it again. wow Great fight
And Still UFC Champion!! Anderson Spider Silva he’s a true champion I think Mr. White can’t be upset or angry with Silva’s win against one very game Mr. Sonnen. Classic fight
Get ready for the rematch.
Maybe or Maybe retiremwnt for Silva who knows what’s next.
That would be surprising if it happens.
Yeah, it would be a shame for Sonnen, but then again what more does Silva have to prove. I hope Silva doesn’t retire but Silva did have many problems with Sonnen in this fight. It is all up to Silva and his crew. I wouldn’t be surprised if Silva does retire, he has been great for so long.
Would like to see a Belfort match. Seeing Sonnen get through to Anderson’s jaw makes me think Vitor could put it on him.
Silva/Sonnen 2 is a much more bankable match than Vitor/Silva. That’s why I think they’ll go back for the immediate rematch.
I really hope they don’t. I am getting a little tired of these instant matchups.
Let Sonnen beat up someone like Okami then get his rematch.
Remember, it’s about the money.
Sonnen vs. Okami equals no buys, and Okami could win. Don’t even bother with that. Go right to the sequel, it’s the fight fans want to see, and just be done with it.
One of their bigger mistakes was not going to Liddell/Rampage 3 immediately because they thought fans were tired of sequels. They threw 1 million buys away because of it.
It’s stupid to me though. It would be like doing Leonard Garcia vs. Korean Zombie again right away. I loved that fight because it stood out. I don’t want to see it again hoping it will be magic again. I want new magic.
Besides, it wasn’t even a controversial fight that demands satisfaction. Shogun deserved it because the first Machida fight was a close call that needed conclusion. Same argument for Penn-Edgar.
Fedor losing, Sonnen losing, those weren’t controversial; they were decisive. Lets move on to a new fight.
Sonnen lost; he put up a damn good fight but lost. Next challenger. If Sonnen earns his way back to the fight, then let’s have it. But not right away.
Bro, you need to think of it from a business perspective. Leonard Garcia and the Korean Zombie isn’t going to move people to buy a show. It was simply a great fight with very little business implications.
If they don’t strike while the iron is hot, they’ll throw away a main event that will do upwards of 900,000 buys simply because you want “new magic”.
Who can Frankie Edgar fight that would do better business than BJ Penn? No one. Of course Frankie Edgar wants that fight. It’s his best shot at making money.
You can do Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort tomorrow, and do 400,000 buys and throw away the possibility of doubling that all because you want “new magic”.
It’s just not logical business sense.
You know me. I am incapable of seeing it from the business perspective ha ha
Fans are fans. They shouldn’t have to think of it from a business perspective. Just from their own perspective.