Chael Sonnen Says Rematch With Anderson Silva Will Happen Soon, Predicts More of the Same
By: Oliver Saenz Posted On: September 4, 2010 at 8:30am
Say what you want about Chael Sonnen, but I don’t think you’ll ever be able to take his fighting spirit away from him. Literally minutes from being crowned the UFC Middleweight Champion, Sonnen choked (quite literally) after dominating long-reigning champion Anderson Silva for twenty-three straight minutes in the main event of the recent UFC 117 show, leaving himself open to a Hail Mary Triangle Choke by Silva that forced the tap out. Fans and the media alike have hotly debated whether or not Sonnen’s performance demands an immediate rematch with Silva, and now that that seems to be the case, Sonnen recently shed some light on the situation and where he’s at mentally in an interview on MMA Live.
In short, Sonnen believes that not only is an immediate rematch in the works, but that it’s going to happen sooner rather than later. In fact, Sonnen even said that a New Year’s weekend fight was possible, or a fight on Super Bowl weekend. Either date seems unlikely at this point, frankly, although Super Bowl Weekend seems more plausible. For those that still don’t know, Anderson Silva fought with a rib injury for the entirety of his showdown with Sonnen, and should be out until 2011. It is not known when Silva will return.
Sonnen was also frank in admitting that his motivations hadn’t changed after the shocking loss to Silva. Sonnen re-iterated that he only wants to be number one, and that he actually still considers himself number one, and that he was the closest any UFC fighter has ever been to actually beating the dominant champion. Sonnen also promised that the rematch would feature more of the same.
As a massive Anderson Silva fan, I want to hate Chael Sonnen. But I don’t. If anything, I “love to hate” him. He strikes me as one of the most entertaining jackasses one could ever possibly meet. He has all the skills to back up his boasting, and we haven’t seen this good a trash-talker since the glory days of Tito Ortiz. However, there are a few things I’d like to point out.
Mainly, I want to point out that Chael Sonnen isn’t the best Middleweight in the world. That crown still rests on the head of Anderson Silva. Sonnen was a hair’s breadth away from wrenching that crown off of Silva’s dome, but the plain fact of the matter is that Silva found an opening, went for broke, and his gamble paid off. As dominant as Chael Sonnen was, he was never in a position to really stop Anderson Silva. Chael has also always had a problem with leaving himself open to submissions when he thinks he’s winning, so if nothing really has changed, that weakness will be out there and begging to be exploited once again when the rematch does finally go down.
Secondly, like so many of his fellow elite-level wrestlers in the UFC, Sonnen is and always will be a grinder. It’s been almost three years since he last finished a fight. If he couldn’t finish Silva off when Silva was fighting injured from the beginning, I don’t know how he’ll contend with a Silva that’s healthy. And just like Anderson Silva, I won’t make any excuses for the poor performance Silva put on at UFC 117, injured rib and all. Silva really let me down at UFC 117. But if he comes into the rematch healthy, it’s going to be a very different fight.
Overall, I’m looking forward to the inevitable rematch. Sonnen’s domination of Silva was one of 2010’s best stories, and I can’t wait to see how the next chapter unfolds. But what about you, fans and friends? How excited are you for the rematch, who do you see taking home the gold, and why?
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Comments
I am also looking forward to the rematch, which I suspect will not go as well for the trash-talking Sonnen. Leaving aside the rib injury for a moment, Silva was goaded into fighting Sonnen’s fight the first time around. Silva basically gave Sonnen the takedown in two of the rounds, once by attempting a flying knee and later by taking Sonnen down only to be reversed before he could establish position. The crafty, elusive, counter-punching Silva was nowhere to be seen that night. The parallel that comes to my mind is actually from boxing. Before Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran fought for the first time in 1980, Duran cursed Leonard and insulted his family, goading him into a brawl, which was exactly what Duran wanted. However, in the rematch Leonard changed tactics and embarrassed Duran so thoroughly that he threw down his gloves and quit. I’m not a fan of either Silva or Sonnen, but I won’t be surprised if their rematch contains shades of Leonard-Duran II.
A rib injury doesn’t help Chael knock down Silva twice in the first three rounds of the fight. Chael will dominate and once the octagon locks, he will find a way to win against a healthy Silva. Look for Chael to train with more elite level guys and improve his submission defense. Sonnen wins rematch by unanimous decision 4 rounds to 1
I think the rematch is unwarranted as Chael was FINISHED by Silva regardless if he was dominating the whole fight. Really I don’t care at all if he was or not. THE FACT IS HE WAS FINISHED. There is no way a rematch should have been granted, that is extremely unfair to Silva, but who cares right? So many Anderson haters out there pray to see him get beat whether it be because they didn’t like his fight with Maia, that he is ranked ahead of their hero’s Fedor and GSP or just because they simply hate him. Either way it’s total BS and unfair but like I said no one cares, especially Dana so sadly Anderson will have to do it again and I’m more confident HE WILL.
It will be quite boring though watching Sonnen lay and pray and try to bruise Silva up by peppering him with shot after shot. Silva will land some big shots and much like the beggining of round 4, a calm Silva will smash Sonnen and stay out of danger while he finishes him with strikes. You Silva haters need to back off and give him credit. There is no way Chael deserves a rematch when he TAPPED and was FINISHED. If it was a close fight that ended with a decision or a bad decision then fine but a FINISH? Get real, the only people that want that is the Silva HATERS. Whatever Sonnen will be defeated this time too and Anderson will have learned to deal with the smothering takedowns a lot more trust me. I have said it before and I’ll say it again…
I BELIEVE IN ANDERSON SILVA.
One thing’s for sure, if Silva wants to win he needs to stop clowning around with that asshat Steven Seagal and get serious.
@Adam
@Silvastillp4p
Silva fans are terrified at the prospect of a rematch even to the point of being angry about it ,I’ve never heard so many excuses …is it really that you don’t think he deserves a rematch or that he will further expose what most people already know at this point Anderson is a fraud (any body can SUB Chael sonnon….LOL…
TBH who else can fight Silva, there is nobody left except for Belfort who Silva hasnt already beat, but Belfort is busy and Sonnen is the only guy who we knw can put up a good fight. sonnen still is the no.1 contender
Injured or not Silva won…he wld knock off Vitor aswell and Canada’s only hero GSP. George cannot knock anyone out and he sure as hell can’t submit silva if he can’t submit hardy. But back to sonnen, yea he was very impressive against silva but he got caught. Sonnen lost now step vitor up so he will lose as well. Then set up the superfight between silva and gsp so all u silva haters which are gsp’s nuthuggers out there will see Anderson is the true pound for pound king enough said!!!
@Scott
Ummmm ….no …Stop lookin into your little glass ball and lets see what happens when the two Finally re-match…How about that ms. cleo..
@theseeker
Wow really…I can not wiat untill they rematch actually…I plan on Seeing anderson silva Knock Cheal Sonnens ass out like he was sposed to in August
I think this rematch will be decided by a number of things, mainly how both fighters are preparing for it. i don’t think it will be as easy for Chael Sonnen to takedown Anderson Silva but i can still see sonnen taking down Silva. also if Chael Sonnen works on his submission defence then it should go to an unianimus decision for Sonnen. and for Anderson Silva Fans your going to need the Anderson Silva of old to show up not the “dancing clown” that likes to show how fast he is with some dance moves. if the old Anderson Silva Shows up then i can see this by knockout in the first round (only because i can’t see Sonnen being able to trade with Silva for long) also if Silva ends up fight GSP then i can’t see him winning. its not because i hate Anderson Silva before you start its just he’s a really good wrestler and he does have the ability to finish Silva and not jus grind him out.
Ok let’s see if we can get this straight for once. People are all over Silva’s nuts, which is fine and dandy for them, seeing as the guy is undefeated in the UFC. HOWEVER, Silva is about the most over rated fighter in the UFC, and almost all of MMA. Despite his wins, his performances as of late have been lacking. His last good performance was against Forrest Griffin at UFC 101. Chael Sonnen is no where NEAR the best in the world, and is a bit too cocky for my taste as well, but at least he did exactly what he said he was going to do despite the loss. He said he was going to bring the fight to Anderson, and he did. Now I know, almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, but still, had it not been for his lack of sub defense there would be a new middle weight champion, and then all of you people clinging to Andersons nuts would do exactly what your doing now which is coming up with excuses. He won the fight so great for him, don’t make excuses as to his lack luster performance based on a “rib injury.” People fight injured all the time. As far as a rematch it isn’t uncalled for at all. I say this time around Sonnen will not get caught, and he will become the champ. That is if Vitor doesn’t knock out Silva first.