I'll give Bisping the credit that he's tough to take down. Rashad, who is up there as one of the best wrestlers in MMA, had a incredibly difficult time taking him down as well. I'm not about to say that Bisping is a better fighter than Silva but you know the whole styles make fights thing. Plus Bisping doesn't gas at all. I think Silva is a stylistically easier fight for Sonnen with the exception that Silva hits a hell of a lot harder and more accurate than Bisping. Bisping needs to flurry you to death where Silva can put you out with a fadeaway jab (see: forrest griffin). Sonnen has even said that he was shocked by the level of, well lack of, resistance he got from Silva. That can play a huge factor in cardio in the fight. Silva is going to be way easier to get down and keep down than Bisping was.

I'm not saying Silva can't do it because he totally can and in the blink of an eye. This fight quite possibly could be as short as the Silva/Leben fight if he comes out hungry right off the bat.

yeah those are good points. i guess i never really took into account the cardio strain good balance and a solid take down defense has on the person trying for the take down.

I gas way quicker in an MMA fight than I do in a Muay Thai one because of the strain of trying to take someone down. Grappling cardio is an artform.

Originally posted by: WREN

Silva is going to be way easier to get down and keep down than Bisping was.

Wasn't Silva's first fight against Sonnen the only time he's ever been on his back in a fight since joining the UFC?

No. An out of shape Travis Lutter got him down with a basic ankle pick and if he wasn't drained from the (failed) weight cut he would have won via armbar.

Dan Henderson, the only other wrestler Silva has faced in the UFC, got him down and beat him up for most of the first round in their fight.

He's faced grapplers but there is a difference between a wrestler and a submission fighter when it comes to takedowns. Okami is the only other wrestler he faced but Okami takedowns are from the clinch and involve throws. He never could tie up for one. Where as someone like Sonnen will drive a power double and Silva can't defend those.

i'm getting kinda pumped for cote/cung Le and easton/menjivar

Cote/Le should be a good standup fight. I think Le will do what he always does and pick Cote apart for a round before running out of steam and Cote will take over. I would have liked to see how well Franklin would have done against him. Franklin is a much smarter striker and it would have been interesting seeing how he figured out the puzzle of all the angled kicks. Cote is going to be another Scott Smith who just absorbs the punishment until he can land something when Le is tired.

Easton/Menjivar should be a mile a minute.


I'm actually kind of hyped for the Tito fight. I've always liked Tito and hope that he can leave the sport on a high note. He carried the UFC and in essence the sport too. He kind of deserves the storybook ending.

kinda lackluster ending. sonnen falls on his ass, gets kneed, and then punched 4 times and its over.

There should be an emoticon of Sonnens face when he fell from the spinning back fist titled "I failed"

Lol at people ever completely counting out Anderson Silva before the fight even started. Sherdog pro's pick was like 75% Chael.

Originally posted by: lord sauron

kinda lackluster ending. sonnen falls on his ass, gets kneed, and then punched 4 times and its over.

Sonnen should of had this fight.

worst card

I didn't think it was that terrible. I think it's biggest problem was that it didn't live up to the hype. I said that it would have ended in 1 of 2 ways and even with Silva scoring the TKO there was controversy and it was lackluster to say the least.

There is definitely a good argument that the knee was illegal and what makes things funny about that, is that he didn't even need to throw it. Sonnen appeared out of it at that moment and Silva probably could have just finished him off with a few more punches. Something connected and hurt Sonnen before that spinning back fist because that's definitely a desperation move from a guy who I've never seen throw one. It's clear that it's not really in his arsenal either because it was terribly misplaced and it threw him completely off balance.

I have to rewatch the fight but Saturday night I thought Tito got robbed. I gave him the 1st and the 3rd. While Forrest definitely had the better striking, Tito had a knockdown and a takedown in both of those rounds. I'll put weight behind the takedowns because he definitely worked when he was in Forrest's guard. If he did nothing, I wouldn't even count them. Forrest lost all my respect at the end with his antics. Leaving and then stealing the mic completely ruined Tito's last moment in the octagon. Love him or hate him, the guy had a huge part in the UFC and where it is today and he deserved a lot more than what he got for his last post-fight interview.

Cung Le should fight Vitor next. Because why not?


Now that the Sonnen/Silva saga is over there isn't much left for Silva to do in the MW division. Hector Lombard hopefully gets the next shot because that's the only compelling matchup right now. I mean seeing Silva slaughter Bisping would be fun but Bisping is coming off a loss and injury so he needs another fight first. If Lombard fails against Boetsch then that leaves only Alan Belcher and right now, I don't care about that fight at all. Rashad said he'd drop down in weight and that would be an interesting matchup. The only other logical matchup would be to go up and face the winner of Bones/Hendo. If he wins that fight, he would have my vote for Best Ever.

i was pretty bummed that the menjivar/easton fight was relatively a snooze

Forrest and Tito got Fight Of The Night
Anderson Silva got KO of the Night
There were no submissions


Apparently Cody McKenzie was the butt of most of the jokes at the post fight press conference and in a rare event, Dana called out the matchmaker and said McKenzie had no business being in there with Mendes. Mendes will be getting a harder challenge next fight. Someone asked who Forrest's next opponent would be and Dana said "Cody McKenzie".