Anderson Silva on UFC 117

[Richard Tran]

First of all it was nice to see Chael back up his words and take him down and control the fight.
But my question is... Was it just a bad night for Silva? or Was Silva proving a point?
When I first saw the fight I saw Silva taking some shots in the standup. At first I thought that Silva would make Chael seem that he is catching him and Silva would later kick his ass in later rounds to humiliate him.
But round after round Silva was getting taken down and maybe Silva underestimated Sonnen. Silva possibility of being injured also comes to play.

But I thought about it later and maybe Silva wanted to prove a point. He came in with a Gi, Sonnen disrespected his BB credentials, and Silva submitted him. Maybe he didn't mind to be on his back and just chill while Sonnen exhaust his energy, cuz at one point Silva was not defending his face yet Sonnen's punches didn't seem very powerful. Then Silva finally caught him after many attempts.

What are your guys thoughts?

[Chris Patton]

I've watched that fight a few times now. It seemed that Anderson was playing with Sonnen the whole fight. At one point Sonnen is punching Silva on the ground and and Silva lets him do it kinda like a father playing with his kid. Also Silva came out wearing his Gi (never seen him do that before) and he told Nogueria that he would win the fight by submission.I think Silva wanted tomake Sonnen eat words when Sonnen said that getting a black belt under the Nogueria brothers was like getting a toy in a happy meal. When you look at the two fighters post fight it looked like Sonnen received the most damage too despite landing the most strikes to an opponent ever in the history of the ufc. just my 2 cents though.

[Jack Gardner]

I train with Team Nogueira, and I'd love to say that Anderson was just playing with him, but I don't think that was the case. I think Chael's takedown ability made Anderson much less comfortable on the feet for sure, and I think Anderson is also a lot more comfortable, for whatever reason, when he gets to feel a fighter out for the first minute or so of a fight (which Chael didn't allow him to do). Anderson did have that triangle set up numerous times in the earlier rounds, but never threw it up. I have no idea why. I think he could've won it in the 4th when he knocked Chael down, but he followed him to the ground, and got reversed. I think the criticism from the Leites and Maia fights got to him there. Hopefully, he'll have an easier time in the rematch.

[michael craig]

silva got it in his head to submit him with a triangle or a arm bar ...he took alot of damage and played it way to close but it worked...was it a smart move to keep playing this strategy untill the last round?? i say no but chael finaly made a mistake...if i was silvas coach id be mad for him doing that..

[Richard Tran]

Wait Jack, when you said Anderson had the triangle set up numerous times, do you mean he couldve finished Sonnen earlier?

[Tim Elliott]

Look at Machida vs Shogun. Machida walked through a lot of phenomenal fighters like it was nothing. The along came Shogun and he walked through Machida.

Silva is a freak of nature. But whos to say Sonnen isnt? I loved it. Sonnen stepped into the abyss. He got in the ring with Silva and showed no fear and man did it serve him well.

I think Silva is human. It must be very hard to reach the top and then just live and train there, seemingly unchallenged. He might well of been rocked for most of the fight. A good smack in the head takes the sting out of most people (except Brock Lesnar). If he got to where he did all fuzzy and disorientated running on autopilot, then thats amazing.

The purely Anderson Silva moment was when he threw that flurry of elbows from the bottom and cut Sonnen up. It was like watching a leopard fight. Very cool.