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MMA World Cup: The Chael Sonnen/Anderson Silva Rematch

Silva and Sonnen in a rematch for all the marbles.

UFC champion Anderson Silva and the man who dominated him for more than four rounds last year, Chael Sonen, both made it out of the semi-finals in convincing fashion. This sets up the rematch of the century, or at least of the year, between two distinctly different middleweight stars.

Gold Medal Match:

1. Anderson Silva vs. 2. Chael Sonnen

My Take: Their first fight was my favorite of the year. As exciting as the finish was - I can't help but think the second time around Sonnen doesn't make a mental error, doesn't slip. Chael Sonnen can follow the template he established all the way to the gold medal.

Bronze Medal Match:

3. Yushin Okami vs. 4. Michael Bisping

My Take: Can Bisping hold off the Japanese's strong grappling game long enough to pitter patter his way to a decision? How will each man deal with the five round contest? Will gas tanks come into play? It's an interesting fight and I think Bisping has improved his wrestling to the point he can win a decision of Okami.

Vote in our poll to choose the winner!

  1. Brazil: Anderson Silva
  2. USA: Chael Sonnen
  3. Asia/AUS: Yushin Okami
  4. Europe:  Michael Bisping
  5. CIS/Assorted: Mamed Khalidov
  6. Canada: Denis Kang

Previous links after the break

Star-divide

Featherweight semi-finals

Lightweight semi-finals

Welterweight semi-finals

Middleweight semi-finals

Light heavyweight semi-finals

Heavyweight semi-finals

Bantamweights

Featherweights

Lightweights

Welterweights

Middleweights

Light Heavyweights

The Heavyweights

The Rules and an Explanation

Poll
Who Wins?
Silva and Okami
923 votes
Silva and Bisping
198 votes
Sonnen and Okami
645 votes
Sonnen and Bisping
120 votes

1886 votes | Poll has closed

Comment 45 comments  |  0 recs  | 

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Psh.

A healthy Anderson Silva leaves a non roided out of his mind Chael Sonnen an unconscious bloody mess on the octagon floor within 2 rounds. He’ll probably only need one.

Anderson Silva is 13-0 in the UFC with 11 finishes. Still can’t get any respect.

by NoHo on Apr 24, 2011 12:14 PM EDT via mobile reply actions  

Even if you assume that, "they" don't test at 16.9:1 T:E

Even if Sonnen was at 200 ng/dl epi, that means he was near 3400 ng/dl test. He was in the middle of a heavy cycle—-by his own admission basically.

Not afraid to nitpick

by joker24 on Apr 24, 2011 3:06 PM EDT up reply actions  

EXACTLY!

If Sonnen can pass his piss test, he has a chance. If he can’t, night night! He’s a one trick pony that Silva can now accommodate for. I’d say Okami has a better chance of beating Silva. Ironically, they both either almost won or won by cheating. You can see right after Silva lands the kick on Okami, he looks up, sees the referee is pulling Silva away and then plays dead to get the win. Sure the kick was hard, but his acting was nothing short of a Kobe Bryant Emmy Award.

IMO Sonnen should never get the rematch, he’s a cheater. It’s amazing how Snowden won’t give Silva his respect.

Silva will win by some crazy Aikido move he learned from Seagal in the third round. I’m going to go with a wrist lock straight out of Out for Justice.

by b_radical on Apr 24, 2011 3:04 PM EDT up reply actions  

a healthy anderson silva could not finish a beaten maia

Even anderson said himself he tried to put maia away but couldn’t, “but he wanted to show maia did not belong in the ring with him” BS he couldn’t finish by his own admission.

by mikeI981j on Apr 24, 2011 4:48 PM EDT up reply actions  

yeah

Silvas cardio was shit in the Maia fight, but he has improved it as he showed in the Sonnen fight. being able to take a beating for 23+ mins, hundreds of punches taken. and being able to keep his cool and set up a fight endnd sub.

by NastyGuido on Apr 24, 2011 11:39 PM EDT up reply actions  

Regarding the Maia fight

being the Silva mark that I am, in his defense, the first couple rounds he was doing all kinds of crazy shit to Maia, that coupled with that fact that it was hot as shit and they normally fight in A/C, gassed him.

by Str8_right on Apr 25, 2011 11:44 AM EDT up reply actions  

Silva's an easy pick here.

Honestly, I think Bisping wipes the floor with Okami. He’s a far superior striker and Okami isn’t fantastic at getting guys down or keeping them there and Bisping has a good defensive guard.

"Unless you can’t think of something intelligent to say, don’t reply and make the world as dumb as you are appearing to be." - mabel4life

by lowellthehammer on Apr 24, 2011 12:24 PM EDT reply actions  

glad we agree

I think Bisping handles okami..

by Chris Sarda on Apr 24, 2011 12:45 PM EDT up reply actions  

For the most part these exercises are just popularity contests though.

A guy like Bisping is lucky he even made it past the first round.

"Unless you can’t think of something intelligent to say, don’t reply and make the world as dumb as you are appearing to be." - mabel4life

by lowellthehammer on Apr 24, 2011 12:53 PM EDT up reply actions  

Yep. Bisping would probably lose round 1, maybe round 2. But rounds 3 – 5 are all Bisping.

Managing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.

by Brent Brookhouse on Apr 24, 2011 1:12 PM EDT up reply actions  

so are you saying that silva would win by submission, while at the same time saying that sonnen would win by virtue of his superior wrestling?

at least you’re not wishy-washy about it. wait…..what?

by tha dude on Apr 24, 2011 1:49 PM EDT up reply actions  

He said andersons takedown defense is awful, how did you get “sonnen would win” from that?

by mikeI981j on Apr 24, 2011 4:51 PM EDT up reply actions  

I disagree with pretty much every outcome the author comes up with. Luckily, so do most other people

by kick_puncher on Apr 24, 2011 12:43 PM EDT reply actions  

That's Snowden

Constantly playing devils advocate. But I also think Chael could win :D

"When I beat Wanderlei I’m a take his belt, pull his pants down and spank him for being so ugly" - Quinton Jackson

by Hitmonchan on Apr 24, 2011 1:20 PM EDT up reply actions   1 recs

What an outlandish statement. How could Sonnen hope to survive even a round?

by Jonathan Snowden on Apr 24, 2011 1:38 PM EDT up reply actions   2 recs

I think it comes down to Silva's desire to keep it standing

I think in the first fight Silva clearly had a point to prove. Sonnen insulted the Nogs and BJJ so Silva shows up in the gi and spends seemingly little effort to keep the fight standing. Not really stuffing much and even choosing to stay on the ground at times when he could have gotten back up. Either he didn’t want to get sucked into the game of spending all your energy to get back up or more likely he wanted to prove a point about Nogueira jiu-jitsu.

Either way, injury and testosterone aside, if Silva really makes an effort to keep the fight standing and use his speed and footwork to fight his style of fight I think he can handle Chael easily. If he has another point to prove he could get himself in trouble…

This will not stand man, this aggression will not stand!

by RearNakedToke on Apr 24, 2011 2:37 PM EDT reply actions  

Wut?

Sonnen handed Spider a beating? Where? All he did was lay on top of Spider trying to wear him out. Sonnen was more a mess than Spider was at the end of that fight.

by NoHo on Apr 24, 2011 4:01 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions  

yep thats a rec

I’d rather just climb this fridge

by Riley_96 on Apr 24, 2011 11:16 PM EDT up reply actions  

I thought this was America :)

".He still has a ground game that seems heavily dependent on lying still and hoping that his opponent won't notice his very kimura-able arm..."

by dancingChicken on Apr 25, 2011 8:12 AM EDT up reply actions  

I don't know about the rest of the fight as far as Silva's psych goes

But if you can’t see that he allowed Sonnen to hit him and take him down in the first round then you must be a Silva hater.

Rounds 2-5 can be debated in any way but that first round demonstrated Anderson allowing it to happen.

He dropped his hands and didn’t even move while Sonnen hit him. He just looked at him. Then on the takedown, Anderson still just sat there

by Dane Robertson on Apr 24, 2011 7:45 PM EDT up reply actions  

not sure if you’re serious

I’d rather just climb this fridge

by Riley_96 on Apr 24, 2011 11:17 PM EDT up reply actions  

Are you saying Silva doen't change the way he fights to prove points?

Maia? Sonnen? Belfort? People forget that Silva had some of the best TDD in the UFc before the Sonnen fight. He definitely didn;t look like a fighter that was desperately trying to stay on his feet. That in addition to wearing a Gi which he rarely if ever does and holding his black belt in the air after the win… You really don’t see a message there????

Not about being a fanboy bro… Just look at the facts.

This will not stand man, this aggression will not stand!

by RearNakedToke on Apr 24, 2011 3:08 PM EDT reply actions  

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

yes clearly he wanted to get taken down and have his face beaton for 4 and a half rounds.

I’d rather just climb this fridge

by Riley_96 on Apr 24, 2011 11:18 PM EDT up reply actions  

not really

but c’mon man, Silva’s TDD isn’t that weak. Dude threw a jumping roundhouse against a wrestler…he knew goddamn well that Sonnen would use that to take him down.

by Str8_right on Apr 25, 2011 11:48 AM EDT up reply actions  

Didn't say THE best....

But as I recall his % was in the mid eighties and he was top 10 in the UFC…

Not saying he planned on the fight being as difficult as it was… I just think there was a lot of evidence pointing towards Silva wanting to make this smart mouthed white boy pay for disrespecting the Nogs and BJJ in general. You son;t think that’s what his goal was?

This will not stand man, this aggression will not stand!

by RearNakedToke on Apr 24, 2011 3:18 PM EDT reply actions  

No i don’t think he is that stupid. Only a fool would want to get taken down and smashed for that lenght of time. Silva ins’t an idiot, just shitty at TDD

I’d rather just climb this fridge

by Riley_96 on Apr 24, 2011 11:19 PM EDT up reply actions  

If Silva has shitty TDD, then Sonnen has shitty TDs, because 4 out of his 7 TD attempts were stuffed.

".He still has a ground game that seems heavily dependent on lying still and hoping that his opponent won't notice his very kimura-able arm..."

by dancingChicken on Apr 25, 2011 8:15 AM EDT up reply actions  

sonnen even doped up couldn’t beat an injured silva. in the first rd sonnen clipped anderson it surprised him so what did he do , he put his hands down and let sonnen hit him twice in the face and walked right threw it, like it was nothing. in the build up tro the fight sonnen disrespected silva’s bjj coachs ( which brazil’s are insanely proud of their bjj lineage) . in the doc following silva after the maia fight and leading up to the sonnen fight , anderson is aasked whether he is going to ko sonnen, he answers " no i’m going to submit him". in every other fight of silvas he either stops the takedown ,or instantly sweeps it ( except henderson , and he subbed himby rd2 which shields couldn’t doin 5rds, and shields’s jujits is supposed to be on another level than evdryone else) maai couldn’t get the fight to the ground marquart couldn’t , leites couldn’t yet all these guys takredown people at will . in the last rd sonnen doesn’t even get the takedownleading to the end , silva slips and just lays there waiting fort sonnen . ALL anderson did was realize with hurt ribs his movement was going to be limited and he would have to wait til sonnen was tired , and avoid damage . i know evdryone thinks sonnen pounded on him over 300 times , yet silva only got credited for 30 strikes yet at fights end the only one beat up is sonnen.i don’t care how much you try to say some people show effects from damage more than others , anyone who is struck 300 times by someone weighing 200plus pds , is going to show very visible damaga if the person striking them is actually p[osturing up and putting power in his strikes , all sonnen does is look busy enough tokeep the fight on the ground he really doesn’t hurt anyone. i think silva is THAT GOOD THAT HE LET SONNEN PLAY FOR 4RDS AND IN THE 5TFH RD , THE FIRST AND ONLY TIME SILVA WENT FOR ANY SUB ATTEMPT HE HAD SONNEN TAPPING AND ALMOST NAPPING . yes he is that good , he said what he intended to do well before the fight happened and he did it injured against an opponent who had a great strength and recovery advantage ( due to sonnens extremly . illegal higfh levels of testosterone) . no mattersnowden’s opinion , these are facts. 1 sonnens levels of test were illegal and high ( and test gives you the advantages i stated plus more) 2, silva’s intention to sub sonnen ( proof is in footage from before the sonnen fight in the anderson silva documentary that is out right now) silva had a rib injury ( which if you had ever injured your ribs its another mark of how good silva is to be even able to fight against a good wrestler while having injured ribs,. but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. i prefer to base my opinions on actual facts . another fact of mine is sonnen should never be licensed to fight again. he fought against okami and marquart while under testosterone theropy while the commissions were unaware of it and without being licensed ( just because he might of passed a pee test ,only means he dudn’t inject his dose a day before the test , thats how short a time it takes for the levekls to go back to a normal range . but the strength and recovery advantages don’t go away in tat day. ok thats 1 reason he shouldn’t fight because he will aklways cheat and lie about it when caught . plus he tried the lindland fake tap against filo1. ans d publicly stated the ref erred and got a re-match thenm after admitted to a member of nsac thjat yes he actually did tap. then thirdly he is a convicted criminal of money laundsering and is only not in jail because he is testifying against the people he was in busines swith. snowden likes this guy and thinks he is a good rep of the sport . when a person makes a mistake and openly admits it he desrvres a second chance ,but sonnen ‘s action are not just ma mistake they are a continuing progression that never changes , and do you really believe that sonnen won’t continue to cheat and lie about it in the future when he gets caught again n. its people like this that gfive new york reason to not want to legalize mma. if you cleaned the corrupt people out of the sport maybe it would be easier to legalize it and get it accepted every where .

by robbyedRobby Edwards on Apr 24, 2011 5:32 PM EDT reply actions  

Don’t ever put a wall of text like that on our site again. What the hell?

by Jonathan Snowden on Apr 24, 2011 6:48 PM EDT up reply actions  

might be long but it is quite interesting and his opinions are backed up with good arguments…sometimes you can t sum up opinions in 5 lines…

by alibabarouge on Apr 25, 2011 4:30 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions  

Length doesn’t concern me. Not using the “enter” key concerns me.

by Jonathan Snowden on Apr 25, 2011 9:40 AM EDT up reply actions  

i’m sorry man can’t get through it. too big of a wall.

I’d rather just climb this fridge

by Riley_96 on Apr 24, 2011 11:21 PM EDT up reply actions  

i agree

i saw a footage were AS explained this very strategy. He is that good! It s amazing but i believe it…

by alibabarouge on Apr 25, 2011 4:22 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions  

Silva was mostly just cutting Sonnen’s face up with elbows from guard, while Sonnen was using punches to the face and body. Chael Sonnen definitely landed a lot more, stronger blows both standing and on the ground. I think Chael would probably win a five round UD in a rematch, as he’d have less to prove and worry about controlling Anderson more and damage less.

Yushin Okami would outclass Michael Bisping and undo the UFC’s hyping of his stand-up skills. He’d mix it up better and make Bisping lose the striking and wrestling.

Is it possible for an administrator to change my handle? I want it to be "Genki Pseudonym." I just thought of that myself.

by Bolshevik on Apr 24, 2011 7:40 PM EDT reply actions  

D. and D.

Silva obviously should be favored to win this…but I sure as hell will be rooting for Sonnen! Something about his duchebaggery just breaks through to the other side…He is a true Umerican. I say he gets the job done this time, and gets at least two ten-eight rounds. Silva you rule, but I’m going with a true freedom fighter. I see Okami Vs. Bisping going down one way: Okami getting a decision over Bisping. They’ll be too many times that we see Bisping on his back.

"Good People drink good beer." -Hunter S. Thompson

by Captain Beyond on Apr 25, 2011 9:39 AM EDT reply actions  

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