UFC 117: After the Fire! Post-fight Review!
Sunday, August 8th, 2010
Main Event: Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen
If anyone needed a reminder of why MMA has become the fastest rising sport in terms of popularity and why it’s fans are so rabid, Saturday night was a slap across the Hippocampus. UFC 117 turned out to be one of the most exciting, riveting, stellar cards in some time.
Anderson Silva was supposed to come in, strafe Chael with strikes, forcing Chael to desperately seek respite through the clinch or a takedown, on his way to a highlight reel of a Jazz improv-like combination of strikes in fight finishing fashion. This is MMA, where you get handed fights that unfold like they are supposed to, lulling you into a numb state of acceptance. Really it’s a set-up, so that when you are most relaxed, on MMA cruise control, the unexpected happens and it’s that much more shocking.
What we got instead was a guy who is known for his wrestling and not his high-level striking, out-strike the deity of punches and kicks. Hey, throw in a straight left that knocks Silva down in the 5th round while we’re at it. The expected takedowns and ground and pound was there as well. Chael landed a LOT of strikes while in Anderson’s guard and some of them were heavy.
The domination was thorough enough to warrant a 10-8 on Mike Fridley’s card for the first round and leave Joe Rogan the quietest he’s been in some time. All 3 judges had the fight scored every round for Chael and by round 5 it was clear that Anderson needed a Hail Mary KO or submission because there was going to be a new champion. Since you were on cruise control, the spirit of MMA felt it was time to intervene by way of triangle switched to an armbar from Anderson. Just when we were a minute and a half away from a new champion, Anderson’s Hail Mary armbar forces Chael to tap and heferee Josh Rosenthal to bring a halt to the match.
Of course, MMA fans love their controversy (even where there is none) and debate and the chat boards instantly heated up. Was it one tap, two or three. If it was one, isn’t the stated rule two taps minimum. Wasn’t Josh Rosenthal the heferee that controversially brought a stop to Filho’s armbar on Chael? Does this guy have something against Chael? You could fill pages with this drivel and it really amounts to nothing. The fact is, even if Sonnen tapped once and Rosenthal stopped it, he only intervened before the inevitable second and third tap and subsequent nap. Sonnen did put up a fuss when the fight was stopped, but these guys put in a ridiculous amount of training time and passionately want to win. To be a minute and a half away from becoming the new champion and be caught is a hard pill to swallow. Afterward Sonnen resigned to the fact that he did tap.
Rosenthal may have seemed a bit confused, but he did the right thing. He’s clearly a referee that cares otherwise he wouldn’t have doubted himself. He wanted to make the right call. The referee that stops a fight and doesn’t reflect on whether it was the proper thing to do or listen to feedback is the referee that deserves the criticism. I’m sure he thought to himself that he didn’t want to make the wrong call on the same fighter for the same submission twice. That is if you are from the camp that believes the Filho fight wasn’t a tap. Excellent refereeing job from Josh Rosenthal.
The questions that everyone began to ask immediately was whether something was wrong with Anderson. An explanation for his poor performance surely couldn’t be without reason. Did Chael’s talk combined with pressure from Dana White affect his performance? Possibly. Anderson did say in the post fight interview that he had a rib injury that his doctor suggested was bad enough for him to not take the fight. He certainly seemed healthy enough to strike and grapple and his cardio didn’t looked like anything is wrong. A rib injury affects everything you do including preparing.
So what does this fight mean ultimately? Chael’s stock went up. He showed he will be trouble for any person in the Middleweight division. This is not a fun guy to fight. You better be prepared mentally and physically or you are in for a long night. Chael impressed me with his ability to hang in there striking. He just really needs to spend the next few months surrounded my no one but BJJ black belts in a shark tank.
Anderson’s stock is unchanged for the most part. It rose a sliver. You can make the case for calling it a poor performance, but he won and he finished. It’s a real tribute to why he is on the top of most people’s pound-for-pound list. Sure he’s is considered to have the best striking and Muay Thai clinch at 185#s and possibly any weight division, but guess what? The guy has BJJ too. This means he’s evolving and that’s pretty darn scary. A guy that can finish a fight in any position any where in the ring is a terror. No one is safe.
Now the talk is about whether Sonnen should get an immediate rematch or some of the other fighters who have been paving the way for a shot should get a chance. Vitor Belfort, Yushin Okami, Michael Bisping (who is out of his gourd for requesting a fight with Sonnen), Wanderlei Silva and Chris Leben are the names being tossed around. Vitor hasn’t done enough yet, Bisping is undeserving at this point, and Leben had his chance already. Okami or Silva should get a shot.
Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves
Jon Fitch versus Thiago Alves began with weight cutting issues for Thiago Alves. The man is simply too big for the Welterweight division and missed the cut-off by a half pound, which cost him 20% of his purse. He looked very dry and flat in this fight and the sharpness and power that is usually there, wasn’t. Fitch did what he does best and wrestled his way to a win. His hands looked much improved and he actually did much better standing than most expected. No surprise since Alves has shown himself to be one dimensional and to make it to the top you have to be more well-rounded. Post fight, Dana White mentioned a text exchange with Alves where Alves apologized for his performance and that he would be back.
White said “Yes, at 185#.”
Next for Fitch is his wedding in September and waiting to see who wins the Josh Koscheck vs. Georges St. Pierre fight.
Clay Guida vs. Rafael Dos Anjos
Clay has been proving his critics wrong with their “Lay and pray” criticism. Putting to submission wins in a row together giving them a lot less to say. Haters will be haters and they will have to use their imaginations to come up with something. Clay actually demonstrated head movement and decent striking, and possibly broke Dos Anjos’ jaw on route to catching Dos Anjos on his back and affecting a Von Flue choke. Surely the possibly broken jaw elicited the tap faster than usual, but regardless of what is said Guida’s shoulder was on Dos Anjos throat and he most likely would have gotten the tap.
Roy Nelson vs Junior Dos Santos
Roy Nelson demonstrated a tenacity and granite chin in this fight. Junior Dos Santos showed he has the cardio to stay busy and has matured enough to know to pace himself. Some of the punches Dos Santos landed were loud enough to be heard over the crowd and would have finished most people in the heavyweight division. I was really impressed with both fighters and I think this was the perfect maturing fight for Dos Santos to gain some valuable experience. Nelson will stick around hopefully a be a thorn in other fighter’s sides. Needless to say JDS by putting together 6 straight wins in the UFC (5 finishes) has done enough to warrant a title shot for the winner of the Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez fight.
Matt Hughes vs Ricardo Almeida
I am a big Matt Hughes fan. He was the first fighter’s bandwagon I ever joined. I never got off. I expected him to have some serious trouble with Ricardo, because Ricardo has a stronger, more athletic BJJ game than other BJJ players. Let’s not forget one heck of a guillotine choke. As usual when you are on cruise control, you get derailed by the gods of MMA. A bomb of a left hook from Hughes caught Almeida and he crashed to the canvas. Not one to pass up an opportunity, Hughes pounced and had Almeida in a front headlock. 
Apparently, Almeida was unacquainted with this fundamental control from wrestling so initially didn’t panic or respond. This is Matt Hughes who is known for his farm strength. A tiny adjustment of his head, a small positional adjustment towards Ricardo’s flank combined with Hughes’ strength was all that was needed to turn a wrestling control position into a submission. Ricardo went to sleep. We’ll see more of Ricardo as he’s a dangerous hombre.
Fight bonuses of $60,000 were handed out to Chael Sonnen and Anderson Silva for ‘Fight of the Night’, again to Anderson Silva and Matt Hughes for ‘Submissions of the Night’, and Stefan Struve got ‘KO of the Night’ for his comeback KO of Christian Morecraft.
Overall a fantastic UFC and one of the best in a long time, cementing the UFC’s prominence amongst all other MMA organizations by a few light years. This is going to be a hard one to follow!
Anderson’s detractors say Anderson’s weakest link is wrestling, and that this makes him vulnerable to a wrestler of Sonnen’s caliber. While this is true, it’s an area that Anderson has worked on quite a bit, and simply hasn’t needed or desired to demonstrate. His wrestling never had to be that good because every other area he possessed in abundance. Let’s not forget that it was a wrestler’s switch that got Anderson into position to finish Nate Marquardt, who is a strong, powerful, accomplished wrestler. There is a reason why Anderson is on everyone’s Pound-for-pound list, and on top of most of those-he can do it all, and is only improving.
Stumble it!