UFC 117: Silva vs. Sonnen

[Turd Ferguson]

[YOUTUBE]7pT8l5pwIeQ[/YOUTUBE]

Main card

• Middleweight Championship bout: Anderson Silva (c) vs Chael Sonnen
• Welterweight bout: Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves
• Lightweight bout: Clay Guida vs. Rafael Dos Anjos
• Welterweight bout: Matt Hughes vs. Ricardo Almeida
• Heavyweight bout: Junior Dos Santos vs. Roy Nelson

Preliminary Card (Non-televised)

• Light Heavyweight bout: Todd Brown vs. Tim Boetsch
• Heavyweight bout: Stefan Struve vs. Christian Morecraft
• Welterweight bout: Dustin Hazelett vs. Rick Story
• Welterweight bout: Ben Saunders vs. Dennis Hallman
• Welterweight bout: Johny Hendricks vs. Charlie Brenneman
• Light Heavyweight bout: Rodney "Sho 'Nuff The Master" Wallace vs. Phil Davis

......................................................................................​

This has potential to be an exciting card, or one where wrestling takes over, leaving a lot of people upset.

The main event, Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen, is a fight I have been looking forward to for quite some time. I have become a huge Chael Sonnen fan over the past year, as he's put on some great fights, and had his coming out party against Yushin Okami, whose only loss in the UFC before Sonnen was to Rich Franklin. Sonnen was a complete underdog against Nate Marquardt, and he put on a tremendous performance in that fight as well, once again as a complete underdog. Everyone had written Sonnen off in those two fights, and he's proved the doubters wrong each and every time. Chael has been attacking Anderson Silva since before the Marquardt fight, and it has been a nonstop verbal attack on him. He's done interviews where he lays into him, speeches against him at Q&A sessions, and even attacks him on his Twitter account.

A lot of people are writing Sonnen off, thinking Silva is going to destroy him. I wouldn't be so sure. When Dan Henderson fought Anderson Silva, he won the first round, and that was thanks to holding him down and controlling him with wrestling. Then, for the second round, he abandoned that strategy, tried to stand with Silva, and he got beaten. Sonnen is smart enough to know that if he stands with Silva, he's going to get beaten. He also knows that his strengths most certainly do not lie in the standup game. He doesn't have knockout power like Hendo in the first place.

Like Henderson, Sonnen is an Olympic wrestler. It's much easier said than done, but all Sonnen needs to do to win is wrestle Silva for 5 rounds. He needs to pin him up against the cage, pin him to the ground, and do everything he can to make sure the fight stays on the ground. If Sonnen can do this, and again, it's much easier said than done, he'll be walking out of Oakland the new Middleweight Champion. You better believe I'm going to be pulling for Sonnen.

I'm really interested in the Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves fight (and I might be the only person on this planet who enjoys watching Jon Fitch fight). Both guys have been destroyed by GSP, and both guys want another shot. In their first fight, Fitch won by upkick. Both fighters have evolved so much since that point, but Jon Fitch is just a tremendous wrestler, and we all know his gameplan by now. The question is whether or not Thiago Alves can keep distance from Fitch and keep it standing, blocking his takedowns. You also have to wonder how Alves is going to be following his brain surgery that was caught before he was supposed to rematch Fitch in March. I think the result of this fight will be how I thought it would have been back in March, which is Fitch Fitch'ing Alves on his way to victory.

With Clay Guida vs. Rafael Dos Anjos, you know what you're getting, which is going to be two exciting lightweights going back and forth with each other. It should be a fight of the night candidate... and either guy has a chance to walk out with the win.

Matt Hughes vs. Ricardo Almeida... I really hope Almeida takes it to Matt Hughes, who is the biggest overall dick in all of MMA. Almeida's quest to become a contender in this stacked division starts here, and I think he'll take it to Hughes, who is on the downside of his career. I'm hoping for any kind of submission here by Almeida. Of course, there's also the possibility that Hughes wrestles Almeida and decisions his way to victory.

Junior Dos Santos vs. Roy Nelson is going to be a terrific fight and is going to be an absolute barnburner. The winner of this fight gets the winner of the Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez fight. This could be a standup war, but the one knock on Dos Santos is that we don't know how he is off of his back. If Roy Nelson can pin down JDS and crucifix him, he could be in major, major trouble. If this is a standup fight, the winner is anyone's guess. I can't wait for this one.

As far as the prelims go...

Poor Thiago Silva. He goes from main eventing UFC 108 (and co-main eventing the two cards he was on prior to that point) to being on the prelims for this card. I really think that the Rashad Evans fight should have been a 28-28 draw as well. There's no reason for him to be on the prelims, and he should absolutely destroy the returning Tim Boetsch (who I'll always like for that time he just physically picked up David Heath and threw him into the cage).

I always like seeing Stefan Struve fight as well, and I'm disappointed he's on the undercard. Same thing with Ben Saunders. Either way, this could either be a fun card, or a card everyone hates due to wrestling.

 

[jmt225]

I am so, so, so excited for the main event to this show.

That said, a part of me won't be surprised if it turns out to be like Anderson's fight against Damien Maia or Thales Leites. There's just a small part of me that expects Chael Sonnen to be completely full of shit in his, "I'm going to fight him" rants.

However, that's only a very small part of me who thinks that. The rest of me believes Chael Sonnen will stay true to his words and come out and fight like a man. And if he does that... he will earn my respect, even when he gets knocked out or submitted.

If by some miracle Chael Sonnen wins this fight, it will be by decision. There's no chance in hell he finishes Anderson Silva. He just doesn't have the stand-up or Jiu-Jitsu to do it.

At the end of the day though, like I said.... I fully expect Anderson to knock the guy out, or catch him in a submission on the ground. The fact of the matter is... if Chael sticks to his word and comes in and "eats" Anderson's punches as he claims he will do, then he's getting knocked the fuck out. If he can manage to get Anderson to the ground, then Chael's getting submitted, because as we've seen countless times in the past, Chael's submission defense is absolutely terrible, and with Anderson's long legs and arms, there's no doubt in my mind if the fight goes to the ground, he'll be able to catch Chael in either a Triangle or Guillotine off his back.

In the co-main event, I've never want to seen Jon Fitch get beat up more than in his fight against Thiago Alves.

The only thing I've had against Fitch was that he was boring. However, as a person... I thought he was cool. But as I watch the trailer to the video Guy posted, it rubbed me the wrong way how he was boasting about "finishing" Alves in their last fight, and how GSP couldn't do that in five rounds.

First of all, that fight between Fitch and Alves was over four years ago. You don't think GSP could finish the Alves of 4 years ago? Give the fuck out of here with that shit.

But more importantly, the reason that REALLY rubs me the wrong way is because... when was the last time Fitch actually finished a fight? I'll tell you how long... OVER THREE FUCKING YEARS. And yet, this motherfucker wants to brag about finishing a fight four years ago? Give me a fucking break. I really hope Thiago Alves knocks the guy out.

That said, I fully expect another boring decision victory from Fitch. But holy fuck do I hope I'm wrong.

Anyways, would love to Ricardo Almeida catch Matt Hughes in a submission, but Hughes' sub defense has become too good over the years for me to expect that. However, I do have some hope for it to still occur. If I were a betting man though... I'd bet on Hughes laying and praying his way to victory, much like I expect from Jon Fitch.

Clay Guida vs. Rafael Dos Anjos... not much to say here other than I expect an AWESOME fight, as all of Clay Guida's fight turn out to be, and that I hope Guida can get the victory.

Roy Nelson vs. Junior Dos Santos... outside of the main event, this is the fight I'm most looking forward to. Beside the fact that it should be a great, very entertaining fight... it's damn near impossible to call.

JDS undoubtedly has the edge on the feet, but as we all know... it only takes one right hand from Nelson for the fight to be over. So, even if JDS is able to keep Nelson from taking him down, he'll still have to watch out for the power in Nelson's hands.

Now, if Nelson does manage to take JDS down... well, we don't know what to expect. We haven't seen dos Santos on his back yet, and we just don't know how good he is there. He's a Nog Brothers protege, so obviously he must know something, but will it be enough to keep Nelson from passing his guard? Who knows....

So, yeah... it's a very intriguing fight that could truly going either way. I can't wait to see it.

And as far as the prelims... some decent fights on there. Thiago Silva, Stefan Struve, Ben Saunders, and Dustin Hazelett are all fun guys to watch. This definitely should turn out to be a great, great show.

 

[Y4J]

I'll focus on the other fights later, but for me, (Talking Nelson/JDS) I don't think Nelson has proven anything other than he needs to prove himself lol. Don't mistake that with me saying he's not good. Cuz I think Roy is great. I just think I can't base anything off his fights in the UFC or previously in his MMA career..

His wins are really no names. On his twitter he talks about training for Brock/Carwin (Whoever won) where others may see that as confidence, I see it as unintelligent. JDS has beatin the man who defeated the number one fighter in the WORLD (Fedor), beat CroCop and Gonzaga. If he looks past JDS, he'll suffer what Mir did to Carwin. A horrible defeat. And to be honest, if Roy loses, (Or any of them) I see him facing Carwin, and I am pretty sure that Carwin will jack him up.

This is Roy's "Carwin/Gonzaga or Mir" fight. He needs to prove that he can bang with main names.

 

[Dressler]

As I said in another post in the MMA section before, so I'll say it again here, I think Chael Sonnen will walk out of UFC 117 the new Middleweight Champ. I think he will be able to take Silva to the ground and finish this fight. I know a lot of people disagree but I really think, and hope, he wins this fight against Anderson Silva which could be Fight of the Night.

The Matt Hughes/Ricardo Almeida fight will be a fun one to watch, I can't wait to see Matt get back in the ring, he is an absolute Behemoth of a man and I love watching him fight every time, especially against GSP. I think Hughes wins this fight and moves himself back up the Welterweight Division.

And for the Heavyweight tilt, I think if it goes as expect (at least from my point of view) and Junior Dos Santos wins, it'll be Dos Santos getting the next Title fight vs the winner of (yet to be announced) Velasquez vs Lesnar. I think this fight has potential to have the Knockout of the Night, easily.

 

[ITurnGirlsGay]

No, it's been announced. Dana said the winner of JDS-Nelson gets the next title shot against the winner of Lesnar-Velasquez. The co-main event just became a number 1 contenders match.

As to the thread topic, I don't believe that there's any way under God's green earth that Sonnen beats Silva. If all the "shit-talking" that Maia did pissed off Anderson enough for him to act like a complete jackass in that fight, I can only imagine that the bigoted comments coming from Sonnen's mouth have lit a fire under his ass. Silva is too good to lose to Sonnen. Henderson had a game-plan for beating Silva but Henderson is also a much better MMA fighter than Sonnen. Sonnen's sub defense is probably the worst that there is in the MW division. Shit, Sonnen's top game is pretty damn horrible, too. I mean, he whooped up Marquardt but actually LEFT that fight looking like HE WAS the one that lost.


I am also looking forward to watching Fitch fight. Fitch is one of my favorite fighters and really couldn't care less that he decisions his way to victories. Let's be real, Lay and Pray & Wall and Stall have become the new ways to win fights. Boring as they may be they're effective and prolong careers. Win by any means necessary. DHK looked boring as shit in his fight against Amir but it was effective. Same with Rashad and Rampage.

Now, to my favorite fight on this card...JDS-Nelson. I, personally, think that this fight is going to be MUCH better than some people (people in general) have given this credit for. I am a member of many MMA site forums and have seen a large number of people write off Nelson as if he were a complete fucking can and it's unjustified. Nelson is an extraordinarily tough opponent and is hard as hell to finish. The one aspect that I am the most excited for is getting my questions answered about JDS. We will find out if he truly belongs in the big 4 HW discussion or if he's just a basic striker that you can exploit with take-downs. Fuck, knowing my luck, he'll knock out Nelson in like the first minute and everyone will still be left with the same questions as before the fight even started. I currently have Nelson winning this fight because of his overall skill-set. I know that JDS is a Nog protege but Nelson got his BJJ black belt from Renzo so...that's pretty much a wash for me. I've seen JDS in no-gi grappling tournaments and he looks to be legit but I've also seen Nelson in those same tournaments and he's look fucking great, too. It just seems to me that the Chute Boxe fighters with brown and black belts are actually not half as good as the BJJ brown and black belts that concentrate more on the grappling.

What I mean is that Anderson is a black belt and really doesn't look as good as other black belts that aren't primarily strikers. I mean, for Pete's sake, Anderson got beat with a flying scissor heel hook, that has never/will never work in MMA again (it's still awesome as hell and more people should at least try it). I even think Wandy is black belt and when was the last time you saw him look great on the ground. I'm inclined to believe that JDS, despite being a Nog student, won't be that great against a solid BJJ black belt like Big Country. I seriously think that our big four in the HW division dwindles down to 2 after this fight.

 

[jmt225]

I am also looking forward to watching Fitch fight. Fitch is one of my favorite fighters and really couldn't care less that he decisions his way to victories. Let's be real, Lay and Pray & Wall and Stall have become the new ways to win fights. Boring as they may be they're effective and prolong careers. Win by any means necessary. DHK looked boring as shit in his fight against Amir but it was effective. Same with Rashad and Rampage.

The problem with this philosophy is that sooner or later you will run into someone you cannot take down, and when that happens... you're in deep shit, which Fitch absolutely will be if he can't takedown Thiago Alves.

Listen, I HATE Josh Koscheck, but I respect the fact that he worked his ass off to incorporate striking into his game, so he can use it whenever he needs to. So, not only is he a great wrestler, where laying and praying will come in handy against someone like Paul Daley, but he will also be able to knock other wrestlers out who he can't take him down. That's very important.

There's absolutely no reason whatsoever to just master one aspect of the sport. Look at Jake Shields... not only is he a GREAT wrestler who can take people down at will, but on top of that he has TREMENDOUS Jiu-Jitsu. Why can't Fitch learn be more like Jake Shields? Why can't he learn how to pass someone's guard, get mount, and go for submissions? If he could learn how to take people down so well, then surely he could learn other stuff, couldn't he? It's just so pathetic if you ask me that he lays his way to victory in EVERY single fight, and man... I just hope Alves can stop that takedown, because if so... Fitch will be in for a rude awakening.

 

[ITurnGirlsGay]

I'm right there with you about Kos. I completely understand your logic behind it and would agree you 10 fold.

Consider this, though, LnP & WnS are effective now, it's the latest technique that fighters are using to win very boring decisions. This is antithetical, yet similar in approach, to old Sprawl and Brawl tactics that made Liddell appear unbeatable. But, just like everything in sports, once someone figures it out, the style becomes rendered ancient and obsolete. I think that this, too, will be the case for LnP and WnS. It's just got to run its course, but like or not, it's here for a while. Fitch being unable to advance position and work for submission just helps this tactic become part of the "ancient and outdated" sooner rather than later. So, for that, I'm all for Fitch not improving.

 

[X]

Wow, pretty damn good looking card here, I'm definitely excited to see just about every fight on the main card. First off I'm hoping Roy Nelson get's his fucking face destroyed, because I just cannot stand that fat punk and I'd love nothing more than to see him lose, fight is going to be a sloppy standup war I'm thinking.

Matt Hughes vs. Ricardo Almeida has definitely got my interest piqued, Matt Hughes was one of the guys that first got me interested in MMA several years ago, so I'll be rooting for him here.

Glad to see Guida on the main card, the guy just seems to always have exciting fights, no matter what the outcome is.

Main event looks great though, and I'm extra amped up for the fight just because of all the hilarious quotes from Chael Sonnen that Guy has been posting and quoting. I have all the respect in the world for Silva for what he's accomplished in the sport, but he's yet another guy that's always struck me as a bit of a dick. Here's to hoping Sonnen gets the win there as well.

Hopefully Silva-Boetsch makes the Spike prelims as well, definitely interested to see that fight as well. UFC just keeps delivering one solid card after another, it's really astounding how consistent the company has been for the last year or so.

 

[Fizzy]

Well this has turned out to look like one of the best cards in a while even if it features my three most hated fighters.

In the main event we have my favorite fighter right now in Anderson Silva fighting someone who has become one of my least favorites in Chael Sonnen. Sonnen has talked a lot of shit which is normal for a fight in order to hype it up, but he has said some stuff that is just completely stupid. Seriously some of the shit he says makes me wonder if he actually believes it or he says to to enjoy his 15 minutes of fame. I fully expect Anderson to win this fight. If Sonnen doesn't get the takedown on his first try in every round Anderson will eat him alive. Even if Chael gets him down Anderson is very good at triangles, and is a BJJ Blackbelt so Chael has that to worry about as well. Should be great to see how Anderson decides to end this fight.

Fitch vs Alves can go either way. We have no idea how Alves will be after his surgery and injuries, but it should be a good fight. Alves is a very strong WW. He can stuff takedowns from the best, and can get up from under even the best wrestlers. He has much better standup than Fitch, and I believe he will take the fight. Only way I see him losing is if he isn't 100% and can't stop Fitch's takedowns but other than that I see him winning.

Now as much as I hate the other two they don't even come remotely close to how much I hate Matt Hughes. God I fucking hate that twat with a passion. I don't know much about his opponent except that he has good BJJ, and his BJJ school is very close to where I live. That being said I hope Almeida grabs an arm, or a leg, or a RNC or anything and doesn't let go. I want him to hurt Hughes badly. Now what I want to happen is different from what will happen. Hughes will win by taking him down, and GNPing him.

Dos Santos better win in this fight. Now I used to hate Nelson, but since his last fight I have grown to like him. He has very good BJJ, knockout power, and is a big guy. If he takes Dos Santos down and stays on top of him I think he could actually win. Even though Dos Santos has a blackbelt I think Roy's sub defense is too good, and it will neutralize Dos Santos's sub game. If it stays standing though I think Dos Santos's boxing proves to be to good, and he knocks Roy out. Should be very interesting to see how this fight goes, considering the winner is the #1 contender.

All in all a very good show, and we should have some very flashy vicious endings to some of the fights. Either the Brazilians' take over the show, or the American wrestlers do.

 

[ITurnGirlsGay]

Sonnen has fired off on Anderson Silva once again.

"I'm here because I beat up everybody who got in my way. I beat every champion there's ever been except one and I've stuck my finger in his chest for four years and he wouldn't fight me. He fought a one-legged Canadian, a math teacher from Ohio and a bunch of guys who weren't even good enough to hold their spot in the company. His running is done, his 15 minutes of fame are up and I'm gonna bring it to an abrupt halt. Anderson Silva's hurt a lot of people. A couple of those guys are my friends -- and I don't have a lot of friends. That bothers me a lot. It's a payback thing, absolutely. Let's get rid of this guy. Anderson Silva's really the nuisance, he's truly the problem, we've all had it with him. There's one guy that wants to fight him and there's one guy with the skills to beat him."

http://www.mmamania.com/2010/7/12/1565773/chael-sonnen-weve-all-had-it-with


Sonnen had BETTER win this fight for all the trash he is talking. He's gonna look like the biggest gomer ever if he gets KTFO.

 

[jmt225]

I used to think the same thing ITGG, but at the end of the day... Chael Sonnen is just hyping up the fight. I'm sure he's confident that he can beat Silva, but the attacks on Silva are nothing more than him just trying to make sure people order the show. If he loses, he loses. He'll still be one of the top 10 best Middleweights in the World, and I'm sure he'll still be a major shit talker.

Anyways, the point is... hyping up the fight is just as important as the fight itself sometimes, especially with someone like Anderson Silva, who needs an opponent right now more than ever that will get people interested in his fights because of the Maia debacle. And Chael Sonnen's doing a great job of making that happen.

 

[ITurnGirlsGay]

The only comments I've had a major problem with were the "crucify you" statement to Ed Soares. That comment was completely xenophobic and unacceptable to me. Especially from a man who is running for a seat to represent his state. Calling a Brazilians a "savage tribe of piglet warriors" isn't someone I'd want EVER representing me or my country. I Before that, I didn't have a problem with him.

 

[Minor League Brian]

Well, he's also a Homophobe so its not like he's moving to far out of the box on that one.

Thinking about it, I wouldn't doubt Sonnen is just doing this to HELP Silva. He knows he's going to get beat so Dana asked him to hype the fight up, make people interested in Silva again. That way if, and when, Silva goes out their and lays the unholy smackdown on Sonnen he'll be "Back". If he doesn't and fucks around like he's done in his last few fights, he'll be cut and that'll be the end of it.

 

[Rizza]

On paper this looks like a great card, but really with all the dominate wrestlers on the main card this might be a LNP fest. Did anyone else notice that the whole damn card almost seems like USA vs Brazil. It be Kinda cool if all the Americans weren't so damn unlikable minus Guida who I really am not the biggest fan of, and Boetsch while I like him for his David Heath beat down, he is facing someone I am a very big fan of in Thiago Silva. Anyways, on to the fights...

As for Sonnen and Silva. I dont care one bit who wins. If Anderson KO's the shit of Sonnen, then great, the guy who ran his mouth about the Nogs got what was coming to him. Of Anderson gets grinded out for a decison. Then the guy who put the beat downs on four of my favorites in Griffen, Cote, Franklin and Maia finally got bested. I am just hoping for one hell of a fight.

I also don't care about who wins between Fitch and Alves either, I am not a fan of Fitch, I am not really a fan of Alves. So again, I hope that it is a war. Thats grasping for straws though. It will only be a war if Alves can sprawl enough to make it one. Because lord knows Fitch doesn't want a war.

LOL, I know I said I didn't care about who wins the other two, and Guida/Dos Anjos kinds of follows suit. However, I am more excited to watch this one. Even though Guida only comes in with one game plan, to take the guy down, and lay in guard for a while. Then people go ape shit about how he is exciting because when ever he can't take the guy down, he has really no stand up to work with, so he is pretty forced to throw bombs and brawl. Not knocking Guida, I like watching his fights as much as the next guy, I just find that interesting. As for Dos Anjos. I really liked his fight with Stephens and Etim, but I am still not sold on him yet, besides Etim, he has only beat Rob Emerson, and Kyle Bradley, not exactly impressive.

I hope Almeida beats Matt Hughes. I am not a Hughes hater, I actally kind of like the guy, but I like Almeida alot more. Man, I don't know if Ricardo will be able to finish him, but at this point in their careers I could see Almeida out working him to a decision. I think that a lot of people could disagree with that, but no one seen Shields dominating Hendo either. Anything can happen.

JDS is awesome, and I hate Roy Nelson. So I hope JDS gives Roy a knock out so brutal, that everyone of us will flip our shit. If Roy gets top control then JDS will have big problems,but I dont think thats going to happen, I think JDS will utilize the distance, avoid the clinch(the only place Roy can really get a takedown from) and pick his shots. JDS by KO.

What the fuck is Thiago Silva doing on the under card? The dude is top then LHW, last fight was a main event, the two before that Co main events. Any ways I am pretty sure Thiago will have this one, I am a big Thiago fan, and I am more then confident in his striking compared to Beotsch's. Hopefully Thiago will walk away with the W in this one.

I also am a very big fan of Stefan Struve and I hope he gets a nice rebound win. That big KO from Nelson was brutal. He needs this win real bad.

Also. If Johnny Hendricks wins, they need to put is ass on the main card. He stopped Amir Sodallah in his UFC debut. He has dominated every one since then. He is 8 and 0, and he will be 9 and 0 if he wins at 117. That will be four straight. He deserves his spot, he has earned it.

 

[Toxs]

I'm sure everyone knows by now Chael's biggest shot at winning the belt is by decision. I'd rather see Silva win just to see how he'd do againt Vitor if they decide to make that fight happen.

Hope Fitch wins this, he's tough and I don't see Alves being able to stop his takedowns.

How JDS does against Roy I think will tell us how he'd be able to handle a wrestler of Lesnar's, Cain's, & Carwin's calibur. If he has a hard time stopping Big Roy I don't see how he'll be able to stop any of those 3.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

So, Stanislav Nedkov is out due to injury, and Phil Davis has replaced him to fight Rodney "Sho 'Nuff The Master" Wallace on the prelims.

Really bad draw for Wallace here, as Davis is just as big a prospect as any in the light-heavyweight division, and is poised for superstardom. So rather than this being a fight to see if Rodney Wallace could beat a marginal fighter to see if he could prove his worth, he is now basically fodder for Phil Davis as they'll move him to bigger and better things with a win here. Wallace is facing getting cut as he's gone 0-2 so far in the UFC.

So long to the most awesome nickname in MMA

 

[JohnnyDrama]

i cant wait for this card mostly to see silva dominate sonnen. IMO Chael is scared thats why he's talking so much shit, he knows he cant beat him, he's really throwing gas on the fire. i mean yeah he's hyping up the fight BIG TIME but i know that silva will mop the floor with him. i remember watching a interview with forrest griffin before about his 1st pro fight against dan severn, i think he said like after the first round he knew he couldnt beat severn so he insulted him for the rest of the fight lol thats exactly what i see chael doing.

the other fight on this card i cant wait to see is roy nelson vs JDS it can go either way roy has some KO power standing up and so does JDS, i havnt seen any ground game from JDS yet, so ill be pulling for Roy in this fight. i know this wont go to the judges.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Thiago Silva is out of UFC 117 with an injury and newcomer Todd Brown will replace him to fight Tim Boetsch.

This sucks for Silva, but at the same time, it's probably a good thing. He's still a top 10 light-heavyweight from my point of view and a fight vs. Tim Boetsch really wouldn't have been the best move for him. If he won, the reaction would have been complete indifference because Boetsch has been out of the UFC for a year now. If he lost, his stock would have dropped. He deserves to be fighting talent on his level on the main cards of events. He main evented his last PPV. He never should have been fighting Boetsch on the prelims in the first place, especially when the fight with Rashad should have been a 28-28 draw.

This is great for Boetsch though, where he's got a better shot of winning at the very least and extending his stay in the UFC, where against Thiago, he would have been cannon fodder for his highlight reel. I've always liked Tim Boetsch since that KO of David Heath where he just threw him into the cage and beat the crap out of him. He was unjustly cut from the UFC during his last stay, getting cut with a 2-2 record. Hopefully he'll be able to extend his stay this time.

 

[Via Armbar]

Agree with Guy. Not such a bad thing for Thiago because it's basically the same situation fighters were in when paired with Machida. It's a risky situation with little reward. I definitely don't like fighters ducking fights, but I can sometimes see where they are coming from. Now Boetsch isn't a slouch, but he's clearly no Machida either. I firmly believe that Thiago would have taken this sometime in the first by tko. Even with the win, he doesn't move up anywhere. He awaits another mediocre fighter honestly and then maybe he'd get a name. If he loses, he drops out of the top ten probably. Not a great situation for Silva.

I would book him against the loser of Jones/Matyushenko. The time periods match up and it would be a credible win for either man.

 

[INDYjon22]

Solid card. Should be a good night of fights for the most part.

Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen. The hype has been great for this fight. Sonnen has made a fan of sorts of his over the last couple months in the lead up for this fight. However, as much as I hope he wins I don't think he will. Anderson is just so damn good and I think Sonnen has pissed Silva off enough that we will see the old Anderson Silva. I don't think this fight will got the distance.

Jon Fitch is my favorite current UFC fighter and he is fighting one of my least favorite fighters in Thiago Alves. Rumor has it that the winner of this fight will be next in line for GSP. Well I call bullshit. Jon Fitch has fought some tough guys and is indeed working his way to another title shot, with a win over Thiago Alves then I believe he should get a shot at the belt or at least a fight with Jake Shields. However, Thiago Alves has no business being in or around a title fight right now. He hasn't fought since he got destroyed by GSP and was over weight for this fight with Fitch. It would be a disgrace if he defeated Fitch while being overweight and then got a title shot.

Guida is exciting to watch and I don't care for Dos Anjos all that much. Guida should provide for a very fun fight.

Hughes vs. Almeida will be interesting. I used to be a huge Hughes fan but no longer am and I think Almeida is a very good talent. The cut to 185 was a brilliant move for him. However, I feel as though Hughes should take this fight. Hughes is a great wrestler and is solid on his feet and on the ground. I think he will be able to avoid Almeida's gam while implementing his.

And in probably my most anticipated fight, Junior Dos Santos vs. Roy Nelson. Both men can punch, really fucking hard, and have good ground games, people keep claiming JDS doesn't have one but if he trains with the Nogueira's then he sure as fuck does. This fight shouldn't go to decision, in fact I would be a little surprised if it lasted one round. Somebody is getting knocked the fuck out and I put my money on JDS knocking Nelson out. I can't wait for this fight.

 

[jmt225]

This goes down as the third best show of the year in my book. Great, great show.

Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen, I mean, what can you say? I didn't give Chael much of a chance, but man... he showed last night that he certainly is the #2 Middleweight in the World at this point in time. And he was only 2 minutes away from showing everyone that he was the #1 Middleweight in the World. What a performance. Not only did he take Anderson down and control him for 4 and a half straight rounds, but he also won the battle on the feet. Who saw that coming? I sure as shit didn't. With the exception of the beginning of Round 4, Chael won every single exchange between the two. It was unbelievable.

All that said, as great as Chael Sonnen was, you still have to give a ton of credit to Anderson Silva as well. The fact of the matter is that man took a beating for 23 minutes straight, and hung in there the entire time, to pull off one of the greatest comebacks in MMA history. You can say it was luck or that Chael handed it to him... but that's bullshit. Anderson worked and worked, and finally went for the Triangle and he got it. He deserved to win last night; that's the bottom line.

And as far as Anderson's rib injury, I personally believe him. You watch the end of Round 1 and you can see him telling his corner his ribs are hurting. So I do think that affected his performance (especially on the feet), but regardless I take absolutely nothing away from Chael Sonnen. Injured rib or not, Anderson's still one of the best in the World, and Chael took it to him more than any Middleweight ever could have.

But yeah... props to both men. They were awesome. I certainly can't wait for the rematch, if it does indeed go down.

Now, as far as the rest of the card...

Typical Jon Fitch win. Nothing surprising. It looks like he's now in line for a WW Title match, but fuck I pray that doesn't happen. Here's hoping Shields can make fast work of Kampmann and show the World he's the one deserving to fight GSP next after GSP kills Koscheck. Then Fitch, after one more wib (who I would book against Matt Hughes), could get his shot at either Shields or GSP.

Speaking of Matt Hughes... he looked better than ever. Ricardo Almeida is no joke, and Hughes made easy work of him. I was very, very impressed. Hughes now plans on taking the fall off and then returning early next year.. like I said above, hopefully his return bout will be against Jon Fitch. I really, really want to see that fight for some reason.

Clay Guida had the 2nd best comeback of the night, which is awesome since he is awesome. I easily gave the first two rounds Rafael dos Anjos, but Clay hung in there, kept fighting and he got the win. Not the best way to win a fight, but a win's a win, and it's always great to see a guy like Guida get a win.

Junior dos Santos showed the World last night how good he is, and Roy Nelson showed the World how tough he is. Both men came off looking great. Sure, JDS was the superior fighter, but Nelson... shit, man, not many people could have taking a beating like that and make it through all three rounds. Very, very impressive.

The night belonged to JDS though. That dude is forreal. I was much more impressed with his performance last night than ANY of Cain and Carwin's wins. I certainly look forward to dos Santos receiving his shot at the Heavyweight Championship. It will be well deserved.

And Stefan Struve looked great last night as well. He's always been full of potential, and last night was the first step to him living up to it.

Overall, great night, with a finish I'll never forget. Definitely a tremendous showing for the UFC, and MMA as a whole.

 

[INDYjon22]

Awesome card from what I have seen and read so far. I will most definitely be buying this PPV alongside 116 when they become available on DVD.

Sonnen was a fucking warrior and looked fantastic. He truly should have won the fight last night but he got sloppy. I give Anderson a ton of credit for enduring that beating and pulling off the biggest comeback in UFC history. That triangle was sick and executed to perfection. My hat is off to both men and I can't wait to see the rematch whenever it is.

I am so happy Jon Fitch won last night. I can't stand Thiago Alves at all and am so happy Fitch beat him. What shit would it have been if Alves would have defeated Fitch while being overweight and then got another title fight. Luckily, we will not have to endure that. I love the first Fitch/GSP fight and am very excited for the rematch. Great job by my hometown boy.

Matt Hughes looked great. Almeida is very good and Hughes made him look bad. I still can't believe he choked him out.

Very glad Guida pulled off the win. I am not a big fan of Dos Anjos but I will be very interested to see what happens to both men next.

Junior Dos Santos is probably my favorite Heavyweight in the UFC right now and I am so happy he has finally earned his title fight. I honestly believe he can give Brock a better fight then both Carwin and Cain. Hopefully, we can get JDS a title fight before the end of the year but that is just wishful thinking.

Also, like JMT, I am so happy Struve won last night. Big fan of him as well and it is nice to see him using all his potential. I hope he can keep it up and get himself a title fight before to long.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Just a GREAT card last night... it was a great card on paper, and it delivered in execution, which is rare for great cards on paper.

We all know how much of a fanboy I've become for Chael Sonnen over the past year. I bought in. I thought he was very impressive in the Okami fight, and Marquardt fight at UFC 109 sold me. In that fight, he proved just how deadly he is with his takedowns and working his ground and pound. He also showed a very much improved submission defense, when Marquardt locked him in deep Guillotines and Kimuras, and he got out each time. He took a beating, but he kept working it, and he kept coming at Nate.

At that point, I thought he had what it took to beat Silva. Silva's takedown defense is very suspect, and I thought that there was a good possibility that he'd do exactly what he did for four and a half rounds last night. I was marking out throughout that entire fight, with every takedown, every time he got on top of Silva, and even his standup, in which he rocked Silva a couple of times. With that situation where Silva caught his leg at the beginning and somersaulted out of it, that was an exceptionally awesome moment in the fight and to me, that's when I knew shit was real. One of the things Silva has done early in his fights with great success was grab the leg when his opponents went for a kick (Irvin, Griffin), hold it, and then smash his opponent in his face. Chael trained specifically for that, and it worked.

I was so blown away that Chael was proving everyone wrong, and for four and a half rounds, he was cruising to victory... until he decided to get careless and start trying to finish Silva. There's also the fact that he just has very poor submission awareness. Silva was setting up that triangle for the longest time, and he just didn't prevent him from doing so, and that was his downfall. I don't think anyone can take anything away from Chael Sonnen, and I want to see a rematch so badly. You can refer to the thread I made for discussion on that.

I was surprised that a lot of the MMA Journalists and Experts (lol) picked Thiago Alves to beat Jon Fitch. Fitch is pretty much the second best Welterweight and Thiago Alves was coming off an over a year-long layoff, where once again, he had difficulty with the weight cut. I think there's only been two occasions where he actually hit 170 in the nose. I knew we'd get typical Fitch, and that's exactly what we got. Alves just can't defend takedowns. I'm not looking forward to a potential GSP/Fitch II matchup. It's just going to be 5 rounds of Fitch being GSP's punching bag again.

As far as Thiago Alves goes, Dana wants him at 185, because he just can't cut to 170 without difficulty. It should be interesting to see how that situation plays out.

Guida/Dos Anjos was a really decent Lightweight fight, and Guida once again shows that he's the perfect gatekeeper at 155. He's tough as nails, and he broke Dos Anjos' jaw. That *pop* at the end of the fight... good god.

Another great performance by Junior Dos Santos last night. He's got some incredible takedown defense, but my question is whether or not he can defend the world-class takedowns that his next opponent, the winner of Cain Velasquez and Brock Lesnar, are going to shoot on him. He also needs to start getting more versatile with his gameplan, because he can only do so much in the standup. He still hasn't been truly tested on the ground, and I'm sure Velasquez or Lesnar will be testing him there.

Finally, I love watching Stefan Struve fight, and last night of course brought the typical hilarity that goes into watching his fights. I still want to see some kickboxing out of him. Either way, a great come from behind performance, and I think Morecraft has a decent future in the UFC. I think he could absolutely beat someone like Todd Duffee, and other B-level heavyweights.

 

[ITurnGirlsGay]

As far as Thiago Alves goes, Dana wants him at 185, because he just can't cut to 170 without difficulty. It should be interesting to see how that situation plays out.

Guida/Dos Anjos was a really decent Lightweight fight, and Guida once again shows that he's the perfect gatekeeper at 155. He's tough as nails, and he broke Dos Anjos' jaw. That *pop* at the end of the fight... good god.

Another great performance by Junior Dos Santos last night. He's got some incredible takedown defense, but my question is whether or not he can defend the world-class takedowns that his next opponent, the winner of Cain Velasquez and Brock Lesnar, are going to shoot on him. He also needs to start getting more versatile with his gameplan, because he can only do so much in the standup. He still hasn't been truly tested on the ground, and I'm sure Velasquez or Lesnar will be testing him there.

Finally, I love watching Stefan Struve fight, and last night of course brought the typical hilarity that goes into watching his fights. I still want to see some kickboxing out of him. Either way, a great come from behind performance, and I think Morecraft has a decent future in the UFC. I think he could absolutely beat someone like Todd Duffee, and other B-level heavyweights.

Alves is the prototypical Brazilian Muay Thai expert. Absolutely NO ground game. This is the funny part. These Muay Thai experts all have BJJ black belts, but you'd be hard pressed to learn what style of BJJ they are good at, though. Sometimes I seriously wonder if they just give every Brazilian a black belt. These Muay Thai practitioners with BJJ black belts look like a fish out of water on the ground. I only have a purple belt, but I'm more comfortable on the ground than them.


Also, we learned NOTHING about JDS. I will say this, though, when he and Roy barreled into the cage and JDS didn't go down, I was impressed. He does look pretty one dimensional for a HW title challenger, though. But that one dimension is pretty fucking sick. I'd love to see JDS throw more kicks. The kicks he threw were devastating. He could totally be the HW Aldo. I truly believe he has the kicks and knees to do so, he just doesn't throw them.

Morecraft will be fine in the UFC. I actually put money on him before the Struve fight because I've seen him fight several times before. He was just overzealous. Probably because it was his first UFC fight and he REALLY wanted the W. The smart fighter probably wouldn't have done what he did.

 

[X]

Just finished watching the main event and the prelims, great show from what I've seen thus far, UFC has really been on a roll this year and just keep having consistently entertaining show, one after the other.

Another excellent main event here as was the Sonnen-Silva fight is one that'll go down in the books for ages, and as bummed as I am that Sonnen couldn't defeat Silva, the entire world has to have a newfound respect for the guy as he came in and did exactly what he promised, he made Silva look foolish for the first round or so and I thought the fight would surely have been in his favor had they gone the full five rounds, but unfortunately Silva caught him in a triangle and it was all over, damn shame but it's a testament to Silva's unbelievable talent as a fighter as even when he appears lazy and unmotivated in a fight he's still incredibly dangerous.

Still watching the undercard right now but man, just had to comment on the main event, awesome stuff.