Wow Anderson Silva (spoiler!)
 

At the opening bell I didn't think he was himself.
Anyone else know more about his rib injury?
But... what a champ!!!!
He didn't get cut, and he waited for his opening...

So.... he won?

It was a bizzare fight for sure... Sonnen dominating the positioning for the entire fight, but it didn't seem to me like he was doing much actual damage with the blows he was landing. Silva looked great on his feet at the start of every round, Sonnen looked tired. Five rounds of abuse, Sonnen didn't look anywhere close to scoring a knock out.

In the post-fight presser, Sonnen looked beat up... Silva looked fine.

Silva took more shots in that fight than he had in all his previous UFC fights combined. Sonnen definitely controlled the pace of the fight, but just couldn't do enough damage to finish it...and then made one mistake with half a round left.

That was bullshit, granted he won, but he shouldn't have. That was a half-ass tap that was clearly unintentional. Silva should've lost.

Sonnen acknowledged that he intentionally tapped in the post-fight presser, and was very graceful in defeat. He clearly understood that he lost.

I know that he was "very graceful" in defeat, but he shouldn't have been, he should've won that match, Silva didn't control a single minute of that match.

Shoulda woulda coulda.

Silva isn't my first pick to drink a beer with, but he's still a badass.

If the match wasn't won by decision, then it doesn't matter who controlled anything. How much money did you lose?

None, in fact I was kinda rooting for Silva coming in, but he lost that match until about 6 seconds before the end... he doesn't deserve that belt after that fight.

Wrong. Silva won. Did you see the other fights on the card? The one with mr 6'11 who got asswhupped til he ko'd the other guy in round 2? WINNING IS EVERYTHING!!!! RARR

Personally... I think that Silva was sandbagging. I think that him and Dana probably had a one on one where Dana was like, put on a fight worth watching mmkay and make it last more than one round. That plus he was doing the whole I represent BJJ thing. How many times have you seen Silva come out wearing a gi? I think that he just dicked around for 20 minutes putting on a show by demonstrating fine facial absorption skills and then came round 5, and he was like, fuck you chael, I'm going to choke you, and break your arm. I mean, how many submission attempts were there? Only two by Silva for the whole fight.

If that shit was all "real" though, there was a big difference between chael and others Silva has fought recently-- he charged on in, instead of hesitating and dicking around. Also, he stayed -inside- of Silva's range, which is why and how he was able to hit Silva. Typically, Silva uses range super effectively and in this fight, he did not.

If there is a rematch, then I predict we will see Silva do some real fighting and knock stupid ol chael the fuck out in the first 3 minutes.

To add to that argument, I'll suggest that Seagal is not just training with Silva, but is consulting as well. Silva just acted out the final fight of every fight movie ever created...hero faces unexpectedly strong opponent, gets pummelled, nears the point of completely losing/getting knocked out/getting killed/being embarrassed, and then as time is running out, gathers himself for one final last ditch effort to pull out the victory.

Yah that is some surreal shit. Seagal. WTF??? I mean unorthodox fighting can really be a literal secret weapon but Seagal?????

I suppose Silva just wanted to learn whatever he might have thought was useful from Seagal. The dude *is* a real 7th dan Aikido black belt.

Seagal is a weird guy. Cheesy movies, terrible "musician", crackpot spiritualist, massive ego, and is totally not in on the joke. On the other hand, he's an incredibly accomplished martial artist, a highly skilled pistol marksman, and a verifiable badass.

Seagal at Silva's camp:

From what I've always heard, no one fights 100% and pretty much every fighter is hurt (during training) going into the ring.

OP, this is the second time you've spoiled the UFC for me. You gave it away just from the title. Can you just put "UFC 117 Spoiler" next time?

That bullshit explains a lot. Some of those techniques are semi-valid but in general, not really in the context of an MMA fight. I doubt that Seagal has been in a sportfight or a real fight for many many many years. Having practiced aikido myself, the only practicality credit I would grant it is for kinesthetic awareness, footwork, and positioning. There's a reason why you'll never see a wristlock submission in MMA. One it's technical to execute, two people resist, and three, adrenaline nullifies a lot. blah blah balh.

I liked some of the other fights on the card a lot better...but good wins all around.

Nelson got his ass handed to him, and I enjoyed watching Dos Santos. The guy never looks like he's getting tired.

Hughes quick submission was amazing in a match that looked like it wasn't going his way for a minute there. Like the Silva fight, sometimes momentum doesn't matter, just who's still standing at the end...

That boring Alves/Fitch wrestling match made me feel a little gay just watching. WTF...get some licks in.

Bas Rutten poo-poo'ed Aikido for MMA.
I'm guessing there would be a couple of techniques that Silva would think to be useful.

kenzo42, you didn't know Silva was in UFC 117? I remembered to put "spoiler" in the title.