UFC 117 offered several lessons in perseverance, respect and humility as UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva successfully defended his title for the seventh consecutive time while scoring his eleventh straight UFC win. Challenger Chael Sonnen proved to be a man of his word, though, as he dished out severe physical punishment until the very end, just like he had promised in his pre-fight trash talks.
In fact, Sonnen completely overwhelmed and dominated Silva during four and a half rounds leaving little to no hope for the champion to score a decision win if the bout had gone to the score cards. Silva showed amazing resilience in spite of being peppered with 279 strikes and spending almost the entire fight defending on his back.
With barely two minutes left on the clock Silva also showed that he has not only the heart of a true champion but also the required skills as he suddenly locked Sonnen into an air-tight triangle choke that left him no means of escape and forced him to tap out at 3:10 in round five. Silva's surprising come-from-way-behind win earned him the Fight of the Night as well as the Submission of the Night honors along with a $120,000-bonus.
Sonnen's valiant efforts were also rewarded with a $60,000-Fight-of-the-Night bonus.
The bout seemed to have a major impact on both fighters who behaved like changed men afterward. As Silva came dangerously close to being dethroned by Sonnen he expressed respect and humility towards his opponent after the fight for the first time in his professional MMA career. Sonnen also stopped his trash-talking and gave credit were credit was due in spite of his obvious disappointment: "It was a tough fight, he's a tough guy," said Sonnen. "I came in second. Not much I can say. I had the opportunity, came up short."
As the infamous Bruce Lee said: "To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person."
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Comments
Couldn't have said it better myself (although I'm gonna try)
LOL. Thanks, Brian. Go for it. :-) Send me the link when you are done.
i disagree w/ the comment about Silva showing respect and humility after his fight for the 1st time...thats just an outright lie...
wow.. you are hot.. can i teach you the art of Kama Sutra?
What makes you say that, Tom?
Don't ignore me Astrid, in my assessment: Brazilian fighters carry on the Asian Custom of showing respect for their opponents. This is what i notice differs between Brazilian fighters and American fighters. i.e. Brock Lesnar.. this guy has no clue what "humility" means.
Anderson Silva is the best fighter/champion... we call him "The Black Bruce Lee".
its cool when hot girls now what they are talking about
Sadly, I don't think any "pound for pound best" fighter should get the snot kicked out of him for 4.5 rounds by a guy with 10 losses...that weight class is in shambles. Silva hasn't had good competition in forever. An aged Hendo, and a never-should-have-been Franklin have been his only semi-respectable opponents. The rest are hand picked match-ups arranged for the sole purpose of Silva's long arms kiting his much lesser equipped foes. I really want to see the best fight the best...and since Silva has been here--he hasn't. IMVHO, of course.
If you read, you'll know that Silva was injured while training 2 weeks ago. His doctor advised against fighting, but he went ahead. I have been following Silva since his days at Pride, and i can tell something was not right. Silva has the stamina of a bull, he has gone 5 rounds multiple times, and has fought some of the toughest Jiu-Jitsu fighters in the past. If there is ever a rematch, you will see Silva fight uninjured and with all his stamina.
RudeBoySes, I am not ignoring you. LOL. This is not exactly like instant messenger. I do appreciate your comments though and agree about the respect you mentioned. Human behavior is always tied to cultural perception so I can understand that not everyone will interpret Silva's post-fight behavior the same way I did. The 'black Bruce Lee' is a very big compliment. But as much as I respect Silva's skills I don't necessarily think he is on the same level as Bruce Lee yet. Especially in consideration of his behavior at at UFC 90, UFC 97, UFC 101 and UFC 112.
Thank you for your vote of confidence, Dave. :-)
Jefe,
fighting is all about the will to win. Being able to pull off the win AFTER being dominated like that is the true mark of a champion because you need more strength to overcome then to overpower. I am also referring to mental strength of course.
i.e. Silva's injury was a broken rib. With a broken rib, it obstructs your breathing. (remember Penn vs. Hughes.. Penn dominated Hughes up until the 2nd round, after Penn broke his ribs, he could not longer breathe, and eventually was submitted by Hughes)
woo hoo.. i have been acknowledged by a Hot Chic :) Made my day ! The reason we call Anderson Silva "The Black Bruce Lee" is because of his instructional DVDs he has recently put out titled: "MMA: The Ultimate Instructional Set". In this DVD set, he explains/shows some of his technique. In this DVD set, he is sooo smooth, it looks like he is dancing. Bruce Lee's motto: move like water; which Anderson definitely does. You should get this DVD set, in particular: "MMA - The Ultimate Instructional Set: Boxing for MMA by Anderson Silva", and you will see why he has been labeled "The Black Bruce Lee". P.S. @ Astrid.. You are absolutely drop-dead gorgeous, and don't let any dirtbag tell you otherwise.
Thank you very much, RudeBoySes. I really appreciate the info as well as the comment. Will definitely get my hands on that DVD set by Silva. As much as I can agree with you on the points you made I have to admit that skills are no substitute for character. Silva might have learned a valuable lesson last night, but in the past he was very disrespectful to opponents. Aside from that, I do believe that his talent is truly amazing.
Chael Sonnen is a bum. All that smack that was talking and he couldn't back it up. Just as I expected
That is an out right lie..Thats not the first time silva showed respect to an opponent. Biases statement I see through miss astrid or whatever. yea it's nice to see a female with any bit of mma knowledge.But Remember how he treated rich fanlkin after both of those bouts?(not that rich was the only one by any means) But lets not continue to try and paint the champion as though he was beat and scence was majically knocked into him like cheal saved him ..NO His hurt ribs saved sonnen...the problem is when folks have been watching this sport for a year and a half and want to get on a blog and kick knowledge..dont talk down on ANy fighter, if your a true fan of the sport u wont..Sayin things like"I hate anderson becasue hes a counter stricker" "He just wants the opponent to engage so he can..." man shut up.. Geez I dont like Cheal but im not going to say anything derogatory about him like i have met the man and he wronged me..STop letting other peoples views program your own thoughts please
Andrerson Silva is the best pound for pound fighter in the world.Vitor Belfort will be no match for the spiderman.did you see the fight Andrerson Silva 23 mins on his back taking all them shot (i mean ground and pound) he took the lot and then in a flash it over. what a fighter he is.7 UFC title defenses in a row and 11th straight victory he is the best pound for pound fighter. cant wait for the next fight night.
@Yea, if you're a true fan of the sport, at least be respectful of the fighters by spelling their name correctly.
Silva is still King and thats what I expected. If you talk alot of s*** you most likely will loose and you deserve to loose.
What really bothers me is a bunch of DRUNKEN REDNECKS shouting USA!USA!USA! they don't have class. Please respect the sports and quit shouting about a country because this isn't the Olympics.
What really bothers me is a bunch of DRUNKEN REDNECKS shouting USA!USA!USA! they don't have class. Please respect the sports and quit shouting about a country because this isn't the Olympics.
Yea,
I'm sorry you take offense with my article, but the quotes you are responding to are not mine. In fact, they are not even part of this article or anything I have ever written.
The 'lie' you are referring to is simply my perception. Of course, you are free to disagree. But I honestly don't see how that would give you any indication about my knowledge of MMA.
Last but not least, you can rest assured that NO ONE is programming my thoughts. Not even you. :-)
If chael sonnen could do this to silva, how much more if gsp was on top of silva...done deal...silva is good, but gsp has the highest chance of beating him...
Bruce Lee was NOT infamous. The word 'infamous" suggests someone well known for their bad reputation...Hitler was infamous. Bruce Lee was and still is a legend, he was "famous".Make sure you know the damn meaning of the word before you write it.
lol all of you people are wezzy... you hate on a guy because of his greatness... maybe because you so in tune with all these fighters that if they blink you know about it... wtf man get a life and start agreeing with eachother instead of being disrespectful to a fighter or eachother... If Silva saw this blog i bet he would shoot himself from all the incorrect info and remarks made...
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