UFC 117, Arteta signs new deal

The surprises have been coming thick and fast in MMA throughout 2010, and last night the main event of UFC 117: Silva vs. Sonnen came within half a round of topping the lot.

Outspoken All-American wrestler Chael Sonnen made good on almost every threat he made towards Anderson Silva during the protracted build-up to last night’s middleweight title bout, except the most important of all: that he would take the champion’s belt.

Sonnen used his elite wrestling and suffocating top-control to keep ‘The Spider’ on his back for the majority of all four and a half rounds, only for Silva to prevent one of the biggest upsets in UFC history by submitting the challenger with a triangle choke at 3:10 of the fifth and final round. Sonnen had dominated virtually every minute of the fight up until that point, even getting the better of Silva in stand up exchanges on several occasions, but once again the Oregon-native’s poor submission defence cost him at the death.

From the opening bell Sonnen took the fight to Silva; boldly refusing to show any respect for the champion’s vaunted muay-thai skills as he searched for takedowns. Sonnen displayed solid striking himself as he rocked Silva with a straight-left hand, with which he became the first man to visibly hurt Silva during his UFC run.

Much of Sonnen’s pre-fight rhetoric centred around forcing Silva to leave his comfort zone and engage from bell to bell, and that was certainly the case as he got in the champion’s face from the opening seconds of each round, refusing him the opportunity to feel his way into the bout or gauge striking distance.

Despite appearing to have absorbed far more damage than Silva after leaving the Octagon, Sonnen managed to land 298 strikes during the 23 minutes and 10 seconds of the fight – an MMA record. Silva dropped Sonnen with a hard elbow and looked to mount early in the fourth, but even then the Team Quest wrestler was able to demonstrate his superior grappling by reversing position and again riding out the round on top.

The moment Silva lost his footing at the start of the fifth round and again allowed Sonnen to pin his back to the mat, it seemed all hope was lost for the widely-regarded pound-for-pound king. Sonnen continued to rain down punches on his battered foe, apparently unconcerned with the position which Silva was working his legs into.

Having secured wrist-control and shifted his long legs up towards Sonnen’s shoulders, Anderson Silva slapped on a triangle followed by an armbar to coax a submission out of the no.1 contender at 3:10 of round five. Initially there was some debate over whether or not Sonnen had tapped, but replays showed that referee Josh Rosenthal had made the right call and Silva extended his record-breaking UFC run to 12-0.

In the wake of the fight Silva spoke of how a rib injury sustained in the week before UFC 117 affected his performance on the night, and given the champion’s nervous disposition upon entering the cage and complete lack of any takedown defence it isn’t difficult to believe him. ‘The Spider’ looked out of sorts from the opening bell and failed to demonstrate any of the glittering stand-up offence that has defined his dominance over the UFC’s 185lbs division.

Maybe Silva was injured, but it’s also entirely possible that a wrestling juggernaut like Sonnen could dominate the middle-weight champion even without bruised ribs. At 35 years old Anderson Silva could well be starting to slow down, and only a re-match will confirm whether or not Sonnen has the champion’s number.

If Silva vs. Sonnen taught us anything it’s that beating ‘The Spider’ takes three things: world-class wrestling, a willingness to fearlessly absorb strikes in search of takedowns, and, perhaps most importantly, a slice of good fortune. Chael Sonnen was all out of luck on Saturday night.

MMA websites and message boards are predictably filling up with talk of how Sonnen’s manhandling of Silva proves that the much-discussed super-fight between the middleweight champion and welterweight ruler Georges ‘Rush’ St-Pierre would follow the same pattern, only with GSP having the submission defence to finish the job. I disagree.

Regardless of whether Sonnen’s dominance was a result of injury or subpar takedown defence, of equal importance was the fact that he is an enormous middleweight who showed absolutely no respect for Silva’s knockout power. While I believe too much is made of GSP’s TKO loss to Matt Serra in terms of judging his chin, there’s no way he would be willing to recklessly storm into the pocket like Sonnen did. Add to that doubts over whether GSP, a natural at 170lbs, would have the size to ragdoll Silva at middleweight, and I don’t think there’s reason to suggest that St-Pierre is a sure bet to squash ‘The Spider’.

Elsewhere on the card John Fitch scored his second UFC win over Thiago ‘Pitbull’ Alves with a unanimous decision victory. Fitch shutdown the Brazilian muay-thai artist throughout the three rounds and cemented his position as the undisputed #2 welterweight in the world. It remains to be seen if Fitch will face the winner of GSP vs. Josh Koscheck in December for the 170lbs title, or if a no.1 contender match with whoever comes out on top between Jake Shields and Martin Kampmann is next for the American Kickboxing Academy standout.

One thing that is certain is that Junior Dos Santos will face the winner of Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez’s heavyweight title tilt in October. Dos Santos battered game veteran Roy Nelson for three solid rounds, showing outstanding boxing and takedown defence en route to a landslide decision victory over the durable ‘Ultimate Fighter’ champion.

Clay Guida re-established himself in the lightweight division with a submission victory over top prospect Rafael Dos Anjos. The Brazilian appeared to be ahead on the scorecards only for a broken jaw suffered in the opening round to force him to tap out while caught against the cage during round three.

Matt Hughes shared submission of the night honours with Anderson Silva after causing Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Ricardo Almeida to pass out from a never before seen front headlock choke. The win re-affirms Hughes’ relevance in the welterweight division after subpar showings in his last two outings against Matt Serra and Renzo Gracie.

There was good news for Everton fans on Saturday as Mikel Arteta somewhat surprisingly signed a new five year contract. The deal, worth a reported £75,000 a-week, will make Arteta the highest earner in the club’s history. The club did well to break the news on the same day that the team were comfortably beaten by the first decent side they’ve faced in pre-season, falling 2-0 away to Steve McLaren’s Wolfsburg.