SILVA STOPS SONNAN IN WANING MOMENTS
Oakland, CA– Anderson Silva 184.5 lbs, Curitiba, Brazil SUB 5 Chael Sonnen 185, Portland, OR After months of running his mouth, Chael Sonnen (24-11-1, 7 KOs, 3 SUBs) backed up every bit of what he said he would do and then some-until the fifth and final round. After being absolutely decimated with ground and pound for more than twenty minutes, Silva (27-4, 15 KOs, 5 SUBs) slapped on a triangle choke out of nowhere causing Sonnen to tap. It was most likely looking to head for a shutout victory for Sonnen up until the last few minutes of the fight when Silva through up the desperation triangle choke that earned him the win. A very impressive showing by both guys, but in the end, the champion Silva still reigns supreme.
ALVES WAS A MESS SATURDAY NIGHT
Jon Fitch, 170.5, Fort Wayne, IN UD 3 Thiago Alves, 171.5 Coconut Creek, FL by way of Fortaleza, Brazil. It is bad enough when a fighter such as Alves (16-7, 10 KOs, 1 SUB) is willing to give up a fifth of his purse rather than even attempt to drop ½ pound to make weight, its even worse for such a fighter if he is that drained AND is facing the ultimate grinder, Jon Fitch (23-3, 4 KOs, 5 SUBs). Alves seemed quite lackluster and Fitch simply pushed the pace, controlled the action and wore Alves out. A good win for Fitch as he takes one step closer to another title shot.
Clay Guida, 156, Chicago, IL SUB 3 Rafael dos Anjos, 156, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As always, Clay Guida (27-11, 4 KOs, 14 SUBs) put on an exciting performance and ultimately was able to grind out a win after somewhat of a rocky start to the bout. It seems that although dos Anjos (14-5, 1 KO, 7 SUBs) was getting the better of it in the first stanza, Guida was able to injure the Brazilian’s jaw in a first round exchange, which ended up being the determining factor in the fight. By the third round, Guida had worn down dos Anjos and had him pinned against the cage on the canvas while applying pressure with his shoulder on the already injured mandible causing dos Anjos to eventually tap.
Matt Hughes, 170.5, Hillsboro, IL SUB 1 Ricardo Almeida, 170.5, Weehawken, NJ. It didn’t take long for Matt Hughes (45-7, 16 KOs, 19 SUBs) to show he isn’t done yet by choking out highly accomplished Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Almeida (12-4, 5 SUBs). As the fight began, Almeida seemed to be edging Hughes in the standup until Hughes connected with a perfectly placed left hook that sent Almeida to the canvas. Hughes rushed his man and slapped on a front headlock that he worked into a choke until Almeida was sent to bed early. A very impressive win for the still dangerous future hall of famer Matt Hughes.
Junior dos Santos, 240, Salvador, Brazil UD 3 Roy Nelson, 263, Las Vegas, NV. The Brazilian striker dos Santos (12-1, 8 KOs, 3 SUBs) made Roy Nelson (15-5, 8 KOs, 4 SUBs) look…well the way Nelson looks-bad. Dos Santos rocked Nelson several times in all three rounds but could not seem to put the resilient beer bellied Nelson away and instead had to settle for a unanimous decision win. To Nelson’s credit, he hung in there showing a lot of heart and landed a few shots himself.
Matt “All Meat” Grizzle