Well Sonnen lived up to his word and put a beating on Anderson Silva for 23 minutes, unfortunately the fight was set to last 25 minutes. Sonnen started out doing exactly what he promised, he took the fight to Silva right form the get go. He even caught Silva with a right hand in round 1 that obviously stunned Silva, and then Sonnen put him on his back and started pounding on him.

Sonnen has talked an epic amount of smack for the last 2 months, saying everything from “Silva doesn’t want a real fight” to “Silva’s Black belt in BJJ is a joke”. True to his word, Sonnen put a beat down on Silva in every round, he just kept Silva on his back and beat on him which is Sonnen’s usual style.

In the end, Sonnen made a fatal mistake and with about 2 minutes left in the 5th round, Silva quickly slapped on a triangle choke and moved swiftly into an arm bar and Sonnen tapped…. Or did he????

Josh Rosenthal – On the Take?

Once again referee Josh Rosenthal is involved in another controversial UFC match. For some unknown reason Rosenthal has refereed the last two title matches, the last one being the Carwin Lesnar fight, which many said should have been stopped in round 1. He also was the Ref in the last Mac Danzig fight which ended on controversy with Josh stopping the fight because the other fighter said Danzig was “unconscious” when he clearly wasn’t.

Rosenthal once again adds confusion to a fight, when Silva locked the Triangle Choke on Sonnen, Rosenthal was all too anxious to jump in and stop it, looking at the replay Sonnen reached up and grabbed Silva’s leg and Rosenthal stopped the fight, both fighters looked at him confused and a brief conversation ensued, then Rosenthal waved the fight off as over. If Sonnen tapped or not, is not very clear. To Sonnen credit he didn’t say anything about it in the post fight interview with Joe Rogan. I am anxious to hear what he has to say when the dust settles. Regardless, I think the Nevada State Athletic Commission and the UFC needs to seriously evaluate Josh Rosenthal’s recent work. Where there is smoke, there is fire. I could hate to see UFC go the way of professional boxing, where every fight has paid off judges and crappy refs.

Roy Nelson vs Junior Dos Santos

This fight was a great one and showed us a lot about both fighters. Roy Nelson (UFC Season 10 Winner) is not your typical UFC fighter, he had a big gut, and looks like the guy next door. Dos Santos looks like your typical UFC fighter, he is in shape and had one punch KO power. These guys came out swinging and Nelson was stunned early, but would not quit! These guys battled back and forth for 3 rounds. Both landing solid shots that would knock out most fighters. I was amazed at the amount of punishment Nelson could absorb.

In the end Dos Santos won by decision but he knew he had been in a fight! Although Nelson put on a good show, it was clear he was out of gas by the second round, and the only thing that kept him going was pure heart. After this loss, I think Nelson needs to seriously evaluate his future, if he wants to compete for a title, then he will have to commit to getting in shape!

UFC 117 Recap Results

Preliminary Bouts:

Dennis Hallman Defeated Ben Saunders via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)
Stefan Struve Defeated Christian Morecraft via TKO (Punches) at 0:23 in the 2ndRound
Tim Boetsch Defeated Todd Brown via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Johny Hendricks Defeated Charlie Brenneman via TKO (Punches) at 0:40 in the 2ndRound
Phil Davis Defeated Rodney Wallace via Unanimous Decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
Rick Story Defeated Dustin Hazelett via TKO (Punches) at 1:15 in the 2ndRound

Main Bouts:

Junior dos Santos Defeated Roy Nelson via Unanimous Decision (30-26 , 30-27 , 30-27)
Matt Hughes Defeated Ricardo Almeida via Submission (Front Headlock) at 3:15 in the 1stRound
Clay Guida Defeated Rafael dos Anjos via Submission at 1:51 in the 3rdRound
Jon Fitch Defeated Jon Fitch via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Anderson Silva Defeated Chael Sonnen via Submission (Triangle Armbar) at 3:10 of the 5thRound
(Silva remains UFC middleweight champion)

Tags: Chael Sonne vs Anderson Silva, UFC 117, UFC 117 Post Fight Interview, UFC 117 Recap

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