Chael Sonnen , Can He Beat Anderson Silva?

10 Reasons Chael Sonnen Will Beat Anderson Silva in Brazil

Photo by Esther Lin for AOL Fanhouse 

At UFC 117, former NCAA All-American Chael Sonnen nearly shocked the world. Middleweight champion Anderson Silva was considered by many to be nigh unbeatable. Silva moved with a panther's grace and struck like a cobra. Few, if any, in MMA history can match his record, skill set or martial prowess.

That's what made Sonnen's four-round dismantling of the champion so remarkable. It was unprecedented. Only a brilliant last-minute submission saved Silva's title and perfect UFC record.

Now the two men are set to meet again. And this time, Sonnen will walk away with the world championship. Why? I've got 10 reasons Chael will be the next UFC middleweight champion.

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In the UFC's 19-year history, exactly half of their 46 world champions have come from a wrestling background or made wrestling the focal point of their attack.

The odds are in Sonnen's favor, although the middleweight class is the one weight class devoid of a wrestling kingpin.

Wrestlers dictate where the fight will take place. And no one in the sport does it better than Chael Sonnen.

Can you imagine what it must be like to be Anderson Silva? Chael Sonnen has been yapping in his ear for years now.

The trash talk is designed to take Silva off his game. If he's angry, or worried about avenging Chael's increasingly inflammatory talk, he's not concentrating on winning.

Advantage: Chael.

Although they've mostly gone their separate ways, Chael grew up in the sport with a who's who of UFC and wrestling talent.

Olympic silver medalist Matt Lindland was his mentor. He watched and trained with legends like Randy Couture and Dan Henderson daily.

Oregon's Team Quest will go down as one of the all-time great fight teams. A Chael title run will simply add to their legacy.

Sonnen's head coach, Scott McQuary, tells Bleacher Report that Chael will soon be making the most of his advantageous positions on the ground:

"We just needed to tweak a few things," McQuary said. "I told him, 'We need to work on your defense and I want to work on just a couple of submissions.' It's worked really well. We have a number of things in the bag that we haven't even let out yet. The Brian Stann fight, we were so glad he got that submission we'd been working on.

"But trust me—he's got a bunch of stuff he hasn't even showcased yet. I looked at the positions he was most frequently in. A lot of times he was trying to ground-and-pound people with fairly good success. But I told him, 'We can make this a lot easier. Let's work for a submission.' He's so damn good at keeping his position or transitioning to a new position if things go awry, it was kind of a no-brainer."

Traditionally, Sonnen's Achilles heel is his submission defense. He just can't seem to escape the triangle or armbar.

Who better to mentor him than Strikeforce women's champion, and armbar savant, Ronda Rousey?

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Anderson Silva vs Chael Sonnen Rematch

                                                     Anderson Silva

10 Reasons Anderson Silva Will Beat Chael Sonnen at UFC 147

Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Anderson Silva will face Chael Sonnen in a rematch of their epic UFC 117 middleweight bout this June at UFC 147.  I won't waste time regurgitating what took place because just about everyone already knows.  The following is a list of 10 reasons why Anderson Silva will beat Chael Sonnen. 

Anderson Silva is quite possibly the best striker in Mixed Martial Arts history.  It is not simply the fact that he can hit you anywhere he wants (with pinpoint accuracy), it is the fact that he has what can trump any striker and that is timing. 

We have all seen it before…the cage door closes, the ref says fight and we hear Mike Goldberg tossing out the Bud Light slogan "here we go."  Then for the next few minutes (depending on his opponent) Anderson circles around the cage feeling out his opponent and getting their timing down in the process. 

Silva is even willing to take a few shots to get their timing.  The announcers continue to talk and the fans begin to boo because they are bored and then something happens.  Anderson drops his hands to his side and that usually spells the beginning of the end for his opponents.  He sits there and dares them to engage and then makes them pay dearly for it. 

In the first fight, Chael did not allow Anderson time to do this. He will most likely go with the same strategy as last time and rush from the opening bell.  That may be Chael's saving grace, keeping enough pressure on Silva to ensure he doesn't get his timing.  Even without it Silva is still in my opinion a better striker than Chael is.  History however disagrees as Sonnen landed far more significant strikes in the first fight than Silva.  

Anderson Silva Still reigning UFC Champion. Can anyone beat him?

Anderson Silva vs. George St. Pierre

 MMA: Who Wants see GSP vs. Anderson Silva in UFC?

What's the dream matchup in UFC  MMA?, you'd likely get only one answer: Anderson Silva vs. Georges St. Pierre. And for years, this was the dream fight to end all dream fights. It was MMA's equivalent to Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather, only (us MMA fans bragged then) this fight actually stood a good chance of happening. People were talking about this MMA fight as far back as 2006, when both St. Pierre and Silva first strapped on UFC belts. The talk ramped up in 2008, when GSP won his belt back from Matt Serra and Anderson Silva “ran out” of challengers at middleweight for the first of about 900 times. For nearly half a decade, the top two slots in the special MMA “Circular, Subjective Argument Generator”—otherwise known as the top five pound-for-pound list—were traded between Silva and St. Pierre. Both guys fortunes rose and fell, each guy racing momentarily ahead of the other.

GSP dominates Thiago Alves while Silva dances around Thales Leites? GSP must be the man! Anderson Silva transcends the laws of physics to murder Forrest Griffin while GSP wrestles Dan Hardy’s arm for 25 minutes? Guess Andy is back on top! Folks would argue GSP’s wrestling would exploit the only weakness in Anderson Silva’s game. People said Anderson Silva’s striking would expose GSP’s fragile chin. There were theories and speculation galore. And any day now, we would see them fight. 2009 was the year, fans said. Then 2010. Then 2011. Now it's 2012, and fans are turning blue in the face, mostly from holding their breath in anticipation for this fight.

Is St. Pierre vs. Silva Officially Dead?

With St. Pierre on the shelf and Anderson nearing the end of his MMA fighting reign on dominance, the question begs to be asked: Is Silva vs. St. Pierre fight officially dead? And more than that, if it isn't dead from a timing/booking standpoint, is it dead from a fan interest standpoint? Would anyone out there still consider this the "Mecca" of MMA fights?

And if it isn't "dead," what are the chances we see this fight before one (or both) men fall off their athletic peaks, assuming they haven't already? I think the earlier Pac/Floyd comparison is quite apt, because this fight too would pit a fighter who is nice, polite, idolized by his home fans and catching tons of flack over his last fight, against perhaps the most technically perfect fighter in the game whose personality no one can figure out. Yes, this fight was the dream fight to end all MMA dream fights, and at various times, it looked close to being booked. But just like my "foolproof" plan in high school to wed Jessica Biel before I was 20...well, sometimes things just don't work out like you plan.

I remember George St. Pierre first getting asked about a possible Anderson Silva fight at UFC 100 after he beat Thiago Alves. While accepting the fight in principal, he stated that moving up in weight would be a significant shift for him, that he'd have to talk it over with his coaches and entourage and that it really depended on what the UFC had next for him. GSP must have that speech committed to memory, because it's the same canned speech he gives every time Joe Rogan asks about facing Anderson during the post-fight interview. Now I love me some GSP, and lots of what he's saying makes total sense. But even I got to admit this is starting to sound like foot-dragging of some pretty epic proportions.

Sometimes GSP seems less than eager to face Silva (and who could blame him?)

Maybe St. Pierre himself doesn’t want the Anderson Silva fight, and as a guy making seven figures a fight, absolutely tearing up the PPV charts and totally dominating the competition in his weight class, who could really blame him for not wanting to change divisions? If he does want the fight, then perhaps someone in his entourage doesn’t think it’s a good idea or is advising him not to commit to the fight in interviews to increase leverage for negotiations. Or maybe it’s the UFC itself urging GSP to fence sit, wary of the inevitability that for this fight to happen, one golden goose has to eat another. And Anderson? The long-time middleweight champ once said his ideal opponent would be a clone of himself, which is ideal considering one of the biggest obstacles to making this fight is Silva himself. Remember in early ’09, when all the buzz around the St. Pierre vs. BJ Penn fight had people buzzing about the other great P4P clash? Then, Anderson stunk up the Bell Centre for 25 minutes against Thales Leites, and fans vowed never to buy an Anderson Silva PPV again.

Then the next year, serious talk about making this fight happen began to swirl again. GSP was even brought in to guest commentate the Silva vs. Maia main event at UFC 112 and would have ostensibly confronted him in the ring afterwards. Except that Silva vs. Maia happened, Dana White was furious and once again, fans vowed never to buy another Anderson Silva PPV. Silva got Sonnen, GSP got The Ultimate Fighter and the rest is history. So here’s my question to you: Is this fight still “on the table?" Is there a realistic chance of making this fight happen, and if so, when? And more than that: Does this fight still mean anything to fans? Is it still the big deal it was only two short years ago? Or have other potential “superfights” involving the likes of Jon Jones, Junior Dos Santos, Jose Aldo and Dominick Cruz taken the spot of GSP/Silva as the fight MMA fans want to see?                                                go to www.ufc.com voice your opinion Come Dana Lets get Anderson Silva vs. George St. Pierre on the fight card of the century! Only in the UFC....