Official MMA Thread

[ActionAndy]

Sonnen does have a chance. Not a great one, but it exists (and I'm not just talking about the ever present unpredictability of the Puncher's Chance). He can and will get this fight to the ground at least once.

The problem is Sonnen's phenomenal top control has never been paired with vicious ground and pound. He's got pillowy fists for some reason--you'd expect a guy that strong to summon some beast elbows but he either can't or won't. Another problem is Silva's long, lanky limbs. He can snap a triangle up in his sleep, and Sonnen's shown to be vulnerable to subs from the bottom. I'm ignoring Silva's rear naked choke victory against Henderson because I can't imagine the circumstance where Anderson will actually be taking Sonnen's back.

The only person with better wrestling (in MMA) than Sonnen is King Mo and we saw that despite furious effort from the bottom, someone as talented as Mousasi still had trouble. I think it's fair to draw the parallel between the two fights, though one could easily argue that Anderson is more talented on the ground than Mousasi.