What was being hyped up as the biggest fight in the history of the UFC, Sonnen v. Silva II at UFC 148, finally came to head on Saturday night. Back-and-forth banter between Silva and Sonnen over the last few months built incredible hype for the fight, but as Dana White put it, “What sold this fight was the first fight”… and no truer words could possibly have been spoken. This was the fight that would determine if Silva truly is the greatest in the history of the sport, or if Sonnen could finish what he didn’t in the first match. When all was said and done, the result was the same; Silva’s hand was raised, as I predicted it would.
Silva came into this fight with a fire that we’ve never seen from him before. Many felt that the trash-talk from Sonnen was finally starting to crack the serene exterior of Anderson. Unfortunately, after watching Saturday’s fight it appears that the back-talk only served to add fuel to the vengeance in his game. After being completely smothered in the first round by Sonnen (with echoes from the first fight), Silva came back to do what he does in delivering pin-point strikes (and a rather devastating knee to the chest) to finish the fight in Anderson Silva-style.
Many have argued that Silva has not fought the same caliber of fighter that someone like GSP has – so how could he be considered the greatest of all time? This may be partly true, but I think Silva has fought competition on par with GSP, the only difference being that Silva has been so far beyond the competitors he has fought that they have not looked like legitimate contenders. What’s more, Silva has done this at both middleweight and light heavyweight. What made this fight so compelling was that Sonnen really did appear to have the ability to defeat Silva. I don’t think I need to sit here any rhyme off statistics to prove the validity of this claim, the man wins (usually very decisively) and that’s it.
From the post-buy numbers that have trickled in so far, it does appear that this fight was the biggest fight of all time. People said that this fight was a letdown. The reason for this is that people inherently root for the underdog, (in this case Sonnen). The first fight was engaging for exactly that reason; you got to watch the underdog almost steal away the championship from a man who seemed invincible. Silva v. Sonnen I had people on the edges of their seat because they were waiting in anticipation to see if Silva would turn it around (as he eventually did), or if Sonnen would be the new champ.
I feel bad for anyone who felt that this main event was not befitting of the hype. To those who watched the fight, you got the opportunity to watch the greatest of all time solidify his legacy. It’s like watching Jordan, Gretzky or Nicklaus play when we were kids – twenty years from now you want to be able to say you saw a legend in action.
… and that is the last word.
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