UFC
UFC on Fox 2: Chael Sonnen's coach believes Michael Bisping is mentally weak, "breaks easily"
Jan 24, 2012 - 2:40:23 PM UFC on Fox 2: Chael Sonnen's coach believes Michael Bisping is mentally weak, "breaks easily"

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Chael Sonnen has had to switch things up this week in the lead up to UFC on Fox 2 after getting a last minute opponent switch last week. However, as he's preparing to face Michael Bisping now instead of Mark Munoz, his coaches aren't showing much concern over his new foe in Chicago.

"We were actually kind of happy. We weren't really concerned at all," said Sonnen's head coach Scott McQuary in an interview with Jonathan Snowden at BleacherReport.com. "In a way, we thought this wasn't that much different than the Brian Stann fight; except Stann hits a hell of a lot harder... Bisping breaks easily. I think he's mentally weak. Watch how he fought Dan Henderson. I think he was totally intimidated. And I think he's going to be intimidated by Chael too... Chael is such a hard worker and he has such a fast pace. Bisping is much more lackadaisical. He likes to throw a jab, throw a kick, keep his distance. He's not going to be able to keep up the pace Chael forces. Whether on the ground or standing."

For Sonnen's longtime trainer and mentor Matt Lindland, the feeling is essentially the same, and they see the Bisping fight as being significantly less concerning. At the same time, they see the fight as a higher profile matchup than Munoz, making for a win-win situation for them.

"I like this quite a bit better. I think it's a much higher-profile fight," Lindland said. "I wasn't super excited about the Munoz matchup. Mark and Chael was much scarier, because we didn't know what was going to happen. Would Mark be able to shut down Chael's wrestling? Sometimes with two high-level wrestlers, it just comes down to who gets the first good shot in. Look at Hendricks and Fitch. I think Munoz was a much tougher fight stylistically... this isn't a knock on Michael's abilities or his skills. His skills just don't match up with Chael Sonnen's. Where Michael is weak, that's where Chael's real strengths are."

Will Michael Bisping break on Saturday night in Chicago? Will Chael Sonnen run roughshod through him to set up a second fight with Anderson Silva? Those questions will be answered at UFC on Fox 2.

Penick's Analysis: Honestly I think they're vastly underrating Bisping coming into the fight, as he's got some things he could do to negate some of Sonnen's key offense himself, and can be dangerous off his back if the fight is there for long periods of time. I'm not saying Bisping will win, just that it's a mistake to write him off; and to compare the Henderson fight to this one just isn't an apt comparison at all. Sonnen doesn't have the one-punch knockout power to make Bisping concerned about his striking game, and this will be a completely different style of fight than Bisping had with Henderson at UFC 100. If they take this fight too lightly, it may be to their detriment.

[Chael Sonnen art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]