FACEBOOK TWITTER RSS APP PODCAST Opinion & Analysis : Hyden's Take HYDEN BLOG: An Early Read on Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen; Plus Reader Feedback On Lesnar vs. Carwin

Jul 14, 2010 - 9:56:13 AM

By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor

Chael Sonnen has talked a lot of junk about his upcoming opponent, Anderson Silva. He's made ludicrous claims and just generally said crazy things. You can type "Chael Sonnen is crazy" into Google and delve into his act if you want, but trust me, he's a little off.

He's certainly doing a fantastic job hyping this fight and getting people interested. The problem is that Sonnen has nearly a zero percent chance to win against Silva. The one area that Sonnen could capitalize on is his wrestling, but I don't think he's got much of an advantage there, if at all. Anderson Silva is just a better fighter.

Acting crazy and trying to make yourself the villain only works if you win. When you make yourself the guy that everybody wants to pay to see get his ass kicked, that's over when you lose. After you've gotten beat, people are much less likely to pay to see you lose again.

Sonnen has established himself with his victories over Dan Miller, Yushin Okami, and Nate Marquardt. He can now gin up interest in seeing him get his ass kicked because he's beaten good fighters. If Sonnen loses to Anderson Silva, he has to start over if he wants to play this role again. The exception is if the fight is controversial, then he can complain and keep the interest up. Being the villain is not easy, and you have to be careful not to go too far. Sonnen hasn't gone too far yet, but we're still about three and a half weeks out so you never know.

Reader Feedback

The blog in question: [CLICK HERE]

EDWARD PALMER -

I was watching the fight live at a bar! And yes, I was cheering for Brock to win by a nice ground and pound beating to give Carwin a real Welcome to the UFC fight! Seeing that submission was badass!!!!!

Ok, I was watching the fight chin to the floor when dumb Brock kept reaching out and Carwin slammed him with the uppercut. Then Carwin chased him down to the ground. I have seen plenty of fights stopped on a lot less punches and I myself was saying Carwin's the new champ in the damn first round, holy s***!

When watching it, though, I think only a couple of Carwin's punches really made it through to Brock's head, other then that his massive freaking huge arms were blocking his whole damn head and he wasn't taking anything that could put him out. And he stayed in by pushing Carwin off him a couple of times and letting the ref know he was good!

And the fights I've seen stopped on less punches are mostly being taken to the head over and over, or they just lay there covering up and not moving. Brock did a good job of not taking that much damage while he was on the ground! But on the feet he was schooled like a girl! Damn he needs some major boxing help you don't put your head down and reach on the hardest hitting SOB!


RYAN GLASER -

It's nice to see that somebody can finally write a decent blog in favor of Carwin. I'm very annoyed already by all the stupid ass comments of the great reffing job that was done that night and the fact that Lesnar is best in the world. Brock proved nothing aside from the fact that he can't take a good punch and knows how to run scared from an attack. But anyway, good job man keep it up.


BRAM CRAIG -

Well, I applaud you for writing both viewpoints quite eloquently. However, after you make the cases I see your logic start to fail. You said that one thing was clear, and that was that refereeing decided the fight. That kind of statement is an all or nothing type statement. In this case, your logic would have you say that EVERY fight is decided by refereeing. The fact is that Brock forced Shane to tap. There is no dispute to that. Shane had the early advantage. He rocked Brock and had him on the ground. However, I feel Shane fell into the mistake of counting punches that is so prevalent in fight strategies now. It was highlighted in TUF by Roy Nelson. Instead of choosing your shots and making them count, the fighter goes balls to the wall and expends loads of energy in amassing a significant number of strikes, regardless of whether they are blocked, glancing blows, or off target altogether. And for a guy as big as Carwin it is essentially suicide. There is no way he can regain enough oxygen to allow his muscles to recover.

So what does Carwin learn? He should pick and choose his shots. If you watch the best strikers, when they rock an opponent and he's reeling, they usually will advance, but will calculate their strikes. If they just rushed in, they could fall victim to a similar fate as Pete Sell when he got KTFO by Scott Smith.

The bottom line is that Shane didn't KO Brock. Nor did he force him to tap. He did throw a ton of punches, however Brock was clearly healthy enough to come out of it virtually unscathed as he was able to get back to his feet and then FINISH Shane in the 2nd round. Champions find a way to finish fights. Brock did what Shane couldn't. I like both fighters a lot. But with Brock, I feel we're seeing the evolution of MMA heavyweights. Brock vs Cain will be insane. And the winner should do so decisively.

If the refs were to stop fights everytime an opponent is rocked, UFC wouldn't be where it is today. Griffin v Bonnar wouldn't be legendary. Leben wouldn't have two wins in two weeks. There would be no come from behind victories. The struggle would be eliminated altogether and it would essentially be one strike = killshot. I'm into the human struggle storyline. Let 'em fight.


TIM MCGEE -

Though he was on the ground getting beaten down, look at the footage only 1/3 of those hits had a solid hit. I've been in amateur league for a year now. And not one fight that I've been in has ended so easily. When I first watched the PPV I was seriously surprised the fight wasn't called. However, after watching reply after replay, Brock had his guard up, he wasn't dazed and he had control. He was simply wearing down his opponent to counter strike. A little out of Lesnar's character but alas, who has the title.


SHOGANAI -

I do not think that it's a 'point' that the fight 'should've' been stopped. Sure, it was a situation that would have stopped lesser men, but at no point did Brock quit or get knocked out. It's basically an excuse for Carwin fans to lick their wounds. Lesnar said post fight that his strategy was to 'weather the storm' and it worked perfectly. I remember saying to a buddy of mine that he's probably one of very few people who could use that strategy with Shane Carwin.

So the real points to consider are 1. Brock Lesnar didn't quit. 2. Shane Carwin did. 3. The actual point should be just how improved Lesnar was compared to Carwin, who pretty much just tuckered himself out like a cranky 3 yr old, oh and 4. Yes, Brock Lesnar has a chin (Suck it, Bitches).

Talking about the fight like it was a bad decision is just backdoor disrespect of the Champ. So what if Carwin threw 59 unanswered shots in the first? Is it a new rule that 59's the limit or something? And if it were damage enough for a stoppage, why was Lesnar in his corner just a minute later saying 'I'm good'? Maybe because a stoppage would have been overkill and hence 'bad reffing'? So many unanswered questions.


RICH FINALDI -

You have a valid point, and maybe I am biased because I am a HUGE Lesnar fan, but sometimes (yes, just like in football) you gotta let the guys play in Playoffs or Championships. Brock is a rare breed, I think if Rosenthal knew Lesnar would be non-retaliatory towards Carwin, or if he had enough of his attack, he would have stopped the fight. But if you notice every time he was covering up from getting hit, Lesnar did something to show he was active. I think the key here is that he didn't just cover up from the blows and stayed there. He is amazing, this guy, that he wasn't even hurt that bad from Carwin. AMAZING!!!

After the fight, he was very coherent and just bruised up a little bit, I have seen guys look like their head got caught in a meat cutter they were so bad after a fight.

Lets face it, to beat Lesnar, someone will have to try to not get knocked out or be on the bottom of Lesnar in a fight. You just have to wear him down. If Carwin couldn't knock him out its very safe to say nobody can. And no one in the UFC can get off the bottom with Brock on top of them. Clearly the best heavyweight still and most dangerous to Brock is still Carwin... I think if there's a rematch, I would be scared still for Brock, Carwin is that good. What a testament to Lesnar surviving for the win, JUST AMAZING, and very deserving of the title.

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