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First off, I want to say that Chael Sonnen did a great job in his title fight. He didn't do what he said he was going to do, but he did a lot better than most thought he would. However, I'm glad that Anderson Silva got the submission win. The reason for that is there's no way Sonnen deserved to win the UFC Middleweight Title like that. Sonnen basically laid on Silva for 20 minutes, he wasn't doing that much damage. The Compustrike stats show that Sonnen landed 270 strikes on the ground, but most of them were weak punches that weren't doing any real damage. I use the eyeball test. Compare the faces of Silva and Sonnen at the UFC 117 post-fight press conference. Sonnen had much more damage on his face than Silva.
Sonnen's performance was just slightly more damaging that Jon Fitch's snoozefest decision win over Thiago Alves. As I was watching Sonnen lie on top of Silva, I couldn't help but think what a travesty it would be if Sonnen wins a world title this way. No title fight should ever go to decision. If you want to take the title off of somebody you had better beat them and finish them. We shouldn't encourage a Tim Sylvia "win a few rounds, then coast the rest of the way" fighting style. That's the last damn thing MMA needs.
Sonnen said he was going to beat up Silva. That didn't happen. Technically, Sonnen was winning the fight. If he had won, though, would he really have beaten Silva? The answer is no. It's the same reason that Jon Fitch is disliked among most casual fans. Controlling the fight and winning the fight are two totally different things. You win the fight by finishing the guy, not by laying on top of him for the whole fight.
I'll say this about Chael Sonnen, though. Sonnen seemed to be trying much harder to finish the fight than Jon Fitch was. Fitch seemed content to lay there, covering Alves like a blanket. It should come as no surprise to anyone that Dana White is waffling about giving Fitch another shot at Georges St. Pierre's Welterweight title. GSP has a much stronger wrestling base than Anderson Silva does. GSP doesn't have the submission game that Silva does, but his wrestling is equal to, or better than, Jon Fitch's. Assuming GSP is able to get by Josh Koscheck, we would have another boring domination fight where GSP beats Fitch, just like he did before.
The fighters are there to win. As a fan, however, I want to be entertained. I want exciting fights, and I want finishes. I'm glad Anderson Silva beat Chael Sonnen, I would have hated to have seen the title change hands because of a decision. I don't think Frankie Edgar should have won the Lightweight title by decision. That's why I'm hoping that, if he wins the rematch, Edgar does so by finishing B.J. Penn. I think it cheapens a title win if you have to decision a guy. We've all seen enough crazy judges decisions to know that anything can happen there. It's like the Super Bowl going into overtime, playing that extra 15 minutes without a score, then having some judges decide who won. That'd be ridiculous. I say that, in a title fight, there must be a winner. No one should ever hand you a title, you should have to take it.
I'm also not a big fan of champions retaining their belts by decision, either. That's why Georges St. Pierre isn't considered the far and away best fighter in the world. GSP has had the toughest list of challengers, and the only other weight class that's equal or better is the UFC Light Heavyweight division. GSP gets points for beating all these good fighters, but he loses points for not being able to finish anyone. Sure, he dominates them, but how dominating is it really if he can't put them away?
Chael Sonnen didn't do enough to justify winning the Middleweight Title by a cheapo decision. If he wanted the belt, he should have finished Silva. That's why I'm glad Anderson Silva beat Chael Sonnen. He tapped him out, he finished him, and that's what a champion should have to do.
Comments and suggestion can be e-mailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com
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