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ROUNDTABLE (pt. 1 of 3): Has Chael Sonnen's trash talk made you want to cheer for or against him at UFC 117? Will he be able to win? - Hansen, Leet, Rowland, Hobaugh and Amadi
Has Chael Sonnen's trash talking made you want to cheer for or against him at UFC 117? And will he be able to defeat Anderson Silva on Saturday?
RICH HANSEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Since this site is the unholy spawn of a pro wrestling dirtsheet :)...
This fight is going to turn into Lesnar vs. Goldberg from Wrestlemania XX. Word got out before Wrestlemania that both Lesnar and Goldberg were leaving the WWE after the match, and the Madison Square Garden audience just completely shit all over the match. Both men were hated, and not in a good way. That's the wrestling parallel here.
Anderson Silva is hated for his laissez-faire attitude against lesser opponents, and the same attitude perpetuates itself in his dealings with the MMA media. Chael Sonnen could have won over the majority of the fanbase with his trash talking. The PPV-buying MMA audience has been begging for a legitimate middleweight contender that they could rally behind. Hell, he in fact did win us over. Three months ago. But he just couldn't stop running his damn mouth, and now he feels a pressure to top himself every single time a microphone is put to his face. So while he was cagey enough to tap into the fans' distaste for Anderson Silva, and he succeeded in turning himself into a massive babyface, he then turned himself into an even bigger heel than Anderson Silva ever was to begin with.
Part of me still wants to see Sonnen win. Part of me wants to see him get embarrassed (embarrassed by Silva, I mean. He's done an excellent job of embarrassing himself, lately). But what I want to see is moot, because he's not winning this fight.
Sonnen has exactly one path to victory. He has to take Silva down five times (once per round) and hold him down for several minutes at a time. He has to work on the ground more effectively than he has ever worked before. He has to avoid Silva's elbows from the bottom, all while defending the triangle. And again, he has to do all of these things five times.
Each round starts standing. And I don't think you could combine a worse standup fighter against a better standup fighter than the combination of Sonnen and Silva. There are a dozen things that have to go *perfectly* for Sonnen to win, and if even one of those things isn't perfect, Sonnen loses. The odds are astronomical, but it isn't impossible. I think he makes it out of the first, but not the second.
LARAMEY LEET, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Chael Sonnen is doing a heck of a job selling this fight. Regardless of if you like him or hate him, you either want to see the man get his teeth smashed in or back up what he is saying. It's the unknown persona of Sonnen that intrigues me the most! Does he really believe all the smack that he talks or is it just for the cameras?
I just want to see Sonnen bring the fight to Anderson. That is what makes interesting and entertaining fights to watch. Now do I think he has a chance? Not really! Of course this is MMA and anything can happen but I really don't think Sonnen is going to stop the Spider. Sonnen will have to lay and pray for five rounds and I don't see that happening. Silva by TKO in the second Round!
GREG ROWLAND, MMATORCH AUDIO CO-HOST
I've been loving every minute of the smack talk and much of it I agree with. I'll be rooting for him this Saturday, and give him a 30% chance for victory. If you want more in depth opinions, download The Audio Choke suckas!
ERIC HOBAUGH, MMATORCH SPECIALIST
I WAS really enjoying Chael Sonnen trash talking Anderson Silva... in the beginning. As we got closer to the fight and the rhetoric got more absurd, I was still laughing at the fact that he has said he would "retire" Silva and all the other stupid things he has said
about his up coming opponent.
He may be the only person (including his corner) that believes he has a realistic chance to beat the greatest fighter on the planet. After Anderson's crap in his last few fights, I was actually rooting for Sonnen to win and shock the world.
The Lance Armstrong comments defy any rational thought process. Even if he really believed these things, why in the hell would he put that out to the press? Being the bad guy to stir up more interest in his fight is one thing, attacking one of the greatest American athletes of the twentieth century is quite another. This has crossed over into an area once reserved, in my opinion, only for the likes of Mike Tyson and Mel Gibson. I think Chael Sonnen realizes this is his only shot at any real exposure to main street America. This is a pathetic ploy by a pathetic fighter for attention.
This brings the wrong kind of attention to our sport. This guy is bad for our sport and Anderson Silva will help him on his way out of the UFC. He will get a few more fights in the UFC after the beating he will take this Saturday, but no one will care. In 100 years people will still remember the name Lance Armstrong for being a great sport and an even greater champion. In TWO years people will be saying "Chael who?" I am rooting for and expect a DEVASTATING win by Anderson Silva.
JASON AMADI, MMATORCH COLUMNIST
Chael Sonnen's trash talk did what his fight style never could -- it made him a star. Prior to the Marquardt fight, Sonnen was never thought of as a marketable star or a must-see performer. At this point, you could make the case that he is both of those things. Win or lose in his fight against Silva, people are going to want to put a microphone to Chael Sonnen's face for a long time to come.
Whether or not he can actually defeat Silva is an entirely separate issue. If this were a fifteen minute fight, Sonnen would have a legitimate chance to stifle Silva with his wrestling for three rounds en route to a decision victory. Stifling perhaps the greatest fighter in the world for five rounds is a tall task. He could conceivably get the job done, but on paper, the man who puts a blemish on Anderson Silva's UFC record needs to be a finisher, and trash talk aside, that man is not Chael Sonnen.
UPCOMING ROUNDTABLE QUESTIONS
• What are your early thoughts on how Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez match up in their UFC 121 showdown?
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