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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?
ALVIN CARTER, MMATORCH SPECIALIST
Chael Sonnen's trash talking is irrelevant, and is not selling the PPV. It is hyping the "Crazy Machine" more than the fight. Anderson Silva is the best p4p fighter in the world, and the fact that Chael Sonnen is not in the elite p4p conversation on a regular (or any) basis cannot be changed by trash talk. If trash talk can power up his stand up, then it might have moved me. So, I am cheering for Silva because he is actually better than Sonnen, but I do not think the crazy talk makes me cheer any harder for Silva. Sonnen is just trying to up his relevance meter, and I cannot hold it against him if he makes somewhat of decent showing.
GRIFFIN MARSH, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Considering Anderson Silva is my favorite fighter, Chael's trash-talk has not made me want to cheer for him. After watching his interview last Sunday during the UFC on Versus show and watching him talk his smack while reading off a teleprompter, it made me hope he gets beaten so badly that neither he or the UFC never again tries to sell the fans on Chael Sonnen being a legitimate contender.
The only chance I see Chael Sonnen having Sunday night is to hold Anderson on his back for five solid rounds. Given Anderson's submission ability off his back and the fact that his elusiveness is second to none. I just don't see that happening. I think Anderson makes an example out of Sonnen. This fight will be much like the Forrest Griffin fight.
FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR
No, I don't really like trash talking that much. I've always been more of a "let your actions speak for you" kind of guy. Chael's trash talking does make me want to hear what he has to say after the fight, though. And no, Chael Sonnen has no chance in hell of beating Anderson Silva. It'll take more than good or even great wrestling to beat Silva. You have to have more tools in your arsenal. I only hope that Chael can make Anderson at least try in this fight.
DAN WYATT, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR
After Silva’s last fight against Demian Maia the entire world was hoping for someone to come in and punch Silva in the face, hard. And the glorious part was that his next opponent, Sonnen, offers that. A fighter who wasn’t scared to engage and had the abilities to maybe even take Silva down, and like a true politician Sonnen made sure to promise to do just that, and more. The following months Sonnen threw verbal blow after blow at Silva, promising to do everything that we wanted him to do, but eventually after the hate for Silva began to subside the question became, can he really do that? Yes we would all love to see Chael Sonnen make Silva a toothless wonder, but Silva is often considered the best for a reason; he didn’t just luck his way into a record six straight UFC title defenses, and he was able to tool around with Maia for a reason, he is really, really good. Silva has evolved into the most devastating striker in the game, and has an incredible BJJ game to back that up, being one of only three people to submit Dan Henderson. So as much as I would like Sonnen to win, expect The Spider to have his hand raised next Saturday.
MATT PELKEY, MMATORCH COLUMNIST
I guess the best way to describe my feelings towards Chael Sonnen would be that I'm anticipating being grateful to him for bringing back Anderson Silva's aggression. Obviously we'll find out on Saturday if that's true or not, but my assumption is that all of Sonnen's work will have paid off (i.e. he's in for a world-class ass kicking).
Chael's hype job for his fight has gotten so out of hand that I'm starting to wonder if the UFC is paying Sonnen a hefty bonus if he's able to bring out the best in the Spider. I mean, why has he been allowed to be so outspoken? If Dana White has instructed him to tone it down, he sure is disobeying the boss. The fact that he seems to end every recent interview with, "...I will take your belt, and Dana White WILL fire you!" is most telling.
I don't think Dana White really has any intentions of firing Anderson Silva. I think this is all just a big message to Anderson Silva that, "if you pull that UFC 112 crap again, we're gonna...uh, be really, REALLY angry". In the end, Silva has more power here because he's the champ, and the UFC knows it can't devalue a title belt by cutting the champion because they don't like the way he fights.
As long as he keeps winning, he can dance all he wants. Luckily, I think Sonnen's fight style is going to guarantee Anderson Silva has to put on a show (the kind the masses like, not the kind he prefers) or else find his face smashed in. Unfortunately for Sonnen, the ways Anderson Silva can end this fight outnumber the ways Sonnen can win the fight by a factor of 10-1.
Sonnen likely needs to fight a perfect fight and get a little lucky (like Anderson Silva being out til five in the morning the night before the fight with a cadre of hookers and an eightball of coke - keep in mind, I'm certainly not saying or implying in ANY way that these are things Anderson Silva does, its just the kinds of "break" Sonnen needs - and sleep-walks through the first two rounds) just to come out on top in a decision. This one ends in the first three rounds, either violently on the feet, or its a repeat of the Silva-Lutter finish.
UPCOMING ROUNDTABLE QUESTIONS
• What are your early thoughts on how Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez match up in their UFC 121 showdown?
RELATED STORY: Part one of this roundtable with responses from Hansen, Leet, Rowland, Hobaugh and Amadi: [CLICK TO READ FULL ARTICLE]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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