Anderson Silva is clearly the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. When healthy and interested, he's destroyed every UFC opponent put in front of him. but Chael Sonnen sees an opening for Yushin Okami against the middleweight champ and thinks the Japanese star is leaving UFC 134 with the title strap.
"[Silva]'s lost to Okami once before. This is a rematch and Yushin already beat him once," said Sonnen speaking of a 2006 match up at 170 pounds where Okami picked up a win via disqualification because Silva delivered an illegal upkick. "Yushin is a lot better now, so I can't imagine how he wouldn't beat him again."
Sonnen says Silva has ducked opponents who play to his weakness, takedown defense. He went as far as saying the fight against Okami won't even be competitive. Sonnen's entitled to his opinion. After all, he's the guy who beat Silva for four and a half rounds at UFC 117 before getting caught in a late submission.
Sonnen also told a story about Vitor Belfort on "The MMA Insiders" show in Las Vegas on ESPNRadio1100/98.9 FM. He was so bullish on Belfort's chances against Silva at UFC 126 that plunked down a little money on the underdog. He said all hopes ended when he saw Belfort at the weigh-in. He says Belfort backed down to Silva's attempts of intimidation. After that, Sonnen ripped up his ticket.
Listen here for the entire "MMA Insiders" show. Co-host Kevin Iole was joined by FX's John Landgraf and Sonnen.
Georges St-Pierre Mauricio Rua Anderson Silva Nate Marquardt
No comments:
Post a Comment