I was impressed by Maia's reaction. Immediately he stoppped fighting and looked to the ref with a "something is wrong here" expression. Kim didn't take one single unnecessary strike. Very good display of awareness and sportsmanship in the first adrenaline-fuelled moments of the fight. :smoke :hat
It was surprising, Sonnen obviously buckled mentally. He built it up and set himself a task too big. Id say sonnen lost the fight more than Anderson won it. I couldnt see much that was special about the attack that finished sonnen off. Sonnen was a much better opponent than the result would indicate
Agree with you except for the last sentence :good The first fight was a great performance by Sonnen, but it flattered him as far as how good he really is. This performance was more in keeping with where Sonnen really ranks.
Which is still pretty highly IMO. Sonnen did better against Silva yesterday than Henderson did. :smoke In fact, which of Anderson's title defences have put up as much resistance as Sonnen did? Usually guys just get obliterated, or they freeze up and watch Anderson dance around. Sonnen took him down 5 seconds into the fight, kept him on his back for the entire round, (while doing no damage) and then got stopped in the next round after appearing to gas, possibly due to the massive weight cut. Even getting embarrassed as he did, Sonnen was more competitive than the vast majority of Anderson's opponents. Just winning a single round confirms that, let alone winning it on all 3 scorecards, let alone making it a possible 10-8. :good :hat
I think some people are making the mistake of judging Sonnen the fighter solely, or to a disproportionate amount, on his performances against Spider. Sonnen is a talented fighter who matches up stylistically very well against Spider. It doesn't mean he's any kind of world-beater or superstar, as the rest of his career clearly indicates.
I view Sonnen as a very good fighter with a lot of toughness whose weakness against submissions makes him look a lot worse than he actually is, and whose stylistic matchup against the greatest fighter of his era makes him look a lot better than he actually is. :smoke Sonnen isn't a guy who you can write off as useless, but he isn't a champion either. If not for Silva, IMO he'd probably be a beltholder who keeps the title belt warm for a fight or two until the real champion shows up. But he's certainly good enough to outclass contenders like Stann, and squeak past very solid fighters like Bisping even on an off night. :good :hat
I wouldn't mind seeing if Wand can beat him. I mean it would be fair to make Chael fight a submissions guy, he has gotten quite a few opportunities because of his mouth, rather than his skill. So we tested Anderson twice against his worst match stylewise, shouldn't Chael have to fight a sub guy? Alternatively, Wand if he is on his game is a nasty match for Chael as well. They already have a little chemistry, and it's not like Chael can finish Wand (I hope lol)
Re: Stun Gun. Injury happen 30 sec into the fight while defending a takedown. He told his corner that something was wrong with his rib while Demian had him clinched up. He still tried to fight on but couldn't keep from getting taken down. He know it was over right then and verbally submitted. Ended up being a muscle spasm in that rib area.
That and the spinning elbow fail are going to get a lot of life as animated gifs. Maybe even more than Lesnar dancing across the octagon. :hat